Review: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doeer
"All The Light We Cannot See" I couldn't derive anything from the title itself when I first came upon this book. The only thing I knew about it was, it's a good book.
A few things you need to know about this book...
Two Parallel Stories
The whole book consists of mostly two different perspectives, about two children, living in two different countries and the things they had been through during the war. Lastly, how these two children met each other. One thing which surprised me the most was the outcome of both the children meeting each other. It was short, but it was meaningful. The boy immediately fell in love with the blind girl. Nevertheless, he knew that he wouldn't be able to be with her. Thus, he protected and led her to the safe.
World War 2
As I've mentioned above, the story setting is during World War 2, in the years between 1939 - 1945, a war which was started by the Nazi Germans. The story mostly talks about the horror of the war brought, the loss of loved ones and what the war had done to the survivors.
The Boy -- Werner Pfennig
Werner is a German, a young oprhan who lives in a children's home with his younger sister, Jutta. Among all the orphans in the home, Werner is the brightest. He knows how to fix radios very well and neighbours often called for him to fix the radios. When he got commission from some of the neighbours, he gave them all to his guardian, Frau Elena. Every night, he listened to the this one specific science program broadcast from France with Jutta. Both of them were spellbound by it. As he turns older, he was sent to the Hitler Youth Academy due to his talents in math and science. His mentor guided him and taught him strictly. He had only one friend, Frederick. When Frederick left the school, Werner was transported to Berlin to work for the government --- to track down terrorist's signal with his transmitter and equipments so the sergeants can take them down --- & that begins his journey towards the girl.
The Blind Girl -- Marie-Laure LeBlanc
Marie-Laure LeBlanc, what a beautiful name! She is a girl, full of freckles is her face, who lives in Paris, France with her papa, Daniel LeBlanc. Her papa is the locksmith of a museum in Paris. When she goes blind due to disease, her father built a model of the neighbourhood so she can memorize each street and corner by tracing her fingers around the model. Her papa practices with her in between streets, watches her crossing the roads with her cane, allows her to find her way to the destination specified. Despite failures, her papa never gave up on her. Until the Germans started to invade Paris, both of them traveled to Saint-Malo, where her great-uncle, Etienne lives.
The Meaning of The Title
"The title is a reference first and foremost to all the light we literally cannot see: that is, the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that are beyond the ability of human eyes to detect (radio waves, of course, being the most relevant). It's also a metaphorical suggestion that there are countless invisible stories still buried within WW2 -- that stories of ordinary children, for example, are a kind of light we do not typically see. Ultimately, the title is intended as a suggestion that we spend too much time focused on only a small slice of the spectrum of possibility" -- Anthony Doerr explained in his own words.
Time Span
The story started of somewhere in 1940 and it continues to the end of the war. Then, it fast-forwarded to 1974 and 2014. The 1940s is the bulk of the story.
I spent quite some time reading this book. The day I decided to read the book, I knew I am not going to be able to change my reading status anytime soon. Honestly, it really is a thick book. Fortunately, my favourite thing about this book is it consists of short chapters, which makes the reading process easy. However, I will have to admit that, in some chapters, I did get a little bit attached and wonder why couldn't the chapter last longer?
One of the most heart-wrenching parts from the book is when Frederick was bullied and he was permanently injured. He was such a bright teenager filled with passion towards the species of birds. I felt the hurt and pitiness in Werner when he saw his friend in the apartment, where his friend appeared to be so vulnerable and different. He was heartbroken as when he knew that Frederick no longer remembers him (His brain was only capable of performing basic functions only).
The author was wonderful! The language is good and he used vocabularies and verbs to make the paragraphs sing and dance. His narration goes back and forth and the plot never dies down. It is a slow-pacing yet interesting story. The build-up of the plot was perfect, I would say so, as it had intrigued me when I read the first 20 chapters.
Sometimes, reading a book that is so intensive and you would really want to take a break from it, like going on social networks or so, just to breathe, as the story is so intense and it gives you so many kinds of feelings and you're coping with it too quickly, excitedly. This was what I have been through while I was reading the book.
Nevertheless, this is the book which I want to read slowly, deeply indulging myself in every details. The words are powerful, as well as the story, deep, moving and beautiful.
Here are some beautiful quotes from the book:
"Open your eyes and see what they can before they close forever."
"Every rumour carries a seed of truth."
I rated 4.5 out of 5 for this book. :)
