All The Light We Cannot See- Anthony Doerr

 

All The Light We Cannot See is one of those books that gives away nothing about its plot and the sheer size of the book might make you want to keep it on your bookshelf for months while it gathers dust only to pick it up one day and have your mind blown by the tenacity, innocence, and faith of the characters. 

Werner Pfennig, an orphan from Germany is a boy with curious blue eyes and hair as white as snow. His curiosity leads him to discover the workings of radios and transmitters which further nudges him into the world of the German elite and eventually being enlisted during the Second World War. Marie-Laure is a kind, extremely intelligent, and curious girl who is robbed of her eyesight at the age of six but her disability never stops her from learning about the world and what it has to offer. She lives in Paris with her father who works at the Museum of Natural History which exposes Marie-Laure to a wide range of specimens that intrigue her and only increase her appetite for curiosity and discovery. 

As the occupation of France begins, father and daughter are forced to flee their home into a world that is completely unknown to Marie-Laure while they carry something that might change the course of their lives completely. 

This great masterpiece of historical fiction traces the tribulations and daily struggles of not just the oppressed but also the oppressor who creates the ill-fated event of a war. Both Werner and Marie-Laure are hardly at a stage in their life where they may be able to understand the gravity of the political influence in their lives while their childhood is slowly but constantly swept from under their feet. 

One of the best things about the book is its chapterisation as it tumbles from reality to the past and back which not only provides context to the story but also adds depth by maintaining the constant need to know what's next in the reader. One might think of it as a love story but the plot is so much more than just a collision of paths between two teenagers who have lost not just family but also most of their lives to war and death.