ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE | BOOK REVIEW | OCTOBER 2017

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE BY ANTHONY DOERR | BOOK REVIEW

I've seen this book featured on Instagram and online overall a lot over the past year or so, and from reading the blurb I was very intrigued in the plot. As you may know, my favourite genre is historical fiction and especially if it is based in World War I or II. The book starts off with the introduction of the two main characters; Marie-Laure living in Paris with her father, who works at the Natural History Museum, and Werner, living in an extremely poor area of Germany in an orphanage. The contrast of the paralleled worlds with Werner living and being brainwashed in to the Nazi regime, and Marie- Laure living with her father and his undefying love for his daughter. Inevitably war comes to attention in both countries, Marie-Laure and her father end up fleeing Paris with a secret possession that has an apparent curse to whoever owns it. This novel has a traditional sequence but with a magical and spiritual twist on the plot, the themes of discrimination runs throughout the novel; Marie-Laure is blind, and Werner witnesses the physical violence towards one boy because he evidently needs glasses but doesn't want to seem inferior to the Nazi officers. The metaphorical feature of light and sight in a world full of conflict and violence is evident in the novel, hence the title. Doerr explores the devastating effects of war to families, how you are left with no one, and also the mental state of mind that soldiers were left in when they had great ordeals to go through. My favourite war novel is Birdsong, but this is a very narrow second because of the importance of language entwined throughout. During Germany's invasion in to Saint Malo, where Marie-Laure and her father go in to hiding with family, all radios and transmitters are taken away from residents so no illegal broadcasting can be done. But, Marie-Laure's grandfather broadcast geographical and scientific radio documentaries  that reached out to Werner in Germany, and that is how Doerr links the two characters; the pure infatuation with language and the words he said, learning about the world. Even if this book is set in a period of conflict and danger, the innocence of Marie-Laure and her bravery when she had noone. If you're looking for a romance in the midst of war, there's nothing like it in this book, but the decency of two people who want to help each other in a world on confusion and battle. This is undoubtedly one of the best books I've read all year, and when I've read a good book I try to invest in a hardback edition to stand out on my bookshelf.