Book - 39, All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See (2014)

by

Anthony Doerr

Book Read: 24-28 November 2015

Note Written: 07 December 2015

'All the Light We Cannot See' is certainly one of the best books I have read recently. The story is set from the beginning till the end of World War II with a non-linear narrative style (there is also an epilogue to the story). The main focus is on children who are growing up, passing towards adulthood, in those tumultuous times. We see how war, propaganda, grief etc., affects them and also the internal conflicts which are created in them due to these factors. The novel shows a slow progress of the war, without actually going into the war-front - it shows how war affects people if both winning and losing fronts, at various points of the long-drawn war. 

Simplicity and innocence of helpless people, even though they become instruments of war by no choice or wish of theirs, other than the will and longing to survive, portrays a painful picture in your heart. Most of the chapters end by evoking in us a sweet smile or a sudden sadness - there's something of impact, positive or negative, everywhere. The short chapters make the novel an easy, delightful read. 

While we move from chapter to chapter, in love with the characters and the story, we slowly begin to realize that the phrase which makes up the title, 'All the Light We Cannot See', means many things - Marie Laure's blindness; the radio waves and other unseen air waves around us; the quest for the gem 'Sea of Flames'; and the strange connections between people who haven't met and whose worlds are entirely different (may be there are things or readings I have missed as well). The scientific explanations and detailing of 'radio' and radio waves, which forms an integral part of the story, were easy to understand and written with poise. 

Like the puzzles which Marie Laure's dad makes for her to solve, the whole novel, for us, becomes a puzzle - with its non-linear style, short chapters, twists and turns, until you reach the conclusion and solves the whole thing, with certain delight and a tinge of grief. In fact, history itself is comprised of these puzzles; history itself is a puzzle. 

Our activities of today are over and above the people of the past - we form a layer of our own history above them, and that's how the world is, and has been. Each place we see, we've been to, has it's own unique history, each pebble has a story behind it. 'All the Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr, like Patrick Modiano's 'Search Warrant: Dora Bruder', reminds us of these little facts and many more. Thank You Doerr, for such a wonderful book.