Review: "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

I have wanted to read this book since it first came out and it did not disappoint. This is the story of two young people during the occupation of France in World War II. It details the life of Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind girl who lives in Paris with her father. He is the key master of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle. Werner Pfennig is an orphan in Zollverein, Germany. He and his sister are raised at Children’s House, a poor orphanage outside of a coal-mining complex. He is brilliant in repairing radios and the Reich realizes his genius and he is thrown into the war at sixteen. Germany invades France and their lives are on a collision course.

Mr. Doerr is a masterful story teller. While filling the story with historical data, he weaves an intricate, detailed saga of the occupation and how people, whether conqueror or conquered are changed forever. My favorite segment in the book is the attic scene near the end. The author holds you captive as he keeps you on the end of your seat, wondering if Marie will survive. My only criticism of the story is that it switches from present to past and back again with breakneck speed and this can be very confusing.

If you love a first-rate, suspenseful story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, add this book to your reading list. Be sure you are ready for the challenge; this is definitely not a “light” read!