Reviews

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

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agirlsnightbookbash's review against another edition

3.0

CW: Brutal violence, rape, acts of war

3.5 . The story was good and had an original take on WWII fiction. It was both non-linear timelines with multiple narrators and it kept the story interesting. The first chapter was a bit confusing because it spanned 10 years without any sorts of breaks but after that the timeline was more clear.

The characters were good. Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, an orphaned German boy, are the focus of most of the chapters. A German gem expert named Von Rumpel lead a few of his own chapters. There are two chapters by extra characters that are not needed and one that booted this book from 4.5 down to 3.5. Spoilers below. All in all the character development was good and the story was well done. The writing was good and I definitely found myself crying.

Spoiler

Jutta had no chapters of her own until the very end. To include a chapter of her and other teenage girls being gang raped was absolutely unneccessary and added NOTHING to the story. In 1974 we meet and adult Jutta. Volkheimer is returning Werner's possessions to her. Most readers of historical fiction know the kind of things that happen to women in wartime. Adding a chapter of it to make sure we know that Jutta suffered during the war was a really poor decision. If it was to explain why she thought she couldn't conceive, well that's a piss poor excuse. It was unneeded, unwelcomed, and uncouth.

Spoiler

isa_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Difficult to properly rate this book, as it started off a bit boring, but eventually I really got into it. Loved the characters, the ending was sad but satisfying.