title: All the Light We Cannot See by: Doerr, Anthony published: 2015-04-23 read: 2023-08 preview

This book was on my list for a while, and I ignored it until recently. When I then wanted to buy it, I noticed that it was not only a crazy bestseller, but also (to be) made into a Netflix series or movie.

Not the best of choices therefore, but still, my list was otherwise empty so there I went.

The book deals of a girl, around 15, who lives in Paris with her father. She is blind, or goes blind, and her father – curator at the National History museum – takes care of here by, amongst other things, building a mockup of their neighbourhood, allowing Marie-Laure to mentally and then physically walk the streets without help.

It’s also about Werner, a German boy who is good with 1940’s radios and other electronics circuits, and thus becomes an asset in the war effort.

Two people bound to meet in difficult circumstances. Marie-Laure flees Paris with her father, to Saint-Malo (Bretagne, at the sea), and they take refuge at an aunt and uncle’s who live there. And take the diamond, a huge stone called ‘The Sea of Flames’. It is cursed, first recorded in India; and legend has it that it basically kills everyone except for its bearer or owner. Until it is returned to the sea. This part of the story is reminiscent of a real diamond, The Delhi Sapphire. A bit like in Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone in a way; are they related stories?

In the new city, Marie-Laure slowly becomes accustomed to her surroundings; her dad rebuilds a mockup of her surroundings for her, allowing her to walk outside alone. And then they have the diamond – without being aware of it: when the museum in Paris was left, the director sent out four people were sent out with the diamond, of which three were excellent copies but fake; and only one is real. This one.

In the meantime, a Nazi, Reinhold von Rumpel, is looking for the diamond. His task is to loot gems for the Reich (or himself), and is extremely successful.

As the war progresses, Werner and Marie-Laure’s paths converge in Saint-Malo. Werner intercepts Marie-Laure’s broadcasts, which are part of the French resistance. Werner saves Marie-Laure from von Rumpel while he searching for the diamond, and they share a brief, profound connection before the town is bombarded.

The novel concludes with the post-war lives of the characters. Werner’s fate is tragic, but Marie-Laure survives and continues her life in Paris.

The book jumps between Marie-Laure and Werner; between 1940 and 1944; and sometimes other characters where it fits the story. Each chapter centres one particular person, and finding one’s way through the novel is not hard.

I have never experienced a war and cannot judge the feelings of the main characters. But somehow I was unable to feel sorry for the blind girl. Or the brilliant nazi boy. Or to be sad when her father died, or nearly so?