#21: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I read this book because a relative shared with me that this may have been the best book he ever read.  However, I was thinking as I read All the Light We Cannot See that I just might not be smart enough to fully appreciate this book.  After finishing it and reading some reviews online this morning, I can conclude with 100% certainty that I am not smart enough to fully appreciate this book.

All the Light We Cannot See is a book centered around the life stories of two characters during WW2: Marie-Laure and Werner.  These two children/teenagers could not be any more different.  Marie-Laure is French and blind.  Werner, a German orphan, is obsessed with science, machines, and ponders questions that make my head hurt.  The story is told in a back and forth manner (that honestly I found to be very confusing).  It alternates chapters (very short chapters) between Marie-Laure and Werner but also between time periods (and it was this that I found to be hard to keep up with).  The basic story line is simple: Marie-Laure, after having lost her father, her uncle, and her uncle's care-taker is trying to stay alive on her own and not captured or killed by the Germans while Werner, a brilliant mind, is working for Hitler to locate and kill the Resistance.

There is a sub-plot, which the reviewers I read this morning seemed to not even touch on, making me wonder if I made too big of a deal out of it while I was reading, where Marie-Laure's father attempts to protect a very rare stone--The Sea of Flames.  It is a beautiful blue diamond that France is trying to protect at a time when the Germans are taking jewels and art from anywhere they can find them and claiming them as their own.  Marie-Laure's father, a key master for the Museum of Natural History in Paris, is given a jewel to protect when then Germans begin to invade.  There are four stones: one original and three copies.  The men given stones have no idea if the one in their possession is a fake or the original.  They are simply to act as though they have the real thing and to protect it from being taken at all costs.  There is a legend associated with this stone.  Whoever possesses it shall live forever, but their friends and loved ones are in serious danger and bad things will happen to them.  Reinhold von Rumpel, a German who is working to collect the precious treasures that the Germans capture, wants this stone (because he is very ill and knows that it's his only chance to stat alive) and begins a search for it.  He eventually crosses paths with Marie-Laure thinking that she must know the location of the jewel since her father was the key master for the museum that housed this treasure.  What he did not know was how clever Marie-Laure's father was about concealing the stone he was entrusted to protect.  At about the same time that von Rompel finds Marie-Laure, Werner does too and finally the stories, for a brief moment, converge before separating again.  I wished that these two had had more time together, but I bet I am not the only reader who feels this way.  I'm sure that Doerr was very deliberate in his creation of this part of the story.

This certainly sounds like an interesting story, but I was weighted down by the language of the story, the exact language that Doerr is praised for.  I am a straight-forward kind of reader.  I don't enjoy poetry for this very reason--just cut to the chase and tell me what's on your mind.  I don't want to wade through heavy language and this is just about all I got from Doerr until about the last 100 pages.   And honestly, the last 100 pages were my favorites.

I was also bogged down by the title and trying to figure out exactly what it meant.  There are so many references to light from Werner and there's the obvious light connection to Marie-Laure (in that she can't see light) but the one interpretation that I read this morning comes from the author himself (so it must be right) that the "light" is really the lives and stories of all of the people impacted by WW2.  We will never fully know the stories of everyone touched by that war, yet they were there and they all have important stories to tell.  Marie-Laure and Werner are just two of the very many.   Marie-Laure and Werner are two of the most unique WW2 characters I have read about to date.  They both did what they had to do each day in order to survive an unthinkable hell and while I'd like to say that they both survived, I can't.  I also loved that the last few pages were devoted to the characters who did survive and they detailed their lives after the war and how they persevered.  It just drives home the idea that the war didn't steal their spirit or their desire for happy, productive lives.  The Germans took a lot from them, but never their spirit.

I don't think this is an easy read, nor do I think it is a book you should ever toss in your beach bag.  You have to have a quiet place with no distractions while you read this one.  It's heavy and figurative and everything you'd expect from an award winning author.  But, if that's your thing, you should read it. The 12,000 plus reviewers on Amazon.com alone loved it.  And a few, like me, appreciated it for what it is and are glad that we read it, but are moving on to something more straightforward.

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie

#20: The Liar by Nora Roberts

The Liar is a book with a premise that is almost as frightening as Gone Girl.   The main character, Shelby Foxworth, loses her husband in a mysterious boating accident.  When she begins to deal with paperwork and such after his death, she realizes that they are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, about to lose their house, cars, and furniture (well--really everything), and she's left to deal with it all along with raising and caring for their 3 year old daughter, Callie.  So, Shelby rolls up her sleeves, digs in, and starts making some tough decisions that chop away at the debt.  And, after a bit, she heads home and starts to rely on her family for the support she can't find anywhere else.  Along the way on the road to recovery, Shelby realizes that she never really know her husband at all.  He was, in fact, a total liar and in addition to the debt she's dealing with, she is now fearing for her life. 

Like most Nora Roberts books, Shelby, Calllie, and all of the other characters you meet in this novel are unforgettable.  They are so clearly developed you can hear them talking to you as their story unfolds.  This book is a bit over 500 pages, but it went by so fast I never realized that I had read 500+ pages until I was almost finished.  I wished as I was reading that I had saved this particular book for the beach this summer.  It could be devoured in one day by the ocean with no problem.  Oh well.  

This book does challenge the idea of how well we really know the people we live with and chose to make a life with.  While I think I know Rob better than I know myself, it makes me worry for my girls and makes me hope that they both find some nice boys somewhere and get to really know them before they make any long term commitments.  And I guess I should continue to warn them against being so impressed by "things."  Richard wasn't quite as crazy as Amy in Gone Girl, but he was close.  Luckily, he is fictional.  But as I always say, if someone can think it up to write a book about it, someone could easily act out the story in real-life.  Sadly, I'd put money on someone already having lived Richard's life.  And poor Shelby's and Callie's, too. 

This is a good one--a bit romantic and a bit mysterious.  I think it would be a good made for TV movie.  Read it from your beach chair and decide for yourself!

Happy reading! 
-Dodie