Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

23 reviews

ottercorg's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I will begin by saying that were it not for the frequent change in POV keeping my attention, I would not have finished this book. It took me, without exaggeration, 400 pages to finally "get into it." I also kept going because I'd heard such amazing things, and I wondered when they'd arrive.

I feel that the writing style is good, I think the characters are well developed, and the story is moving and real. But...I just didn't like it very much. Maybe if I'd read it without hearing the hype, I wouldn't be rating it so low, but it's hard not to be disappointed.

Getting it off my TBR after it sat there for so long feels good, and trying more historical fiction feels good, I just didn't have a very good time in the process.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did like this book, but it was a slow read, and I struggled with how I felt about one of the main characters. I didn’t like what he was doing but at the same time, I knew he had no choice, and ultimately was very sad at what ended up happening. It’s not often that a book can shock me, and this one SHOOK me at the ending. Overall, I liked it but I wouldn’t reread and I wish it would have had an underlying subplot to make it more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I didn’t dislike reading it— I enjoyed the character development and world-building, but the fact that it was all out of order and time-jumpy was a complete and horrible mess and was extremely frustrating to try and keep track of what was going on at any given moment. Also I HATE knowing the end/climax of a book at the beginning, so that ruined it too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

emilyjamison14's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Beautifully layered writing - the story unfolds in such a way that sometimes I would think “Did I somehow miss something huge in a previous chapter?” but it was all intentional. I liked how the author uses Marie-Laure’s blindness as part of the story: there are vivid descriptions of sounds and smells,

and there is also a scene where I wasn’t 100% sure who she was interacting with without a physical description of the character.

This book is heartbreaking, and I would definitely check the content warnings.

Frederick’s story absolutely devastated me, as he was my favorite character. I did really appreciate Werner’s character arc as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cancer, Rape, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

jamanji's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed reading this book every step of the way. The writing is masterful and the author’s ability to manipulate the plot and intertwine two seemingly unrelated lives into one is remarkable.

**SPOILER ALERT**

I did not expect the ending, especially Werner’s death. it was surprising and abrupt that one of the main characters was killed in one simple sentence. The irony of his death at the hands of German machinery when he himself was a slave to German machinery was not lost on me. I did obviously hope for a happy ending for Marie and Werner (why didn’t he just take off his damn uniform), but I guess it’s more poetic this way.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Deportation

kim_lommaert's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It's semi slow but the world building is worth it. I really felt like I was there, living in the world with the characters. It beautiful, sad, hopeful and tragic all at once. Definitely check it out before the show comes out! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, and War

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Another book club read, and I'm glad I was put onto this one, as I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with it. This is a beautifully woven tale of .. uhm, nerds in World War II.

Werner is a snow-haired German lad who was orphanned by the mines of the Reich. As a curious child he develops himself into an electrical engineer who specializes in fixing radios, and is noticed by a German general who forwards him for advancement in an elite military school.
Marie-Laure is the daughter of keymaster of the French museum. She develops cataracts and goes blind as a child, and her father crates a scale model of her neighbourhood as a tactile map for her to learn her way around.
When the war starts, Marie-Laure and her father flee to her uncle's house, and Werner is a radio engineer for Hitler's army.

This story is told with deep emotional resonance, and using all sorts of literary quirks that focus on themes of light and darkness, sounds, sensation, fear and bravery, morality, logic and puzzles, knowing and learning, art and music, the love of nature, and of people. I love the descriptions of things like disappearing in fog– that it's about vanishing into whiteness rather than shadows.  The descriptions are visceral and evocative as well as clever.

This is a story of survival, of war, of fear and bloodshed, and it doesn't pull its punches. It certainly answers, in a humane way, questions about how people can do inhuman things in war, and the toll it can take on families.

I found the going slow, and occasionally tense, but also full of whimsy and beauty in contrast.
Well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

vas_17's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail