All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Reviewed by Lori

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel
Title: All the Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 98669

Description:  A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after a fortuitous meeting on the Brittany coast.

Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It!

Why I Read it: This book has been on my reading list for awhile and it was recommended to me by several people.

Lori's Notes: This was a fantastic novel.  It may seem overwhelming in terms of size but the individual chapters are very short and read almost like mini short stories within the book.  The characters alternate between Marie-Laure a blind Parisian girl, and Werner an orphan German boy. Marie-Laure's father, Daniel LeBlanc, works in a Paris Museum as a key master and designs intricate puzzle boxes for his daughter.  Werner lives in a children's home with his sister Jutta and because of his interest in radios is quickly recruited into the Hitler youth.  I loved the interplay of these two stories.  As Marie-Laure and her father flee Paris for Saint-Malo we meet her great uncle Etienne, an agoraphobe who has been playing secret radio broadcasts.  Broadcasts that have reached the ears of Werner and Jutta in the children's home in Germany.  I was ever amazed at the connections in the stories, and pondered over the irony of some of the situations.  Eg. Marie-Laure's father being an imprisoned key-maker, and Werner's desire to escape the mining town of his youth for fear of being buried and ending up trapped beneath a bombed out hotel.  There are momentss that made me cry in this book but not the ones I would have expected.  I cried more for the victories than I did the tragedies.  I felt like all of the characters in this novel were quite well developed and I had a clear picture of who everyone was in my mind.  I also liked the dichotomies at play - light and dark, sight and blindness, sight and sound, things felt and things seen etc.  I also enjoyed the fact that this novel pulls itself from the past into the present.

Recommended Readers: Grade 11 and 12 University Level English Courses, College and University English courses, WWII fiction buffs, adult readers.  I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Favourite Passages: 
"This, she realizes, is the basis of his fear, all fear.  That a light you are powerless to stop will turn on you and usher a bullet to its mark."  (Page 160)
"Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever." (Page 264)
"You must never stop believing, that's the most important thing." (Page 292)
"So really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible." (Page 369)

Themes: WWII, Sight and Blindness, Light and Darkness, Nationality, Family, Agoraphobia, Connections, Mysteries, Treasure hunting, Youth, War, Resistance, Award Winners, Curriculum study, Death, Historical Fiction, Orphans, Secrets

Cross-Genre Links: 
Websearch: The Burning of Saint-Malo
Images: Saint-Malo
Music: Claude Debussy's - Clair de Lune
Websearch: Radios in WWII
Websearch: Light
Websearch: Puzzle Boxes


Inquiries and Activities: 

  • Discuss how the various characters in this novel are  buried, confined or trapped (Werner - Mine/Hotel, Marie-Laure - Blindness/Attic, Etienne - Fear/Home etc)
  • How does this story mimic that of 20,000 Leagues under the sea?  How does this story and living by the sea influence Marie-Laure?
  • What do you think the title signifies?  Does it mean actual light or something else?
  • How does each character reveal their inner light?
  • In what ways do Frederick and Marie-Laure see things others do not?
  • Discuss the various ways that Marie-Laure and Werner are connected or discuss the connections between characters (Eg. Jutta and Werner to Marie-Laure and her Great-Uncle Etienne)
  • Why did the museum give the stone to Daniel Leblanc?
  • What is the significance of the last name Leblanc?
  • Do a comparative study between this novel and "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.  Talk about tragedy in both novels and the irreverence of death.
  • How does Werner connect everyone in the various time periods?  How does the book come full circle?

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