(Spoiler alert)
Every once in a while, I pull away from my genre fiction and read something literary. It’s a challenge, because I avoid dystopic stories if I can help it. The world is in enough trouble without pretending it’s worse. That’s my take.
I picked up All the Light We Cannot See at the local thrift store for $2 and started in on it. I will admit it took me weeks to finish; I kept putting it down and reading something easier. But the story pulled me back in every time I picked it up.
In a nutshell, it’s about a blind girl, Marie-Laure, and her father from Paris who go to live with his brother in a place called Saint-Malo during the war. Marie-Laure’s father, who works in a museum, carries with him a precious jewel that some people say is a curse. As long as the carrier keeps it, he or she will not die, but their loved ones will find trouble/death.
The other main character is Werner, who with his sister, Jutta, are orphans in Germany. Because of his innate skill with radios, Werner is enrolled in a Nazi technical school and eventually uses his training in locating hidden radios.
The story follows these two characters and those in their lives throughout the war, a dismal and dangerous existence. Chapters alternate between the two stories, and inevitably, they link for the space of a day or two.
This story is gripping, well-written, tight and moving, but not happily-ever-after. The problem I have with reading over 500 pages, only to have one of the characters blown up in one sentence, near the end, is one of great frustration and sadness. Do I wish I’d never read it? Possibly. It’s haunting, and that can be painful. But perhaps the reminder of what people experience in war and how it changes them—for better or for worse—is necessary from time to time.
This is a highly acclaimed book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, so if that is incentive enough, give it a read.
I LOVED this book! The story was interesting but it was the way it was written that captured me. I had to read it slowly because every phrase, every sentence, was so beautifully written. No wasted words, like a poem. One of my all time favourite books.
I heard the same from someone else today, that they loved this book. I guess I don’t read enough literary fiction to hold a credible opinion! But I did read it all and it left an impression.
I read this one a few years ago. Definitely an emotional read and I wasn’t a fan of the ending either but I think it’s more real-to-life since sadly many didn’t get a happy ending in that time
You are very right. Mostly happily-ever-after endings in the genre fiction I read. Thanks for your response.
Sounds interesting and I’m glad you gave us a warning about the ending as I would find that really hard. This review made me think of a book I borrowed from my son called Berlin, a non-fiction about the lives of German people during WWII. It was also very compelling, revealing how the ordinary citizens lacked the necessities of life but were also under constant scrutiny and suspicion from their own government. How very sad.
It’s a sad world. Maybe that’s why this wasn’t my favorite book, even though it’s more real than some I read. I always need at least a seed of hope to get me through.