This quickly became one of my favourite books right from the beginning. I have never really been into history books, and know the basics but the ironic timing of just finishing The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank - and a couple days later jumping into this book - shed some more light of the time back then during the 1940s during the Nazi Regime. The story line of not only being introduced to this new way of life with very little adjustment period, but also navigating the world as a blind girl - was absolutely mesmerizing. Anthony Doerr put so much detail into life as a blind person, right down to envisioning what colours Marie-Laure sees in her mind as she pictures her own world. Her father dedicated so much time and energy into making her world as accessible for Marie-Laure which absolutely touched my heart. The build up of her uncle who became frozen due to his own past trauma and the way his world slowly opened up because of Marie-Laure was breathtaking. Werner was such a strong character who had such growth through the whole story that I enjoyed the journey of seeing how he and Marie-Laure would eventually cross paths. So many characters played such vital roles in this novel that it had me in the "just one more chapter....." Mindset through almost all of it. Absolutely recommended.

“All the Light We Cannot See” leaves me with a deep sense of sadness. Anthony Doerr manages to say so much and so little at the same time with short, concise chapters, some of which are only half a page long. The fates of Werner, Marie-Laure, Jutta, Frederick, and Volkheimer are incredibly moving, even though we learn very little about some of them. The book shows how beautiful and ugly the world is at the same time, that the end is not just black or white, and that survival does not necessarily mean a happy ending, that there is no happy ending anyway. Nothing is sugarcoated. What fascinated me most is that the emotions somehow arise all by themselves, without any character crying or screaming. Especially at the end, everything is just simply described. The last chapters left me with a lump in my throat, and what remains is sadness and sympathy for these fictional characters, who represent so many real people.

I enjoyed the writing and the story. Really interesting structure of chapters and how it jumps in time.

I was skeptical to read yet another ww2 story, but this one was exceptional. I finished it within a week, and was left with a feeling of sad happiness.

In incredibly written book, would recommend to everyone. A beautiful and tragic story.