Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Als je het licht niet kunt zien

,Let's face it, the world war II genre is overplayed. The writing here wasn't bad, it was good even, but the plot mostly lost me. It mainly follows two people, a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy as they grow up in Europe. The plot just doesn't feel very grabbing or original to me, it's your standard world war II book, with a bit of romance and, for some reason fantasy, thrown in unnecessarily. The short-lived romance between the two main characters seems odd and forced and the up in the air magical artifact McGuffin that then has no actual plot value is downright strange. Honestly, the best parts of this book are the ones that focus on the German boy's sister, and fellow soldier, but even those aren't very original. There's simply so much of the same world war II book a person can read without getting tired of the same old schtick, and this hit the limit for me.

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carlys_currently_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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hanna's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to rate this higher but I just couldn't connect with the story, it was too long-winded for me.

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sauvageloup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

a good read with a lot to recommend it

pros:
- the characters were probably the best part, particularly Marie-Laure and Werner, and all the side characters of Jotta, Frau Elena, Etienne, etc. Even ones like Volkheimer were compelling. There was a lot of feeling behind each of them, their struggles of fear and whether to rebel or comply felt very human, and i never felt frustrated with them despite some of their mistakes or foibles.
- the plot was good too, it stayed tight and interesting throughout and I always wanted to know what would happen next. the idea for the diamond and the model city was clever and fresh, against some of the more familiar tropes of a war novel
- i liked the characters talking about their interests - Werner and Etienne's fascination with radios, Marie-Laure with her books and her snails, Jotta with her art, Volkheimer's music, even.
- the writing was excellent too, very poetic at times, especially on discussing nature. the loss of Frederick's mind felt the most poignant, because of the pointlessness of it, how he was such a sweet boy and a dreamer, and Werner's guilt of it
- the epilogues were good, satisfying because they weren't too sad or too unrealistic. the sense of the randomness of who survives and who doesn't was palpable
- I also liked that the idea of their being a curse on the Sea of Flames was never really confirmed or not, just left as a question of belief. it was more representative whether or not the characters kept the stone than what the stone actually was.
- also, the placing of a blind character centre stage and presenting her as brave, capable and important, was good to read. while it wasn't easy for her, there wasn't a huge amount of bullying or abelism she went through, which I think makes for a change. sometimes authors seem to include disabled characters only to make them suffer, to make everyone else feel better about not being disabled.

cons:
- somehow it just didn't touch me as much as some others, particularly Life after Life which I read recently. That really showed the horror of the war somehow, whereas this felt surface level? too much like tropes? I'm not sure.
- as lovely as it was when Marie-Laure and Werner finally met, I wish they'd had more time together
- perhaps Marie-Laure was a little too perfect, though that is the point of her I suppose. Werner sees her as the pure thing the men at his school talked of. saving her was him saving the last bit of innocent goodness
- the scene were Jotta, Fray Elena and the others were abruptly raped by the Russians felt.. gratuitous. the horror of it wasn't conveyed in the short segment and it felt like an add on, like the author thought - oh and rape must happen at some time in war, and stuck it in without any emotional lead up or conclusion.
- the shortness of each chapter or segment did frustrate me a bit, always chopping and changing. I also got confused between the times, not sure how Von Rubel had in one chapter crushed the model house and in the next, couldn't find it (one was in the Paris, the other in Saint-Malo)
- whilst I (as a non-disabled person) thought Marie-Lauren's disability was written well, I did think that for Etienne's 20years of claustrophobia to disappear just like that, because he loves Marie-Laure so much he just overcomes it, wasnt a great depiction.

all in all, a very good read, but not as emotionally poignant as it might have been (or else I'm just a bit numb rn)

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eve_reads's review against another edition

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Overall Thoughts:
⁕ Doerr’s prose is beautiful and the only thing that kept me reading at certain points

⁕ It was really, agonizingly slow to start & once things did get interesting, it felt rushed.

⁕ Madame Manec is the coolest character in this book. Prove me wrong.

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crisi_books's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

5/5 stars just for my tears and how attached I was to these characters and their stories.

I would not have read this book if not for my English Literature class, and honestly...I don't regret a thing. This is a book I will be thinking about for months and maybe even years to come.

All the Light We Cannot See is such a lovely, devastating book about humanity and care. Doerr's (sometimes overbearing) attention to detail is enrapturing and kept me hooked for hundreds of pages, and the way he has crafted all these characters is so masterful, as well as the more philosophical questions and concepts he discusses. Marie-Laure and Werner don't share many moments in the book, but their connection is immediate, and their stories intertwine so wonderfully. Each character matters, and each has their own flaws and characteristics that make the story just that more enriching and human. However, I can see how people might find this book boring or too slow, and I agree! I just think that everything else in this book overshadows that and it leaves only a significantly good impression in my brain.

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