All the Light We Cannot See
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful 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.
Stats for nerds
11recommend
17mentions
16people
2014–2026years
71% recommend29% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It always blows my mind that Lonesome Dove is recommended across so many different communities, especially nerd-related ones like HN. I read ~100 books a year on average and it continues to top my all time favorites list; but, in all honesty, I cannot believe it appeals to the wide audience it does due to its content.
That said, here are some of my all time favorites (no particular order):
01. Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
02. Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)
03. A Painted House (John Grisham)
04. A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)
05. The Great Alone (Kristin Hannah)
06. All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
07. Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer)
08. The First Law Trilogy (Joe Abercrombie)
* this encompasses three long books; however, I consider them one long epic novel
09. Mailman (Stephen Starring Grant)
10. Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver)
11. Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus)
12. Hench (Natalie Zina Walschots)
13. Personal Librarian (Marie Benedict)
14. In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)
15. Life We Bury (Allen Eskens)
16. Ordinary Grace (William Kent Krueger)
17. God of the Woods (Liz Moore)
18. Maid (Nita Prose)
19. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (Robert Dugoni)
20. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (James McBride)
- It’s also great in wartime, when communications are likely to be interrupted. For an example read the book “All the light we cannot See” by Doerr
- I really enjoyed this article but the claim of no literary fiction making the Publishers Weekly yearly top 10 lists since 2001 isn't really true:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_best...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_best...
It is true that there isn't that much literary stuff that breaks through, and the stuff that does is usually somewhat crossover (e.g., All the Light We Cannot See in 2015 or Song of Achilles in 2021) but it exists. These two books are shelved under literary codes (though also historical). Song of Achilles in particular is beautifully written and a personal favorite of mine, at least among books published in recent years.
Then there are other works like Little Fires Everywhere and The Midnight Library that I might not consider super literary but nonetheless are also often considered so by book shops or libraries (e.g., https://lightsailed.com/catalog/book/the-midnight-library-a-...; the lit fic code is FIC019000).
I was really surprised that Ferrante's Neapolitan series, the best example (I would have thought) of recent work with both high literary acclaim and popular appeal, did not actually make the top 10 list for any year.
- I used to be VERY into police procedurals: John Sanford, Lee Child, and William Kent Krueger. I still read them, but during lockdown I made a conscious decision to widen my horizons.
Some of my favorites over the last year:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Most of Joe Abercrombie; particularly the First Law series.
God of the Woods by Liz Moore
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
- Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Three-Body Problem
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Some non fiction books that thoroughly convinced me of their thesis with their rigor:
1. Bottle of Lies - Eban
2. Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Piketty. I will admit this was difficult to push through but by the end of it you really appreciate how he takes so many different angles to prove his point. Type 2 fun for sure.
Fiction books with great style:
1. A Deepness in the Sky - Vinge. -- This book is so mind blowingly exceptional I am shocked I don't see it recommended more on these types of questions. Vinge absolutely nails the micro and macro structure of the book. The build up, introduction to and revealing of mysteries, are all perfectly timed to keep you hanging onto every word.
2. All the Light We Cannot See - Doerr
3. Cloud Atlas - Mitchell
