World War II; Historical Fiction; Modern Classic
Book Summary
Werner Pfennig is a young orphan, growing up in an orphanage amidst a mining town in Germany with his younger sister, Jutta. Werner is a boy of curious and intelligent nature, with a particular flair for engineering and science. He manages to fix a broken radio, using it to listen to broadcasts of subjects previously unimaginable to him. Despite his dreams of being a scientist, his social class restricts him to the austere conditions of a coal mine. Nevertheless, he manages to escape this cruel fate as he is positioned at a Nazi school, fixing radios.
Marie-Laure is a young, blind girl, residing with her father- who works for a museum. Despite her blindness, her father helps her to pursue her life regardless, reading in braille and using minuscule models to navigate her way around the city of Paris. At the age of 12, the Nazis occupy Paris, forcing her to flee in terror to a reclusive relative's house by the sea, carrying with them the museum's most precious yet dangerous jewel.
The lives of a poor German boy and a blind French girl are artfully intertwined, illuminating the way that despite the treacherous war blazing around them, there is still flickers of good burning inside of people. The two young children try to survive the pure destruction World War Two has brought, which eventually leads their paths to collide in a novel of devastation and warmth.
“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once and its string might sail out of your hands forever”
Is this book perfect for me?
This book is perfect for readers that enjoy modern classics. All The Light We Cannot See has touched the hearts of thousands with it's intricate, interconnected story and innocent characters tainted by the horrors of war. The novel itself is one recommended by many scholarly authors and reviewers alike for its deeply moving text, immaculate sense of detail, stunning metaphors and tenacious protagonists.
This book is also perfect for readers that love historical fiction. This novel is set in the grueling time period of WWII, illuminating the atmosphere of desperation and hope lingering in each individual's heart. The brutality of the war is the driving force that determines the fate of Werner and Marie-Laure, as they both are caught in the cruel tide of the violent and scaling war which causes them to betray principles they once believed in.
“History is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history”
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