Reviews
A magnificent, deeply moving novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France.
This quickly became one of my favourite books right from the beginning. I have never really been into history books, and know the basics but the ironic timing of just finishing The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank - and a couple days later jumping into this book - shed some more light of the time back then during the 1940s during the Nazi Regime. The story line of not only being introduced to this new way of life with very little adjustment period, but also navigating the world as a blind girl - was absolutely mesmerizing. Anthony Doerr put so much detail into life as a blind person, right down to envisioning what colours Marie-Laure sees in her mind as she pictures her own world. Her father dedicated so much time and energy into making her world as accessible for Marie-Laure which absolutely touched my heart. The build up of her uncle who became frozen due to his own past trauma and the way his world slowly opened up because of Marie-Laure was breathtaking.Werner was such a strong character who had such growth through the whole story that I enjoyed the journey of seeing how he and Marie-Laure would eventually cross paths.So many characters played such vital roles in this novel that it had me in the "just one more chapter....." Mindset through almost all of it. Absolutely recommended.
I am angry and sad and ready to scream. This boy holy shit. Like I need to touch some grass because the emotions he pulled out of me? Brooooooo. I have many thoughts about Werner Pfennig. Babe hold my hand cause I am not alright.
Aku selalu dilema saat harus mengulas buku yang menurut banyak orang "BAGUS! KEREN! MUST TO READ!" tapi setelah kubaca justru tidak begitu memenuhi ekspektasiku. Inilah yang kembali terjadi dengan All the Light We Canno See.Nope. Aku nggak akan bilang buku ini jelek atau semacamnya, jadi lebih tepat kalau menyebut bahwa this book is indeed not my cup of tea.Mulai dari hal yang kusukai lebih dulu. Pengambilan sudut pandangnya menarik. Sejauh yang kubaca, nggak banyak novel historical fiction yang mengambil POV dari berbagai tokoh, dan justru hal tersebut membuat All the Light We Cannot See terasa lebih "nyata". Sosok Marie-Laure dan Werner yang menjadi sentral buku ini menunjukkan kompleksitas perang itu nggak sebatas "siapa yang benar dan salah". All the Light We Cannot See justru ini ingin menegaskan bahwa semua orang adalah korban dari kekejaman perang dan penguasa serakah. Tapi siapa yang sebenarnya paling dirugikan? Lagi-lagi, warga sipil terutama anak-anak.Aku pribadi sangat suka dengan pembangunan karakter Werner. Pergulatan batinnya sebagai anak yang masuk ke militer demi melarikan diri dari bayang-bayang masa lalu, yang kemudian mulai mempertanyakan di mana kemanasiaannya berada, sampai akhirnya dia berani mengambil keputusan berdasarkan apa yang menurutnya benar, Cukup roller coaster dan bikin aku mewek ketika mengetahui akhir yang Werner dapat. Untuk Marie-Laure? Sayangnya, selain kecerdasannya aku nggak begitu terkesan dengan dia. Ya ... datar gitu karakternya. Menurutku karaker Werner lah yang jadi titik balik perubahan cerita buku ini, Marie-Laure lebih terasa kayak pelengkap aja. All the Light We Cannot See memakai alur maju mundur. Sekilas bakal bingungin ya? Tapi aku malah merasa Anthony Doerr sangat-sangat telaten dalam menyusun alurnya. Timeline-nya dibolak-balik, bikin pembaca gemes setengah mati kapan alur ceritanya bakal bertemu di satu titik. Pertemuan Marie-Laure dan Werner, walau singkat, menurutku jadi momentum yang membuatku otomatis berseru, "AKHIRNYA!!!" Oke. Sekarang masuk ke bagian yang bikin aku kurang sreg. Ehem, cukup banyak sih. Hal pertama yang terlintas di benakku setelah membaca 50 halaman pertama adalah: bosan. Ini kayaknya buku dengan alur "paling selow" yang aku baca. Bahkan ada beberapa momen di mana aku merasa alurnya stuck. Terlalu banyak adegan yang kesannya cuma buat ngulur-ngulur cerita biar makin panjang. Menjelang ending pun rasanya alurnya masih diulurrr terus. Parahnya, aku baca buku ini saat kena reading slump pula :') Banyak orang memuji gaya bahasanya Anthony Doerr yang super puitis. Puitis sih bener, sangat deskriptif juga, sampai ada 1 bab yang isinya narasi semua tanpa dialog. Tapi dipadukan dengan alur yang selow, justru hal itu jadi double kill buatku. Terlepas dari typo yang bejibun, terjemahannya juga menurutku agak kureng, sisi puitis yang ditampilkan jatuhnya terasa kaku. Aku sebenarnya nggak paham apa inti yang disampaikan dari cerita setebal 563 halaman ini. Selain perubahan karakter Werner, nggak ada yang membuatku merasa "wah" lagi. Konflik berlian Lautan Api kukira bakal jadi plot penting, tapi ternyata nggak dieksplor lebih jauh, cuma jadi selipan konflik. Aku rasa buku ini lebih ke menceritakan perjalanan hidup Werner dan Marie-Laure di tengah situasi perang yang sarat dengan doktrin ideologi, kemiskinan, penindasan. Tapi serius, dengan halaman setebal itu aku masih mengharapkan "lebih" dari buku ini.Terakhir, kuakui cerita buku ini cukup meninggalkan lubang di hatiku. Tapi entahlah, secara keseluruhan emosinya nggak nyampe ke aku. Cuma sedih bentar, terus ya ... lewat sekilas aja, hidupku toh kembali berjalan dengan normal. Aku sudah nonton series adaptasinya. Lumayan beda jauh, lebih terkesan didramatisir, dan satu-satunya yang bikin aku antusiasis pas nonton cuma karena Louis Hofmann yang meranin Werner cakep parah wakakakak.Sebagai buku pertama untuk mengawali tahun 2024, All the Light We Cannot See memang tidak membuatku tergugah. Yahh, setidaknya buku bikin aku sedikit bangga karena berhasil menamatkannya setelah berjuang menghadapi reading slump :)
Likely one of the most beautifully written novels I'll ever have the pleasure of reading. Every page turn gave me something new to love, and each and every character stole my heart. This is definitely a book I'll come back to again and again.
"Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever."A novel a decade in the making, All the Light We Cannot See is simply one of the most finely tuned pieces of art I've had the pleasure of experiencing in quite some time. And I don't say "experiencing" lightly: I found it impossible to just simply "read" this book. In fact, it almost manages to give a bad connotation to each and every time I say, "Yeah, I read that book."In a day and age of textspeak, beautiful language appears to be more and more impossible to discover. Enter All the Light, and the dancing and interweaving metaphors, similes, and the impeccable prose of Anthony Doerr. Whether it be about mollusks, radios, love, or warfare, Doerr describes each and every detail of the haunting world he has written about.While this novel juggles various themes and characters, the heart of Doerr's masterpiece belongs to the lives of Werner and Marie-Laure. Their interweaving tales pose questions of both life and death: Are you truly living if you follow the orders of others, while ignoring your own hopes and beliefs? Can we ever completely move on from a past that haunts us? Should we want to? How can life continue on, so still and unwavering, when so many people have left our lives and this world, as quickly as they've entered it?During their brief chapters together, Werner and Marie-Laure form a bond as strong as one that would ordinarily take hundreds of pages to build. Their connection is originated not from sudden lust or years of friendship, but instead, by each making it through hell and happening to find each other on the other side. Like mostly everything in All the Light, their time together doesn't last long, but for me, it left a lasting impression, not unlike the one I had "experiencing" this wonderful book.