
All the Light We Cannot See
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy Now for £16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Julie Teal
-
By:
-
Anthony Doerr
About this listen
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION
A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II
Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure’s agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Doerr’s gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work.
©2014 Anthony Doerr (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers LtdCritic reviews
'Far more than a conventional war story, It's a tightly focused epic revolving around two unusual main characters … Doerr paints with a rich palette, using prose that resonates deeply and conveys the ephemera of daily existence along with high drama, sadness and hope … A bittersweet and moving novel that lingers in the mind' Clifford Beal, Daily Mail
‘TIt is easy to understand why Doerr’s book is regarded by many as an epic and a masterpiece’ Justin Cartwright, Observer
‘This novel will be a piece of luck for anyone with a long plane journey or beach holiday ahead. It is such a page-turner, entirely absorbing… [Doerr’s] attention to detail is magnificent’ Carmen Callil, Guardian
‘Doerr’s novel seems poised somewhere between the sublime and the twee. It very much lands on the right side of things, thanks to the author’s eye for detail and the suspenseful rhythm of his chapters — often only a page or two — which expertly cut back and forth in time. He can bring a scene to life in a single paragraph … Delicate and moving … the novel takes hold and will not easily let go’ Lidija Haas, The Times
‘Boy meets girl in Anthony Doerr’s hauntingly beautiful new book, but the circumstances are as elegantly circuitous as they can be’ Janet Maslin, The New York Times
‘I’m not sure I will read a better novel this year … Enthrallingly told, beautifully written and so emotionally plangent that some passages bring tears’ Amanda Vaill, Washington Post
‘This jewel of a story is put together like a vintage timepiece … Doerr’s writing and imagery are stunning. It’s been a while since a novel had me under its spell in this fashion.’ Abraham Verghese
‘“All the Light We Cannot See” is a dazzling, epic work of fiction. Anthony Doerr writes beautifully about the mythic and the intimate, about snails on beaches and armies on the move, about fate and love and history and those breathless, unbearable moments when they all come crashing together.’ Jess Walter
I'm not going to discuss the plot at all. I simply suggest you read it at your earliest opportunity, I doubt you will be disappointed.
However -and it's a big 'however' - the narration is, shall we say, less than ideal.
The narrator would have been perfect for Jane Austen maybe? But not for this. There's plenty of mis-pronounciations.
I nearly gave up after 10 minutes, viz: One of the American bombers was named 'Pistol Packing Mama' after a 1940s song of the same name. Mama as in Mamma/Momma. It's an American thing(!)
The narrator pronounces it "Pistol Packing M'Ma" -(MuhMah). M'ma? Really? This sets the tone for what is to come - upper crust accent, totally out of place in this context, a narrator often pronouncing words she possibly hasn't encountered before, 'Deadlock' is another example. And it goes on, and on...An obstacle between you the listener and the prose itself.
There are a few factual errors in the story too, but acceptably few I think. Surprised though to find two errors on the same page: the great uncle is showing off his radio collection, on one of them he apparently manages to listen to Pakistan, quite a feat in 1940 as Pakistan didn't exist until 1947. And one of his radios is stereo? Nope. There were only occasional, very primitive, experimental stereo radio broadcasts until the technology grew up in the late 1950s.
These are very minor points in a well-researched book But read it, that's my advice.,
A truly great book, despite the narration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Real Gem
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There's not so much as a word out of place. this book was a pure joy to listen to.
So beautiful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An epic story about life, love, loss and war.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Performance v good apart from some mispronunciations of mathematical terms. My book of the year 2018
Worth buying with ebook
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thumbs up...
Great listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.