7. All the Light We Cannot see. Anthony Doerr. 2014. 544 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, historical fiction, magic realism??? world war II]
First sentence: At dusk they pour from the sky. They blow across the ramparts, turn cartwheels over rooftops, flutter into the ravines between houses. Entire streets swirl with them, flashing white against the cobbles. Urgent message to the inhabitants of this town, they say. Depart immediately to open country.
Premise/plot: All the Light We Cannot See has dual narrators: Marie-Laure and Werner. Marie-Laure is a young French blind girl and Werner is a German orphan coming of age during the Nazi regime and getting swept up into the messy ideological nonsense. The novel not only goes back and forth between narrators--opposing sides of the war at that--but back and forth in time. There are indicators at the start of the chapters so you know *when* but time seems to be a merry-go-round.
My thoughts: The strength of this one is in the writing. The premise is other-worldly and mildly fantastical. (A supernatural/magical object that prevents one from dying) The characterization is strong.
This one definitely kept me intrigued. I'm not sure that I absolutely loved it. It stayed in "almost" territory--hence the four stars not five.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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