Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Doerr's gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr 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 his most ambitious and dazzling work.
My review...........2 stars
I've had this book on my tbr pile for awhile, and when I saw that it is nominated for the national book award, I decided it was time to pick it up. I so wanted to love this book, it's getting glowing reviews. As is often the case, I don't very often like the books that get nominated for prestigious book awards 🙁 I thought this book was dull, and drawn out, and honestly, not much happens. Sure, it takes place during WWII, so there is that, but the story just didn't grab me like several other books I've read that take place during this time. It also bounces around, not only from one main character to the other (which I didn't mind), but from the present to the past. It just made for confusion, and could have been told in chronological order without destroying anything in my opinion. I did stay engaged enough in Marie Laure's story to keep reading, but I really couldn't get into Werner's character at all. I also felt that the description of the plot was rather deceiving. It makes it sound like the characters interact way more than is the case. Perhaps I would have liked them better if they had been together for more of the book.
I'm giving this one star for not disliking it so much that I couldn't finish, and adding another star for the fact that there is some beautiful writing involved. The descriptions are lovely, and I thought the author did an excellent job writing about Marie Laure (who is blind). I wouldn't recommend this, but as I've stated above, I am not in the majority, lots of 5 stars for this book.
Bummer, I really like the time period for this novel. I do know what you mean, I struggled with a book last year that went on to win all kinds of awards..LOL
Interesting . . . while I have read so many great reviews of this novel, I honestly haven't felt compelled to read it. I can't quite figure out why, but the description just is not grabbing me. But now the novel has made the shortlist for the National Book Award. I do usually try to read the winner of NBA, so . . . we'll see!
I just saw that it has made the shortlist for the award. Sigh......I really, really wanted to like it, but hey, at least I can say I've read it if it wins right? 🙂