REVIEW: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (1 star or less)

So many people recommended this book to me - and even in the "Silent Meditation" pools at Harbin, a random woman could not contain her enthusiasm as I sat silently reading and felt compelled to interrupt me with "That is the MOST PROFOUND book I have ever read."

Aside:  I did not engage with that woman because a) "silent" means no talking; b) if I am reading a book in public, it is not merely a prop to encourage random strangers to strike up conversation; c) perhaps she feels that I am not clever enough to experience the book for myself and she needs to provide guidance (if yes, then piss off); d) if this is the most profound book you've ever read - you clearly aren't reading enough (Start with "Possessive Investment in Whiteness" and piss off).

First - I want to acknowledge that the author's writing style is enjoyable, descriptive and flows nicely.  It was a very quick read.  Lovely descriptions -- but frankly, it got to a point where I felt like this was just a vehicle for his love of writing such descriptions.

Second - his characters are weak and abused, and lacking agency.  

Let's talk about Marie-Laure -- she's the extreme "Angel in a Glass Box."  Oh, poor little thing - she's BLIND!  She can't be expected to do anything, not dress, not pack to flee Paris, not even wash her own hair when she's a flipping teenage girl (no, her father does it while she is, presumably, naked in the bath tub).  

Did the author actually do any research into blindness (causes and correction)?  Did he actually talk to any blind people?  And, how about whether blind people actually count storm drains, make their own breakfast, get dressed and go outside on their own?  I am curious, frankly, to know what she did with most of her time when she wasn't reading from the same two books between age 6 and 16 -- and how did her father find the time to survey and carve intricate wood model puzzle box houses of the French Quarter in Paris and St Malo while also doing all of the things needed to care for his daughter and himself (oh, and work when they were in Paris). 

The orphan Werner and his sister Jutta -- whose parent(s) were killed in the mines (no explanation on the mother) -- find a broken radio and fix it, launching Werner on a quest to learn all about engineering.  He can fix things just by thinking it through -- SHOCKING! Wait - that's what the rest of us do.  We think about things, try a thing and test it out. What's really shocking is that he can be part of a marginal class in a coal mining town and then spend time in a Nazi school and not have any idea that the Nazis were sending trainloads of people off to die. In fact, the German characters seem so protected from the extent of the war that it's laughable.

We can't just let the evil Germans off the hook for ignorance and passive complicity - let's throw in a few random scenes of gratuitous cruelty involving a (possibly Jewish) prisoner, a student who is beaten into a traumatic brain injury because of poor eyesight, rape three women by a group of Russian soldiers (in one sneaky little paragraph) and kill off our German soldier, Werner, on a land mine after he saves the poor blind Marie Laure.

Frankly, I think the more interesting characters are the agoraphobic uncle Etienne whose illegal radio broadcasts reach England and Germany and the housekeeper (60 years of service!) who knows and feeds everyone in the town (where they get the money and food is still a mystery).

So, let's return to Marie Laurent.  She survives the war, doesn't get raped, nary a scratch on her precious little head and... the author doesn't see fit for her to ever have cataract surgery? Not even an attempt to restore some of her vision?  Cataracts are the most curable cause of blindness -- so she goes through a PhD program, works at the museum, collects sea animals (blind) and writes books but hasn't ever bothered to get the cataracts out? Why does the author see fit to punish her this way?  

Oh, wait - because her blindness is merely a trope to allow him to go off on descriptive tangents of sensual exploration.  Used.

Do I have to even get into the ridiculous sub plot of the priceless blue diamond and all it's mythology?  The cancer-ridden Nazi treasure hunter, keen on tracking down the precious gem that will let him LIVE FOR EVER!  YOU WILL NEVER HAVE THE ARK, INDIANA JONES!!!

Why did this get any prizes?  Seriously. I am calling BS. Did Doerr just get the Pulitzer because it was his turn?  Congratulations, white man.

REVIEW: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

RATING: 1 STAR (or less!)

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.