Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A blind French girl and a German boy’s paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.”

This is gonna be one of those reviews where I struggle to put into words how incredible this book is - I always feel like I can’t do such books justice and I’m better off just giving a 5 star rating and moving onto the next one!

So obviously I loved this one. We have two main characters that we follow as well as two different timelines, and we just constantly jump back and forth between all of them, which is executed so wonderfully and beautifully that I have zero complaints about it.

The short chapters also really helped me just burn through sections in one sitting. However, an instagram buddy had told me he felt that the short chapters meant he didn’t form a close connection with either character, and I can kinda relate to that. I mean, I did have a connection, especially with one of the side characters Frederick (sad face), but it wasn’t particularly intense and I didn’t cry whatsoever, which, for being such a huge crier, is unlike me! But that’s really just a minor grievance because the story itself is spectacular.

And the writing. Ooooh, the writing - it was just out of this world!! It’s one of those books that really awakens all the senses with its beautifully descriptive prose and reading it can be quite an immersive experience. The story moves along slowly at times, which doesn’t bother me as I enjoy a slow-burner, but if that puts you off, just know that it all comes together so perfectly and your efforts will have been worth it,

There’s just something incredibly fascinating and heartbreaking about books set during WWII, it’s such a bleak part of history. Yet that somehow makes the good people and their actions shine even brighter. 5 stars.

Johann

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