All The Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr

I was halfway through this book when it was selected as the Pulitzer Prize winner for 2015.  This was probably the least surprising Pulitzer Prize winner in recent history, given that it has already spent 50 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Right from the start I could tell that I was reading an epic. The book narrates some heart wrenching tales from Germany and France during World War II.  The two main characters are both young adolescents,  growing up on different sides, during World War II.  Marie-Laure is a blind girl from France who is curious about everything around her that she cannot see. Werner Pfennig, is a gifted young orphan in Germany who is drafted for special training in one of the Elite Corps in Nazi Germany. While  this is categorized as a work of fiction, I won’t be surprised if many of the details in the book are uncomfortably close to the truth. The book is very well researched and is embedded with all kids of information from details of how wireless radios work to classifications of birds. One piece of trivia that I was surprised to learn was that John  Audubon, who is the father of modern bird watchers the world over, did not just paint  live birds that he saw in the forest. He shot and killed the birds and most often ended up eating them so that he could survive in the wilderness.

On reading the book, I was reminded of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. There are pieces of the story that unfold which don’t seem to fit anywhere. Rest assured that Mr. Doerr will find a way to make the pieces fit in the end. If I had one criticism about the book,  it is this very fact that takes away the suspense in the book. As you approach the latter half you can tell what is going to happen as the pieces of the puzzle that you have assembled clearly outline the missing pieces that you will uncover in the last few pages.

This is a book that should be read slowly and enjoyed. I always wonder if I have read enough books on World War II. This book is evidence that there is room for one more.