The CHIEF March 2019

Book Review

Book Review All the Light We Cannot See By: Caitlyn Cotter

All the Light We Cannot See takes place during WWII and the decade leading up to it. This historical fiction novel was written beautifully in a way that you can understand how anyone, no matter their beliefs, was capable of ending up on either side of the war. This endearing novel shows you into the life of a young boy who was part of the infamous Hitler Youth and at the same time lets you see the world through a young, blind, French girl and her struggles throughout the 1930s and 40s. Doerr wrote in a way that you sympathize with both of the main characters, a German solider and a blind French pedestrian. It takes skill and amazing artistic talent for someone to portray two people on the opposite sides of such a terrible situation in such an understable way. Doerr takes you through the lives of two people who live practically in completely different worlds and shows in an amazing and interesting way in which their lives and stories intertwine. All the Light We Cannot See focuses on the gray area of one of the most scarring, tragic, and evil events in history; Doerr shows how good people can end up in bad situations and how talented, innocent children can grow up to fight for the wrong side of a war and become part of a darkness in human history. While this novel spreads light on one of the darkest events in the past century Doerr somehow wrote in a way that keeps the story kind of lighthearted without sugarcoating the terrible and tragic events that occurred in the 1940s. I highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in the 20th century and the events that occurred with in it.