All The Light We Cannot See

Power of Sound

There was, admittedly, a reluctance to read this book, in spite of its Pulitzer and many more awards, because World War II holds little interest now. Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See is a beautiful and delicate novel set in evil times, but still bringing out the goodness in so many people; a love story waiting to happen, tragically the two people meant for each other, meet much too late.

Marie-Laure lost her sight at the age of six, but her loving father makes sure she is as self-sufficient as possible.  A locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris by profession, a maker of intricate little puzzle boxes as a hobby, Daniel LeBlanc makes a detailed scale model of their area in Paris, so that his daughter can get a feel of it; he buys her expensive Braille books and also takes her with him to work, where she learns a lot from the scientists working at the Museum.

The Museum also hides under massive security, a priceless but cursed diamond, the Sea of Flames. Whoever keeps it cannot die, but it will take a toll on their loved ones.

Parallel to the life of the LeBlancs is that of German orphan Werner Pfennig, who along with his sister Jutta, lives in an orphanage in the coal-mining town of Zollverein. He and Jutta find a broken short-wave radio, which Werner manages to repair, revealing his extraordinary skill with radio circuitry. He and Jutta listen to many programmes, including a broadcast from France hosted by a man who shares stories about science, simplified for young listeners. This broadcast becomes Werner’s way out of his sad existence.

 When the Germans occupy France, the LeBlancs are forced to move to the beautiful coastal town of Saint-Malo, with a ‘crazy’ uncle Etienne and his kind housekeeper Madame Manec.  Marie-Laure is happy for a while, till the Germans march into the town and destroy its fragile peace. 

Werner’s technical wizardly helps him escape the orphanage and gain entry into an elite Nazi military school which is brutal in the extreme. Werner’s best friend Frederick, the gentle bird lover, is broken by the school’s savage regime, but he survives again due to his skill and is sent to the front to trace enemy radio broadcasts.

Daniel is arrested by the Germans, denounced by a greedy neighbor and disappears. Madame Manec, with Etienne and Marie-Laure runs an efficient but dangerous Resistance operation from their home.

In 1944, when the War is gradually coming to an end, with deaths and broken spirits on both sides—Doerr depicts the suffering of the Germans too—Werner finally lands in Saint-Malo, to find and destroy the radio that has been transmitting intelligence information and helping the Allied Forces against the Germans. At the same time, a sadistic German military officer, Reinhold von Rumpel, suffering from cancer arrives searching for the Sea of Flames, that can save him.

Werner and Marie-Laure’s paths briefly converge and a connection is briefly forged that is beyond the madness, cruelty and destruction around them—these two strange kids, the blind girl with a thousand freckles and the pale German boy with a shock of snowy hair, brought together by the power of radio waves that offered them both hope and redemption.

An emotionally stirring story, with wonderfully etched characters—even the minor ones like Werner’s giant buddy in the army and the Saint-Malo baker, who inserts secret messages into her loaves of bread. People who find the strength to fight tough circumstances, their courage is never acknowledged by history--- only by fiction.

All The Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr

Publisher: Scribner

Pages: 530