Too perfect

All the Light We Cannot See
von Anthony Doerr

Bewertet mit 4 Sternen

Literary Prize collector Anthony Doerr obviously knows how to write a book. He knows which themes touch people, he seems to have grand knowledge of sciences as a background (or really did his homework researching) and structures his novel masterfully leading the reader in a powerful maelstrom of interwined storylines.

A blind girl whose father has to hide a precious and supposedly damned diamond from the Nazi regime and an orphan boy with an unnatural gift for radio engineering who gets the possibility to escape his predestined life working in the mines of Zollverein by joining the armed forces. In the last days of WW II the two in the meantime grown-up children meet and where the first remains as unafraid as she was during the all those years, the other one finally admits to himself what his love for engineering and mathematics was used for.

Doerr has a beautiful language, very poetical, romantic, picturesque. It enchants the reader and skillfully combines scientific topics and versions of infinity with aspects of the human nature. As J. R. Moehringer (author of 'Sutton and the Tender Bar') said it 'Doerr sees the world as a scientist, but feels it as a poet.' But it seems as if Doerr overdid it a little bit. Although he depicts a complete picture of all the aspects of war's horrors, his poetic and artistic writing is too aloof to really transport the ugly reality of full-blown cruelty. Everything seems filtered, soft-washed. Therefore the reader is left to wonder if the novel's setting in WW II really was the best choice Doerr could make. It certainly is one which appeals to the masses and probably always earns bonus points on the way to the next Book Prize, but it is (imho) not suited for the silent and modest story of 'All the light we cannot see'.