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

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

,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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Deportation