All the Light We Cannot See

A Novel

De: Anthony Doerr

Narrado por: Zach Appelman

Winner of the Audie Award for Fiction

*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

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 twelve, 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.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

An outlyer's opinion

Any additional comments?

This will likely enrage the other reviewers, but - and again this is just my opinion - I thought the writing was far too much an attempt at being poetic. Far too many metaphors, far too many dependent clauses - all, seemingly, in trying to create some beautiful prose. It did not for me. I did love the story and I was engaged in the characters and I did keep reading, but this despite the over-poetic approach and - kack - the horrible narration. His French was embarrassing and he simply did not impress me. But to each his own, right? I will now go and hide from the wrath of those who wrote of their love for the book.

extraordinary book and reading!

Would you listen to All the Light We Cannot See again? Why?

Yes. Every sentence of this book is a gem and deserves to be savored.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters gripped me from the start. The plot carried me forward --as well as the flowing prose.

Which scene was your favorite?

don't have one

If you could take any character from All the Light We Cannot See out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The blind girl, of course.

Any additional comments?

Doerr's use of active verbs astounds. Zach Appleman's narration is superb and does this wonderful book justice. I've recommended the book to all my friends and book club.

A great historical fiction

What did you love best about All the Light We Cannot See?

I loved that it was a story of a personal human side of the war and not so much about the war. It kind of reminded me of The Book Thief. Also the author did a great job describing things and places so that you felt like you were right there.

What was one of the most memorable moments of All the Light We Cannot See?

There were memorable moments that were shocking and then memorable moments that made you smile. I loved the beginning account of Marie-Laure and her dad working at the museum and then later her relationship with her great uncle.

Which character – as performed by Zach Appelman – was your favorite?

Marie-Laure

If you could take any character from All the Light We Cannot See out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The great uncle because of his great imagination and the fact he has been through so much.

Fairer account of WW2 than Anna Frank .

Americans school children have been required to read Anna Frank's diary for 60 years which is a tear jerker that doesn't show both sides. It depicts the Jewish as terrible victims without honestly describing there were good and bad people on both sides. There was horrendous suffering on both sides. There have been wars (or police actions) since then that were just as shocking, but the world's powers did not steel another country's home land to give away to selected victims. They choose conflicts where it is profitable to become involved.

Why did't they each take some Jewish refugees like we have since with people from the Middle East? Instead they created Israel which has caused ongoing wars and expenses because it was so unjust.

The book demonstrates how so many young people were brain washed into the belief they were saving their country or saving their own and their families lives. Can we honestly say Americans would behave better than the German people under the same circumstances?

I would like to see this book replace the Diary of Anna Frank if we need to have any required reading of a war that ended 76 years ago. What do our students know about WWI or Bosnia or South Africa? Hitler is not the only monster in history. It is time for us to protect the lives of our own young men and for Israel and Palestine to find and pay for their own solution, and this book helps to remind people there are always 2 sides.

Beautiful story

Where does All the Light We Cannot See rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Favortie story this year (2015). Mr. Doerr created multiple stories that weaved in and out of each other so beautifully. With many WWII themed novels I have read, the characters tend to have tragic stories leaving the reader with a somber remberence of WWII events. The difference with Doerr's story is that the characters exemplify hope and resiliance in the midst of the varied events of the war.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Marie-Laure of course. While she is lacking the sense of sight, she has such vision and understanding of life, in ways sigthed people cannot experience.

Any additional comments?

All the Light We Cannot See is a beautiful and poetic story, allowing the reader to "see" exactly what Marie-Laure "sees", feel her struggles, and experience her strength.