All the Light We Cannot See

I found All the lights we cannot see good, i liked the story and the first time reading it, i read like 200 pages in one sitting, but then i got kind of slow... i dont know, maybe i was in a reading slump, but in all i give 4 stars because it was a well structured story, maybe it kind of got me confused sometimes with the time, i think i would have preferred it a little bit more when it would have been in chronological order. And i would have liked a little more tension, plot twist.

Idk man. I couldn't really appreciate the writing style here, I thought the pacing was way too slow and the time jumps were too confusing for me. I also don't really gravitate towards war novels in general because the topic is particularly depressing to me, but I was curious to see what this book would bring to the table, having been fairly popular for so many years. But IDK MAN.

Me ha gustado muchísimo, pero creo que si lo hubiese leído en vez de escucharlo, mi experiencia no hubiese sido tan buena. El narrador, Miguel Ángel Jenner, hace un trabajo soberbio, te envuelve con su voz cálida y te guía como un lazarillo por esta historia.

Sin entrar en detalles para evitar spoilers, para mí el tema central de la novela es la pérdida. Todos los personajes pierden algo, diferente para cada uno de ellos,y el cómo enfrentan esa pérdida es lo que conforma el armazón en torno al que se construye el relato.

A modo de reflexión personal, no sé si el libro cuenta una historia que te sume en la tristeza y la desesperanza o es una combinación de lo que cuenta, como lo hace y el momento personal que atraviesa el lector cuando aborda el relato. Entiéndaseme: no es un folletín lacrimógeno, sino que transmite una sensación de tristeza que, a mi modo de ver, lleva a los personajes a un punto en que la esperanza parece no tener cabida. No sé si lo he leído en el mejor momento para mí pero me alegro mucho de haberlo hecho. 5⭐️

Estoy un poco confundida con este libro. Lo quería leer desde hace tiempo, pero no estaba en español. Cuando salió lo pedí en preventa y al llegar lo empecé a los pocos días. Me gusto el inicio y me iba gustando el final, pero tuve problemas con algunas partes en la mitad.

El libro empieza en agosto de 1944 y se va intercalando con hechos ocurridos en el pasado a los protagonistas Marie Laure y Werner, desde 10 años antes hasta llegar a la fecha de 1944. Vemos como poco a poco sus caminos están más cerca de cruzarse.

Marie Laure ha vivido una vida tranquila en Paris, pasando tiempo en el Museo de Historia Natural donde su padre trabaja. Hasta que llega la guerra, obligándolos a salir posiblemente con un tesoro de alto valor y refugiarse en Saint Malo al norte de Francia donde la guerra todavía se ve lejana. Werner es un joven alemán que es un genio con las radios y tiene un gran amor por la ciencia, ha vivido la mayor parte de su vida en un orfanato sin mucho futuro. Otros personajes en la historia son: el papá y tío abuelo de Marie Laure; la hermana de Werner Jutta, así como algunos de sus compañeros militares; y Von Rumpel un nazi en busca de una joya muy valiosa, cuya búsqueda lo lleva a Francia.

Los capítulos son cortos, empieza la narración, pero no hay tanta interacción. Al final no sabía muy bien a dónde íbamos a llegar. Por lo que con la calificación me inclinaba hacia un lado y luego a otro. Me gusta como está escrito, y partes de la historia me parecieron muy interesantes, pero no logró atraparme por completo.

Al final me decidí. Las calificaciones entre 3 y 4 son con las que más conflicto tengo, pero así se queda por el momento y no se va a acabar el mundo.

Beautiful historical story about t Marie-Laure and Werner whose life cross paths during WWII. Wonderfully written, incredible characters.Well detailed and interesting. Loved the little French words here and there. The short chapters were a great idea but felt the book was a little bit too long, still a 5/5 novel.

One sentence synopsis... The sentimental, superficial story of a precious diamond, a gifted German boy, and a blind French girl caught in the violence of WWII. .

Read it if you like... formulaic bookclub bait. It's not poorly written or excruciatingly boring but it is bland. The two main characters are both deeply (tediously) sympathetic, the villain is a caricature, everything is so closely plotted that it's impossible to not see the author's work. .

Further reading... any of the other book-by-numbers, light, enjoyable but violently meh bookclub favs, ie. ‘The Help', ‘The Kite Runner', or for another WWII one ‘The Nightingale'.

Complete french review here !

One hell of a book, really well written (even if it is quite long, the way it's divided between the different people and years is well done and helps getting through it quite quickly), the characters are really lovable, and the story is powerful. A well deserved Pulitzer Price !

An incredible read that captivates from the very start! Beautifully descriptive language, fully realised characters, and a plot that circles inexorably towards its conclusion in the most beautiful - and at times haunting - way.

I really enjoyed how Doerr brought the magical potential of radio to life, and how they shone light on occupied French civilian life as well as the life of a young German in the war. Incredible to see people swept along by larger narratives which often seem too strong for them to hold any sway over.

A very beautifully written book, which rapidly builds its world and brings the story out in full.

