All the Light We Cannot See

A Novel

By: Anthony Doerr

Narrated by: Zach Appelman

Winner of the Audie Award for Fiction

*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

4.72 stars......one of the best

This is one of the better audiobooks on Audible. The narrator is great, and so is the story, which alternates between two protagonists. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and there are countless reviews, so I won't go into a summary of it. I will say that it won The Pulitzer for a reason, and the narration only enhances the story. You can't go wrong with this one.

Overall rating: 4.72 stars

I've been waiting for this book all spring!

While I have had some good reads this spring, nothing compares to the joy I have experienced in reading this beautifully written book. One of the first things I thought of when I finished it is that I have to start all over again sometime so I can stop thinking about the content and just bask in its exquisite language and imagery.

I have read numerous books about World War II and the ones I have liked will stay in my memory for a long time. I have not listened to one as good as The Book Thief until this book, however - funny how they both center on a child's perspective. From the thoughtful characterization to the masterful unfolding of the plot, this is a book that cries out for you to download it right away.

Seeing so much through blind eyes

Well written story that provides a new view of all of the victims of the Nazis. Such a horrible time viewed through the eyes of children is buoyed by a lyrical tone and magical elements that help to find just the right pace and tone. Great book.

best book I've ever heard

If you could sum up All the Light We Cannot See in three words, what would they be?

Poetic. Listening to this story about a blind girl was sublime. I could feel and see all that she was experiencing without my eyes.

What other book might you compare All the Light We Cannot See to and why?

Mudbound. Written from the perspective of multiple characters who converge at the end of the story.

Which scene was your favorite?

Listening especially to this story about a blind girl. Allowed me to use my sense of hearing to imagine a world without site

Understanding

Presents a viewpoint of the war not often offered. Excellent.
My neighbor lived as a child in Germany during this time. This book offers understanding of her life.