Saturday, November 29, 2014

All the Light We Cannot See / Anthony Doerr / 531 p.

This title is a 2014 National Book Award nominee as well as a favorite historical fiction on Goodreads.  Set in France and Germany before and during WWII, this story focuses on two young people. Some may not like the disjointed manner in which this story is told, but I find it fitting for a period of time when the lives of so many people were turned upside down and inside out--if they survived at all. And I think the focus on a blind French girl and a young German soldier, is a brilliant way to tell the story. Through them we see what it is like to live with almost constant fear. For her it is in an occupied seaside French village. For him it is first in "Hitler's Youth" and then as a soldier--where he is never comfortable with what goes on around him but feels powerless to do anything about it. This is a story of survival, cruelty, great sacrifice and heroism. I highly recommend it.

No comments:

Post a Comment