24 July 2020

A Good Read

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Marie-Laurea, a blind girl, lives with her father who is a locksmith at the Paris Museum of Natural History. Marie-Laure is raised in the museum and at home. She has a semi-idyllic childhood until, aged 12 the Nazi's invade Paris and she and her father flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea.
Unknown to Marie-Laure, her father is smuggling what is probably the world's most priceless jewel out of the city on behalf of the museum. It's price tag is beyond monetary value, many believe it has magical powers, in that whoever possesses the stone will not die, but people around that person will succumb to misfortune. A German soldier also knows about the jewel  and will stop at nothing to find it.
Meanwhile in a mining town in Germany, orphans Werner and his sister find a crude radio which Werner fixes, and they become enchanted with the news and stories they hear from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing radios and after repairing a senior-ranking German officer's radio he is enlisted into a youth academy that trains young soldiers for Hitler's army. He is then drafted to utilise his skills to find resistance armies who are using radio waves - but Werner is no soldier and soon realises the cost of his talent.

This isn't a riveting "can't put it down book" but it is a good story. The writing is hauntingly beautiful and very emotional. Reading how her father taught Marie-Laurea to navigate their home and the town is inspirational. The description of the almost complete destruction of Saint-Malo is palpable. Despite the atrocities happening around them it is a nice story of two lives intertwining as they struggle to survive the devastation of WWII. 

Stay Safe & Well 
Polly x

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for the summary. I actually thought I had read this book, but after reading your post, I realize I have not. There seems to be a great many WW2 novels out there these days.

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    1. My village book club has read 3 WW2 novels in the last 4 months!

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  2. I read this one some time ago. I also enjoyed it. A very original and engrossing story.

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  3. Sounds good! I like WW2-themed books and movies.

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    1. Me too, but sometimes they are a bit harrowing.

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  4. Sounds like my kind of book, thank you for your review. Hope all is well with you, take care.

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  5. I read this book a couple of years ago and recall that I enjoyed it then. But, I must confess to not remembering all the plot details. Thanks for the summary and now I may have to re-read it.

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    1. That's why I keep a diary of all the books I have read!

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  6. This is one of my all-time favorite books (and I did find it riveting and couldn't put it down!) I love that period.

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