Ten years in the writing, Anthony Doerr’s
"All the Light We Cannot See" is an epic work of historical fiction.
Originally released in May, 2014, this beautifully written novel was awarded
the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, received great reviews, and was a favorite
with booksellers. This is not a new book but if you haven’t read it make sure
you place this title on your to be read list. The trade paperback is scheduled
to be released in October, 2016. With richly detailed language and characters who
are both brave and heartbreaking, Doerr weaves together the stories of a French
girl named Marie-Laure who has lost her eyesight and a German orphan named
Werner. As Hitler’s occupied territory grows, Marie-Laure and Werner’s lives intersect
even as their families are torn apart, yet this gorgeous novel is the story of
people who, against the odds, find good in one another.
The book opens one month after the Allied
invasion of Normandy, as U.S. airplanes drop leaflets urging the inhabitants of
Saint-Malo to evacuate the town immediately. Marie-Laure, huddles on an upper
floor of an ancient house, struggling in her blindness to make sense of the
events going on around her. Five streets to the north, 18-year-old Private
Werner is bivouacked in an old hotel, scrambling to take cover in advance of
the imminent bombing.
The story then begins to jump back and forth in
time as we learn what has brought these two young people to this place and
where they will go from here. Mr. Doerr’s nuanced approach concentrates on the
choices his characters make as their paths converge.
The heroine is Marie-Laure LeBlanc, whose loving
father, a talented locksmith, goes to extraordinary lengths to help her
compensate for the loss of her eyesight. Marie-Laure’s father oversees all the
locks at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. After his daughter is blinded
by cataracts at the age of 6, he devises tiny, intricate models of the places
she must go, so that she learns to navigate by touch and then by memory.
Marie-Laure grows up beloved and fortunate;
Werner’s life is more grim. Consigned to an orphanage Werner truly seems to
have no future beyond the coal mines which claimed his father’s life. An extraordinary
talent for circuitry eventually gains him entrance to an elite Nazi school with
an emphasis on extreme military training. Werner’s school brutally tests his
decency and when he lets himself be seduced by the power newly bestowed upon
him, he does nothing to stop the system that elevates him from destroying his
best friend.
When the Nazis arrive in Paris, Marie and her
father flee to his uncle’s house in Saint-Malo. Months go by. Werner moves
closer to the front seeking out radio transmissions from the resistance. Life
in Saint-Malo becomes increasingly difficult as the Germans take full control.
Doerr is a master of the metaphor and the novel
is rich in description. But even with the literary and lyrical quality of the
writing the book is extremely readable. The short chapters give the story a
sense of urgency and suspense as the threads are brought together. In an
interview Doerr states, “This was a gesture of friendliness, maybe. It’s like
I’m saying to the reader, ‘I know this is going to be more lyrical than maybe
70 percent of American readers want to see, but here’s a bunch of white space
for you to recover from that lyricism.’ ”
Over the past few months the online Texas book site Lone Star Literary Life conducted a poll of readers across the state to determine their favorite ten bookstores in Texas. Thanks to our many friends and neighbors Paragraphs is proud to have been selected as #3. This is quite an honor for us and we so appreciate all who took the time to vote or send emails in support of Paragraphs.
