2021 Summer Reading Recommendations:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
We can speak of the physical seeing done through our eyes. But we can also speak of a mental “seeing,” analogous to physical seeing, by which we understand the truth of reality. Within these types of “seeing,” there is an interplay between light and darkness: just as we cannot see in the darkness but need light to illuminate the world around us, so also we can speak of a “darkened mind” that needs the light of wisdom and understanding. Further, those who cannot physically see are not necessarily blind, and those who can see the world around them may not have a mind enlightened by the light of wisdom.
In his Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr plays with these notions of sight and blindness—light and darkness. He questions whether physical sight is enough to see the light or if, even when we can see, we remain blind to the light. Perhaps the light is something more than what illuminates the world around us; perhaps it is something that illuminates our minds as well as our eyes.
Doerr explores this idea in the setting of the German invasion of France during the Second World War. With lyrical composition, he weaves together the life stories of a French girl and a German boy.
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris. She lost her sight at the early age of six and has since been dependent upon her father for everything. The devotion and love her father has for his daughter is felt from the first page: he teaches her how to walk the streets, builds her a model of the city to explore with her fingers, and buys her adventure novels to fill her mind with colorful images. Though blind, Marie-Laure is a hopeful and optimistic girl who is always inquiring about the world and exploring as much as she is able. Even as they flee Paris and the world becomes darker around them, Marie-Laure’s mind remains filled with the colorful images and movements of the world she knew in Paris. Marie-Laure is blind but her mind is full of light.
Werner lives in an orphanage, where he discovers a knack for fixing old and decrepit radios. He is a strong and talented boy, destined to enter the mines and die as a miner but filled with dreams for a better life. His skills with radios lands him in a prestigious Nazi school for boys, where he is put to work for the German forces. At this school and in the battlefield, Werner grows insensitive to the death and destruction caused by the German army. What was once a mind full of hopes and dreams for using his talents for good becomes a mind bound by the ideals of the Nazi party. While Werner can see perfectly well, his mind becomes blind to light.
Doerr develops the two storylines of Marie-Laure and Werner as separate plots, only to have them intersect in illuminating and astounding ways. All the Light We Cannot See is a perfect summer read. The chapters are short and the writing exquisite. In this novel, you will find the adventurous elements of secret radio messages and cursed stones as well as the inner movements of the Nazi-soldier’s heart and of an inquisitive, blind girl’s mind.
Through their stories, Doerr demonstrates that physical sight is not enough to see. Even if the eyes are opened to physical light, the mind can be closed to the light of the mind. We can lose our grasp on the truth and beauty of reality even as we behold the world around us. Doerr compels us to open both our eyes and our minds to see the truth and beauty of the world. “Open your eyes,” he writes, “and see what you can with them before they close forever” (48).
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Photo by Egor Myznik
