All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A 15-minute Summary & Analysis

By: Instaread

Narrated by: Jason P. Hilton

Length: 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Please note: This is an unofficial summary and analysis of the book and NOT the original book.

Inside this Instaread:

• Summary of entire book
• Introduction to the Important People in the book
• Analysis of the Themes and Author's Style

Preview of this Instaread:

The lives of two teens, a French girl and a German boy, improbably intersect at the end of World War II in All The Light We Cannot See.

Before the war, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who has been blind since childhood, lives comfortably in Paris with her father, Daniel, who is the key master for the natural history museum. She loves to visit the museum and learn, especially about mollusks, or snails. Her father makes her a detailed wooden replica of their neighborhood so she can learn to navigate it. He also makes complicated wooden puzzle boxes that delight her. He gives her a Braille copy of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days and then, after she devours it, the first volume of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Marie-Laure is also fascinated by a story she hears at the museum of a fabulous diamond hidden there...

About the Author

With Instaread, you can get the summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

©2015 Instaread (P)2015 Instaread

Not too shabby

The narration was without emotion but was clear and well read. Overall it was a good listen. Looking forward to the book in its entirety.

Repetitive but filled in what I missed.

Had read book already , did not gain deeper insight. Want INSTAREAD on About Grace!

Helpful

Great for additional processing of the story after reading the full novel! I would recommend, but only after reading the book.

Better Than The Book!

This summary was great. I listened to it AFTER plodding through the mostly boring and incoherent book. I only finished listening to it because it was my book club selection.
After listening to the summary I realize what a good book this COULD AND SHOULD have been. The story idea was compelling but the end result was terribly flawed, mostly because of the writing style.

Don't bother

Read the actual book. This summary is a joke. The narrator cannot even pronounce the names consistently the same. It turns a rich and beautiful story into what sounds like a boring, torturous read.
The actual book is wonderful.

Painfully Bad Review of a Beautiful Book

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

1) If thought had been put into analysis of the themes of the book, such as "light". For example, the "analysis" of 'light' consisted mostly of a listing of all the references to 'light' in the book.

2) A reader who pronounced words correctly. English words (e.g., antithesis) were mispronounced, and the pronounciation of foreign words and names was excruciatingly bad (e.g., Werner, Volkheimer, Jutta, Marie Laure, Guernica). Painful to listen to.

3) The "analysis" claimed that a failing of this novel was the fact that only oblique references were made to the Holocaust...don't really know how to respond to that one.

Has All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr turned you off from other books in this genre?

Absolutely not. I loved the book. I will, however, never purchase another summary of a book by "Instaread" because this one was so poorly done.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jason P. Hilton?

The reader of the actual book, All the Light We Cannot See. He was terrific.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

If you are a middle schooler and didn't read the book, you might be able to pull off an last minute essay. Otherwise I would not recommend this "Summary" or "Analysis".

Just a preview; not the book

Wasn’t the book; just a review. Very disappointing! Didn’t listen since it would spoil the real book!