What readers think of All the Light We Cannot See, plus links to write your own review.

This book went to the top of the list for WWII novels I have read. It was beautifully written and captivating. I was sorry it ended.

This had me gripped from the first page. I read it very slowly as I didn't want to finish it, yet I couldn't wait to read more. Captivating and so well written. One I will never let go of!

This book mesmerized me. I just finished it -- am in a profound daze and having trouble reorienting myself to my date, time, place, and life. It is one of the most compelling books I've ever read.

When I saw this book, I was attracted to it being about a blind girl in World War 2 but the book has bought so much to me. It has bought a more lively sense of awareness about the war, how it really was. The short chapters were like a breath of fresh air...no long details, it was more interesting that way, at least to me.

I will not give a spoiler alert to the ending but the book tended to be a bit predictable in a way but then twists you in the ending that leaves you sad but still satisfied that you read it.

I will tell people about this book and I have done just that.

Anthony Doerr...a truly fantastic book of 2014 and a good read into 2015.

I had not read anything by Anthony Doerr prior to this book. I simply picked it up because it looked interesting. I was very impressed. Almost every two pages switches from one main character, the blind French girl, to the other main character, Werner, the young German boy. The story does not run chronologically either. In the beginning it is 1944; later it is 1942 then back to 1944. This writer manages to make all of this work without ever leaving the reader confused.

The characters are so well developed the reader feels close to them and likes most of them. The book is poetic and yet realistic.

The blind girl's father may be carrying a fantastic diamond from the Paris Museum of Natural History. He and the girl escape to St. Malo, where the boy of 16 is sent as a soldier in the German army. St. Malo is the last bastion of the German defense, and they are under attack.

The boy manages to save the girl from a German searching for the diamond after the arrest of her uncle and father. The ending is not a romantic ending. It is realistic, complex, and most interesting reading.

I really liked over half of the book, but then it to me was too confusing. It kept jumping back and forth in time and place.