All the Light We Cannot See

French girl and German boy find their way through World War II.By Anthony DoerrRating: 5 / 5.Masterpiece. I was struck early on by Doerr’s prose, which at times seemed like poetry. Very few words would convey a lot, and every scene’s physical and emotional context was so clear that often the tiniest things could be joyful or devastating. There’s a lot that could be spoiled and I don’t want to do that, but it ruins nothing to say that I’m left realizing how many moments echo throughout the book: foreshadowing I didn’t notice, words in once place that reverberate in another, big arcs looping back on themselves. The dynamic narration style more than once gave me goosebumps, so close to quiet thoughts in one moment and whooshing through space and time in the next. I was racing through the end of the book at one point and I had to put it down just to let my heart recover. I did not count how many times I gasped or cried, so fortunately I can’t tell you. This is a beautiful, horrifying…