A review by zoejjj
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I don’t know how to sum up this book other than it’s a perspective of the war that we don’t always see but that doesn’t make it less painful. There wasn’t a single person who lived in Europe at that time that didn’t experience pain but this book isn’t just trauma porn. It’s introspective and reflective and kind. There’s the joy of rebelling and simple pleasures even when the world is falling apart and you’re starving. That being said I did cry at multiple points during this book. 

uhm, Werner dying via passive suicide ideation was so painful that I had to take a break for like a week. It makes sense, but it also makes me so insanely angry. I hate that that’s how he went out. Every scene with Fredrick after he was beaten made me cry. His final scene where he kind of recognizes that owl but it doesn’t actually mean he’s better messed me up. AND WERNER THROWING “five Eiffel Towers” INTO THE OCEAN BECAUSE AT HIS CORE HE WAS DECENT took me out. Ugh. Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook and at the end, Claire de lune played and I cried like a baby
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