All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
All the Light We Cannot See is a lovely woven story entwined with two unconventional archetypes you wouldn't expect to find in a World War 2 story: the first being a blind French teenager, the second being a German youth that is rather good at all things engineering. There is also a cast of supporting characters, including a pompous diamond hunter and loving relatives that look after one of our main protagonists, which makes for a rather entertaining read.
It helps that Doerr's highly descriptive writing really paints a vivid picture of their settings, especially for France in all the detail that our blind protagonist would notice. It works well to make us step into their world as well as makes the periodic setting really stand out when reading this novel.
Whilst some may not like its short chapter jumping in and out of different scenes and characters, it does add cinematic pacing when reading a good chunk of this book at a time. Therefore, it is recommended that you read this in a manageable portion rather than on a chapter-by-chapter basis to get the most out of reading this, otherwise you may find it difficult to immerse into All the Light We Cannot See's mise-en-scene.
That being said, All the Light We Cannot See is a highly engaging work from a period you would've thought has been done to death by now. However, with Doerr's writing, cinematic pacing, and fully-fledged characters, this makes a welcoming period piece, and well worth reading whether it is for the historical detail, or the dramatic relationships establish with these characters from both sides of this historic setting.
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