“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”
All the Light We Cannot See follows two characters – Marie-Laure and Werner as they attempt to survive the Second World War. Marie-Laure is a girl who has been blind since the age of six but has an extraordinary skill of quickly learning to navigate her way through cities with the help of her father’s models. Werner is a German orphan who joins a Hitler Youth Academy after being noticed for his skills in radio and mechanical engineering. As the war continues, with the mystery of a priceless diamond in Marie-Laure’s father’s possession, the two characters’ stories are brought closer together.
This is a magnificent story about hope and strength, even in times of adversity. Both Marie-Laure and Werner were able to learn things about themselves and develop as characters with each experience and trouble that they faced. Marie-Laure was seen as the light in the lives of those around her, even when her world was filling with darkness. Werner was a boy given an opportunity to escape from a destiny of working in the coal mines to join the Hitler Youth. It was only after he joined that he started to notice the darkness behind it all.
The grey area between dark and light in a world filling with ruin was a strong theme in this book, with a lot of characters trying to survive the war at all costs, even at the expense of other characters. The key was finding those who leaned more towards the light than the dark through selfless acts of bravery. There were many inspiring secondary characters who would help to lead our main protagonists to the right path; Frederick, Volkheimer, Jutta, and Etienne to name a few. With a bittersweet ending, finishing the book filled me with a variety of emotions; sadness, relief, and even some second-hand nostalgia from the characters. I was completely absorbed by the story and the characters.
All the Light We Cannot See was a sublime, inspiring story, definitely deserving of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2015. I urge you to read it when you get the chance. It has also sparked in me the desire to revisit France and travel to the beautiful town of Saint-Malo.
5/5 Stars!
You can buy the book here.
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