• All the Light We Cannot See

  • A Novel
  • By: Anthony Doerr
  • Narrated by: Zach Appelman
  • Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (63,975 ratings)

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All the Light We Cannot See  By  cover art

All the Light We Cannot See

By: Anthony Doerr
Narrated by: Zach Appelman
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Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2015 Audie Award for Fiction

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

©2014 Anthony Doerr (P)2014 Simon & Schuster Audio

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What listeners say about All the Light We Cannot See

Average customer ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    42,558
  • 4 Stars
    14,609
  • 3 Stars
    4,840
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    12,238
  • 3 Stars
    4,452
  • 2 Stars
    1,303
  • 1 Stars
    674

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    5 out of 5 stars

One of my favorites in quite some time

I enjoyed this book. My book club enjoyed this book. First time in our 6 years history that everyone gave it two thumbs up!

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1 person found this helpful

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Beautifully done

This was a tragic, but beautiful book. In the light of evil of today's world, this brings a glimpse into the evil of a world in danger of being nearly forgotten by time and the following generations. It speaks of hope. This might be the first book I listen to twice. The jumps in time were confusing in a listening format vs type. I'm sure I missed some.

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    5 out of 5 stars

An inside look at WWII

I enjoyed this book very much, with the Uncle being my favorite character. There are many reviews that expressed dissatisfaction with the non-linear approach, but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it and found that it helped me to not zone out as can often happen when listening in the car for a significant time. Much like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the story puts a human face to the rank and file of the Nazi regime and gives a nod to those Germans who gave the world (and the Nazis) much of the technology that our modern life depends on today.

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READ THIS BOOK!!

Such a captivating story! The writer creates such a vivid imagery of the narrative and uniquely intertwined the stories of each character. Couldn’t stop listening!

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For the First Time!

My very first audiobook! I very much enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel. It was fun to drive and picture the settings, characters, & the places. I love the narrator’s intonation. It was not hard at all to picture a movie in my mind.
Thanks for reading a great novel to me, ZachAppelman!

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beautiful

I had to force myself to stop listening when I needed to do other things and I was sorry to reach the end. Beautifully written, great details, lovely voice narrating. Thank you so much!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Got us through a long road trip

Wonderful descriptions,, deep characters and a compelling plot.

That said, if I was reading rather than listening I would have skimmed a lot of the book. Good for a car trip. A bit tedious otherwise.

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  • LB
  • 08-19-15

Well written and interesting perspective of WWII.

Loved this book. Very well written and informative. Interesting perspective of WWII from two very different view points.

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Absolutely wonderful

What a marvelous story. Tears at the end. It will be a movie. Five stars on all fronts. One two.

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How War changes us

GREAT READ! You get a good picture of what War is like for civilians living in the midst of it as well as a youthful viewpoint of how lives are changes and youth is lost, whether a soldier or civilian
Although the story jumps from 1 viewpoint to another and back, from 1 time to another, it is easy to follow and you realize what people are thinking about when memories are triggered.
I highly recommend

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