February Book Report: All the Light We Cannot See

I have had this book on my to-be-read list for quite some time because it is the sort of book that ticks all my boxes: about Europe in WWI, with two young people at the core of the story, a narrative told by an omniscient narrator…..all the things I am bound to love in a book.  

I am the sort of person who saves a good book for just the moment that I need it and as our February opened with vast amount of snow while T and I finished out our quarantine, I picked up All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.

The book did not disappoint, which is a gross understatement because this book is simply splendid.  The story unfolds gradually at the start of WWII and is mainly told from the point of view of Marie-Laure, a blind girl living in Paris with her father and Werner, an orphan in Germany who will be given an education and then opportunity by the Third Reich, things that he comes to recognize as the double-edged sword they are.  

That the two will come to know one another is clear from nearly the outset of the novel and as Doerr weaves together to story of that meeting, there are beautiful reflections on the nature of love and responsibility, the meaning of the lives regular people live, and the power of a story and sound to lend meaning and vitality to our lives.  To me, a voracious reader and radio-listener, there was such familiarity in those things.  

Doerr can turn a phrase and he won’t be hurried,  two of the very best things about the novel.  He doesn't underplay the horror of war, but reminds us of our humanity amidst it.  I’ve only read the book once but I know that will come back to this novel again and again, to savor the story and Doerr’s reflections on the human condition.  I finished it a few weeks ago but I am still savoring it.  This is the highest complement I can pay a book and I pay it gladly!