I'm about two thirds of the way through this novel which just won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It's been alright so far, but I can't say it's really bowled me over. I'm hoping the last third will really start connecting the dots and that the plot starts to gel a bit more. My wife has already read the book and really liked it, so I'm trusting there are good things to come.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
by Anthony Doerr
Review from Booklist –
A novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page
is turned, Doerr’s magnificently drawn story seems at once spacious and
tightly composed. It rests, historically, during the occupation of
France during WWII, but brief chapters told in alternating voices give
the overall—and long—narrative a swift movement through time and
events. We have two main characters, each one on opposite sides in the
conflagration that is destroying Europe. Marie-Louise is a sightless
girl who lived with her father in Paris before the occupation; he was a
master locksmith for the Museum of Natural History. When German forces
necessitate abandonment of the city, Marie-Louise’s father, taking with
him the museum’s greatest treasure, removes himself and his daughter and
eventually arrives at his uncle’s house in the coastal city of
Saint-Malo. Young German soldier Werner is sent to Saint-Malo to track
Resistance activity there, and eventually, and inevitably,
Marie-Louise’s and Werner’s paths cross. It is through their individual
and intertwined tales that Doerr masterfully and knowledgeably
re-creates the deprived civilian conditions of war-torn France and the
strictly controlled lives of the military occupiers.High-Demand
Backstory: A multipronged marketing campaign will make the author’s many
fans aware of his newest book, and extensive review coverage is bound
to enlist many new fans. --Brad Hooper
No comments:
Post a Comment