All The Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Reviewed by me
Genre: Fiction
Topic: WWII
The novel tells a story that takes place from 1934 to 1944, about two characters: Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig, and how their lives intersect during the bombing of Saint-Malo.
Marie-Laure LeBlanc is a blind French girl, raised by a single father, Daniel LeBlanc, a locksmith that works at Paris' National Museum of History.
The museum held an ancient stone known as the Sea of Flames. The stone belonged to a prince who many believed was a diety. As long as he kept the stone, he could no be killed. The myth of the stone was that the Goddess of Earth made the Sea of Flames for her lover, the God of the Sea, but when the river dried up the prince plucked it out and the goddess became enraged and curse the stone, "the keeper of the stone will live forever, but so long as he kept it, misfortunes would fall on all those he loved one after another in unending rain".
It was 1940 when the Nazis occupied Paris. The director of the museum assigned an important mission to hide the Sea of Flames. There would be three decoys and a real diamond. One would stay behind at the museum and the other three sent in different directions. It is for the best that no one knows whether they carry the real diamond or a fake. One went with Mr. Daniel LeBlanc to Saint-Malo where he and his blind daughter stayed at his Uncle Etienne's six story house.
The locksmith trained his daughter for survival by building live models of the streets and having her memorize the directions and number of steps from each location. Marie-Laure, always careful and graceful, was left with her Uncle Etienne, while her father was to return to Paris. The locksmith left the diamond inside the live model of Uncle Etienne's house. Marie-Laure twists the chimney of the miniature house ninety degrees then slides off the roof and turns it over, the diamond drops into her palm.
Werner Pfennig, a German boy, brilliant for his age, grew up in an orphanage with his younger sister, Jutta. Werner had a exceptional talent for fixing radios and tracing transmitters. His talent was acknowledged by a lance corporal, Herr Siedler who referred Werner to attend General Heissmeyer's school, the National Political Institutes of Education. Werner befriended a kind boy from Berlin named Frederick who was targeted as the weakest boy. Werner witnessed Frederick being severely beaten up to the point where he obtained brain trauma and long term memory lost. Werner had it easy since the instructor of technical sciences, Dr. Hauptmann took favor in Werner for his engineer skills and mathematical intelligence. Werner was recruited to track down the resistance and his job was to trace radio frequencies. It was in 1944, while tracking down the resistance he was trapped in the cellar of The Hotels of Bees due to the bombing in Saint-Malo. Werner was monitoring the radio when he heard a girl say, "He is here. He is right below me.. He will kill me" The girl was Marie-Laure who has been hiding in the attic for 5 days from a German soldier, Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel, who was out to retrieve the diamond.
Werner dreamt of himself as an award winner for something spectacular like code-breaking or building a world class machine. Werner who desperately wanted a future was exploited and used for war. He experienced guilt and shame for betraying his only friend, for leaving his sister behind in the orphanage. Then he hears this girl on the radio and he wants to help this girl. He wants to save her. Werner escapes from the cellar with a rifle on one arm and enters Uncle Etienne's house. In his best attempt to speak French to Marie-Laure, "I am not killing you. I am hearing you. On the radio. Is why I come."
The novel ends in 1974, Werner's sister travels to Saint-Malo and then she meets Marie-Laure LeBlanc in Paris.
Opinions:
Anthony Doerr writes with intricate details of the complexity of a person's intention.
"How do you ever know for certain that you are doing the right thing?", says Daniel LeBlanc.
Mr. LeBlanc was sent out on a mission in which danger he could not foresee. He did not know if he held a decoy or the real diamond. He did not know he would have put his only daughter's life in jeopardy. He did not know that he would never see his daughter again.
"Don't you want to be alive before you die?" Characters like Uncle Etienne who has isolated himself from society for decades, finds the passion and bravery to risk his own life to participate in the resistance. To feel alive and useful even in his old age.
Then there is Marie-Laure who is blind and miraculously survives by her own wits for 5 days while being hunted. Marie-Laure says, "When I lost my sight, Werner, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?" He says, "Not in years, but today. Today maybe I did".
Werner who only saw opportunities to escape from hell, found himself deeper in hell. He thought if he could past the entrance exams, if he could turn a blind eye on evil, if he was acknowledged by people of power, that he will become who he wanted to be. "Your problem, Werner" says Frederick, "Is that you still believe you own your life". Eventually Werner learned the hard way that he had no free-will serving the German army. He was a tool and nothing more.
Overall, the book felt heartwarming and left a good impression. The author reveals many great themes on fear, cruelty, kindness, resilience, and bravery. The structure of this book is unique and was difficult to read since the author writes in different timelines and switches back and forth from different character perspectives throughout the book. It is important for readers to pay attention to the dates and characters.
