All The Light We Cannot See

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

February 2024

3 out of 5

Books N Hooks Book Club

“You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest. Of course we do. Name me a person or a nation who does not. The trick is figuring out where your interests are.”

All The Light We Cannot See is about a young blind French girl and a German boy going through World War II. This is a dual POV describing the war from both points of view, their connect and keeping a secret safe. Her father hides an important gem from the Germans in a wooden house that he made for Marie- Laure to learn her neighborhood. But she tries everything in her to stay safe, keep them gem hidden, and stay in touch with her family. Werner fixes radios and get drafted into the war, not by choice, and helps Marie- Laure. Their connection? The professor.

“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close.”

• War

• Hidden gem

• Blind girl and German boy

• Radio

• The Professor

• Violence

• Family

Honest opinion- not my favorite book. I feel like they could have taken his POV and her POV and separated it into two books. At the end it makes sense why it was one but there was a lot of details that were not needed and prolonged the book. Also some historical fiction books tend to be a little dry to me, and I feel this one was.

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.”

P.S- This is another book that I didn’t realize there was a TV show about. I watched the short series on Netflix and loved it. The characters were exactly what I pictured and the story came together watching it.