Full of wonder. A sensitive tragedy with what seems at first glance to be unsatisfactory endings, and yet those endings are fully intentional. There's a death at the end that feels somewhat throwaway and pointless, but the character only wanted redemption and release. The diamond remains lost, and I'm still working out why that was done..

4.5 Stars

“What is blindness? Where there should be a wall, her hands find nothing. Where there should be nothing, a table leg gouges her shin. Cars growl in the streets; leaves whisper in the sky; blood rustles through her inner ears. In the stairwell, in the kitchen, even beside her bed, grown-up voices speak of despair.”

I do not know where to begin with this book. The writing in it is absolutely beautiful. Anthony Doerr's prose is amazingly intertwined within the story. This is one of those books that you need to read slowly, so that you can absorb everything within it. When reading books, I tend to mark favorite passages and quotes and I have so many pages marked in this book. There were so many beautiful passages about all different kinds of things and about life.

The main aspect of this book that made it so great for me was definitely the writing, but I also loved the characters. For the most part we follow Marie-Laure and Werner but even beyond them there are so many different stories unfolding throughout this book. Since this book was told in multiple perspectives, I knew at some point all the stories would become intertwined and we would learn about all the connections between the characters. Anthony Doerr surprised me though with the shear number of different connections that were all encompassed within this book. Even the smallest little details had some connection to the overarching story.

The only reason I am not giving this a full five crowns is due to how slow and long it took me to get into the story. That is not to say that I did not enjoy it, but there is a lot of description and time before the plot really picks up. It takes a very long time to introduce the story. Another aspect that was slightly off-putting was the changing timelines. While the book focused on WWII there were jumps in the chapters all falling somewhere between 1941 and 1945 and at times it was confusing after the year changed. However, even though the book was slow, I had no problem reading it because the writing more than made up for the slow aspect. There were times where I had to tell myself to stop reading so I did not rush and could absorb everything I was reading.

This book also ends in a very different way than what I was expecting. I also appreciated how wide open the ending is. It leaves the reading without all the answers but also has a level of finality to it. For someone who does not typically read historical fiction, this was an amazing book. I really enjoyed this book and I cannot recommend it to everyone enough. The writing alone should be enough to at least make you give this book a chance.

(3.5)
This book just didn't do it for me. had a great start and middle, but towards the end it got confusing and jumped around too much.

a positive of this book was the short chapters and writing style. the short chapters were very easy to read and the writing made it feel like I was actually there

that's the only positives tbh, was mostly bored

This book is haunting.

I had seen this book receiving rave reviews. I read the back. Another WWII story? What can possibly make this any different. Oh, the girl is blind? Is that why the reviews are so high? How does a blind girl survive a war?

To find out, you need to pick up the book. When you do decide to read this, devote time for it. It can be heavy, but it is strangely beautiful. It reminded me of The Book Thief mixed with The Pianist. Yes, both of those also took place during WWII, but it goes deeper than that. There's an innocence to Marie that was similar to Liesel from The Book Thief. The writing style was also similar. Unlike the book thief, there is the story of survival. That is where The Pianist comes in to play. Marie must find a way to survive. Against all odds, she must.

There is also a magical stone that Marie's father believes will keep her alive. Unforunately, it means everyone around her will attract an unfortunate fate. That aspect was slightly strange in a WWII setting, yet also worked. Was it really magical, or was it just a story that helped a girl make sense of the world around her? Was the stone at fault, or was it just a trinket (like a stuffed doll) for comfort.

This is not a major adventure story, but a solid fiction piece that deserves the awards it has been given. Think of The Pianist and The Book Thief. If you're interested in something similar, pick this up.

Doerr has wrapped a gift in this story. The quick pacing and well developed characters draw you into the story. At once tragic and heartening, you follow two children, Marie-Laure and Werner, as they grew up before and during WW2. Their lives touch in unexpected ways, and they are never the same. This is a remarkable story of human goodness and beauty.

I would recommend this story to anyone over the age of 14. There are some themes related to war and loss that I don't think younger readers would appreciate or understand.

This was a wonderfully written book and it was interesting to see a sombre look at WWII that didn't even really touch on the Holocaust at all.

There were points midway through the book that dragged a bit though, and I thought events ultimately wandered a bit too far into “look what war does to us” territory, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. Great, great writing, and it's refreshing to read a book centered around WWII that doesn't fall into the usual tropes. Even though it's pretty long at over 500 pages, the structure allows you to take breaks easily; most sections are less than five pages long.

I usually keep only the highest quality books, and donate the rest of what I read to the local library. This one stays on the shelf. If you want intelligent writing, an intricate plot, and tons of great characters, this is the book for you.

At first, i wondered why this book is rated so high? This is just normal. It reminded me a bit of And the mountains echoed . There were pieces of story, all cute. And then it hit me, this a war story. War stories are about terror and tragedy; and once in a blue moon, about romantic love.
This book is filled with beautiful imagery, little acts of kindness, little acts of faith, innocence and gullibility of childhood. Now, it, to be this beautiful, let alone a war story, for it to be even a children's book, is a feat.
It's like this beautiful bubble, though surrounded by impending doom, trumps it circumstances with its beauty.
When it comes to this darkness of the early 1940s, this book pictures the light we never see.