“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr continues a streak of books that I have read that deal with World War II. For the past couple of years, I have been searching for and reading nonfiction and fiction pertaining to this time period. Historical fiction is fun to read as authors weave their characters into scenes that happened in reality. It is definitely one of my favorite genres.
World War II is so interesting because it forces me to self-reflect on what I would have done if I was a German living during the 1930's and 1940's. Werner, a teenage German orphan, is one of the main characters in the book. You can feel his despair and longing to be successful and to gain knowledge of the world, particularly when it comes to mechanics and electronics. His real world experience working on older radios leads him on a path towards joining the German military as his talent becomes recognized by military leaders. Despite objections from his younger sister, Jutta, Werner decides to go off to a Nazi military training school to further his education and become a soldier. As the war progresses, Werner’s skills in repairing and building radios and using radio frequencies to triangulate positions based on detected radio signals becomes invaluable to the Nazis as they snuff out resistance fighters in Europe. He is confronted with various dilemmas throughout the novel that threaten his success and his humanity.
I found myself pondering many questions about these dilemmas while reading “All the Light We Cannot See”:
- Is achieving success worth more than standing up for what is right?
- What is worth giving up my life for?
- Can I stand up to authority when authority is wrong?
- Can I stand up to the mob when the mob is wrong?
- What am I scared to lose that prevents me from doing the right thing?
- Is choosing to do nothing when I witness wrongdoings just as bad as the wrongdoings?
Contemplating these questions ahead of time will not prepare a person for what they will actually do if ever confronted with difficult situations. This is one reason I hesitate to condemn the actions of the military in combat and police officers while fighting crime in the street. When self-preservation is a natural instinct, everything and everyone else is an afterthought.
In the end, Werner is awestruck with Marie-Laure, another main character, and love ultimately transforms his thinking from his own self-preservation to thinking more about the well-being of another person. However, how far does this thinking go? Does Werner’s self-preservation only now extend to that of Marie-Laure?
“All the Light We Cannot See” is a solid novel with intriguing characters that is entertaining and thought provoking. It reinforces that doing the right thing and resisting despotism is difficult. Despite all the evolutionary progress humans have made, we are just animals looking to live another day.
Memorable Quotes“After she has gone back to sleep, after Etienne has blown out his candle, he kneels for a long time beside his bed. The bony figure of Death rides the streets below, stopping his mount now and then to peer into windows. Horns of fire on his head and smoke leaking from his nostrils and, in his skeletal hands, a list newly charged with addresses. Gazing first at the crew of officers unloading from their limousines into the chateau. Then at the flowing rooms of the perfumer Claude Levitte. Then at the dark tall house of Etienne LeBlanc. Pass us by, Horseman. Pass this house by.”
“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”
“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”
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