My opinion of this book changed about three times over the weeks after I read it. Usually, my internalization and musings of what I read last a few days, and then I move on to the next book. But after weeks, when I sipped coffee, when I buttoned my coat, when I went about my day, this one stayed in my mind. Had I missed something?
During the flurry of wrapping paper that was Christmas at the bookstore, this book flew off the shelves. I’ve heard rumor that one reason for this was publisher bottlenecking, and people want what they can’t have. But I was curious and read it anyway.
When I first read the book, it sucked me in. I had to look up words like herbarium, escutcheons, and gendarmes. The story goes back and forth between two main characters, a young blind girl growing up in Paris during World War II right before Nazi occupation, and a young German orphan who must join the Hitler Youth. The story is interesting because there is buildup behind the scenes of what is going to happen while the main story is occurring.
After reading, I became a bit disillusioned with the story. It was a flash in the pan, fad of a book, plenty of World War II novels have been written (because few people are easier to make villains in a book than Nazis), and the children in the book are a bit too innocent and sweet all the time. I don’t like it when children are treated as innocent props for a story instead of given personalities and weaknesses, like real children. I laughed as I called this book “World War II with maple syrup on top”.
So that had settled things. But as I mulled over the things I did like about the story, I remembered some of my favorite books. I love Ulysses by James Joyce and The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. One reason I love these books is because they both have an interesting plot, but focus on the everyday aspects of life. The characters may have purpose, but they also hang up their laundry, they let their thoughts wander, they still live. All the Light We Cannot See also does this, and apparently this book would have nagged at my mind until I discovered the link.
I don’t think everyone will have such a journey when they read this, but hey, who really knows what will happen when they read a book?
Written by Nicola
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