The reason I picked up All the Light We Cannot See is because I was intrigued. Here's a basic, spoiler-free summary of the plot.
Taking place in World War II, All the Light We Cannot See follows the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner. Marie-Laure is a sixteen year old blind French girl. Werner is an eighteen year old German soldier. Marie-Laure's father works at a Parisian museum and when the German army is invading France, he is given a very valuable stone to protect. With the stone and his daughter in tow, he flees to the city of Saint Malo. Werner is a German orphan who has an uncanny ability to fix radios. This ability gets him noticed by the German army. He is sent to a private school and finally put out in the field. His unique gift leads him to Saint Malo, where his and Marie's paths may cross. That's honestly all I can tell you without spoilers, so if you haven't read it, go read it. It's a very moving, profound book that is well worth your time.
Now for a completely spoiler filled review for those that have read the book, or those who want to read the review even if they haven't read the book. If you're one of the second people, shame on you, and go pick up the book!
The structure of the novel was something I particularly liked. It was divided into overarching sections with subchapters in each section. The first two or three chapters of a section were taking place at the climax of the book, then the rest of the section would be spent switching between Marie-Laure and Werner's past lives and what took them to Saint Malo. About half way through the book we were introduced to Sergeant Major von Rumpel and would occasionally get a chapter from his point of view. The structure was very intricate and conveyed the story in the manner which I feel the author intended.
Now let's discuss characters. Obviously our co-protagonists are Marie-Laure and Werner.
Marie-Laure is a very curious and intelligent girl, despite her disability. She a very admirable character throughout the novel. She's very brave, even if she claims she is only getting up and living her life as she can. her intelligence is shown through her ability to navigate her way around first Paris and then Saint Malo. Marie-Laure is the embodiment of light and purity throughout the novel, ironic because she can see no light (see what I did there?).
Werner on the other hand, has a bit more complexity and darkness to his character. He is an orphan who is had to look after his younger sister Jutta his entire life. When he finally gets the chance to make something of himself, he takes it. Can we blame him? No. Like Marie-Laure, he is a very intelligent and curious character, even though both of their schoolings have been very limited. Just as Marie-Laure is fascinated with novels, Werner is fascinated with radios. We have to admire Werner's determination, his intelligence to fix radios, and yet we are rather afraid of the dark side of him we see while he is at school. Fredrick, who is Werner's close friend, is continually beaten, picked on, and ultimately destroyed by other students and officers. Werner tries to think of other things, tries to help Fredrick in subtle private ways, but cannot stand up for his friend publically. This emphasizes Werner's drive and desire to be accepted by these men at the academy, to not make himself the weakest target, because he is rather small for his age. When Werner and his comrades are traveling around searching for unauthorized radio broadcasts, we again glimpse a darker part of his spirit. He does his job, even if it costs innocent people their lives. But he isn't feeling guiltless, he doesn't feel good about it. We can see his inner turmoil at this by his refusing to write to Jutta and when he becomes haunted by the little girl's face. For me, one of the most moving parts of Werner's character was when he saw Marie-Laure for the first time. His instant desire to protect her, to help her, was very moving amidst the turmoil he has been through to this point.
I want to just briefly touch upon the foil between Fredrick and Werner. Both boys have a similar core value deep in them, yet Fredrick acts upon his. Fredrick has a soft heart, and does not become course as the academy wishes him to be. Werner's desire to be accepted and successful overrides his human intuition on good and bad. When the officer at the academy has the boys throw water at the prisoner, Werner does not feel good about it, but he does it to fit in. Fredrick does not. The foil between these two is used to show how our actions on our intuition and conscious can effect the turn out of our lives. I also would like to point out how Jutta's actions are more inline with Fredrick's than Werner's were. I feel that if Jutta and Fredrick had had the opportunity to meet, they would have really been the best of friends.
The relationship between Volkiemer and Werner was a very interesting one to me. Volkiemer was known as a giant, we often saw how ruthless he could be, yet he was always very gentle and kind with Werner. it was obvious that Volkiemer felt a softness towards him. I think Volkiemer shows that no one is purely good or purely bad. Volkiemer is supposed to highlight this quality in each of us, only in a more extreme light.
I'll be honest, at first I had very conflicting feelings about the end of the book, but I loved it. I loved it. Some people might be worked up that Werner and Marie-Laure seriously spent less than a day together. It was so fleeting, we read 500 pages for a fleeting moment. But isn't that what was so beautiful about it? It was so honestly real. We're not always going to have that huge moment where we have someone come bounding into our lives to stay forever. Sometimes people are fleeting. I think that was the beauty of it, was that even seventy-years later, Marie-Laure remembers the day she had with Werner and the three times he had saved her. It was very touching and beautiful to me when Jutta and Marie-Laure were talking at the end of the novel.
Now for Werner's death. I cried. 100% honest, I sobbed like a baby. I cry in pretty much every book I read, so don't judge me. I swear I'm normal (ish). Werner was haunted now by all the people he'd killed, all the bad decisions he made. I don't believe that Werner would have ever been whole again if he had survived the war. He was struggling, he was haunted, he was broken. I don't know if he could ever face Jutta knowing how she would feel about all he had done. I don't think a relationship between him and Marie-Laure would ever really work out because of how broken he was inside. I think him walking onto a mine field that he (more accurately his army) set up was very symbolic of his own inner self destruction. The first step he took away fromm the orphanage, away from Jutta, he was on a path of self destruction. His one light in this path was his brief encounter with Marie-Laure. Now don't get me wrong, I wanted them to be together, I wanted them to be together so bad! I feel like together they were light, they were curioustiy and intelligence and innocence and experience and they were light. But now, they are all the light we cannot see. They, we, never got to see how a relationship like that would pan out, if he had lived, if there hadn't been a war, if he had been born French. Now they are all the light we will not see.
Overall, sad book, horribly sad book, but also so incredibly moving as well. Each character relationship was so complex and interesting and each so uniquely different from the last. It was a moving book that is differently deserving of the awards it has won already and will hopefully continue to win.
So sound off in the comments if you have anything to add, if you disagree with anything I said or if you feel differently about the book. Just be kind people, because if there is anything to take from Marie-Laure and this book in general, I think it would be kindness. Be humane to others, be a Jutta, a Fredrick, a Marie-Laure to the world. Don't diminish the light inside of you, don't allow it to join the ranks of other's lights we can't see. The world wants to, needs to, see your light.
