All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

May 6, 2014

Scribner 

531 pages

Historical fiction, WWII, book club

Rating: 3-1/2 /5

5/19/19-7/26/19 My third attempt after starting this book 4 years ago.

“It would not have been possible for us to take power or to use it I. The ways we have without the radio.” -Joseph Goebbels

3-1/2 stars. I know my opinion isn’t with the many rave reviews this book had received. I have really mixed emotions about this book. I had initially started it when first published in 2014 but had to shelf it as I was reading several WWII at the time. The stories were getting mixed in my head. Re-reading it now makes me realize that the story is rather confusing at times. The story alternates between two stories which ultimately collide. I found the way the chapters are written with small, almost “sub-chapter” like descriptions difficult to follow. It seems that most of book is written during August 1944 but even then the dates flip flop from Aug 7th to August 8th and back to August 7th again. Weaves between these chapters the story strays back as far as 1939. Although this book is over 500 pages long, it feels strange for me to say that I felt the ending was abrupt and felt strangely “unfinished”. It seems that certain characters whom I had long forgotten make an appearance toward the end at which point I am trying to figure out why.





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