Requisite Read: All The Light We Cannot See

When I first heard about the buzzy (and now Pulitzer Prize-winning) novel All The Light We Cannot See, it was via my friend Kate, who had read it over spring break and insisted it would not disappoint.

The beginning of the book was a bit of a slow burn, but once I got a feel for the characters, I was hooked. The story opens with Marie-Laure, a young blind girl in Paris in the 1940s, just as World War II is beginning, and her single father, a locksmith at the Museum of Natural History l in Paris. Shortly after, the reader is introduced to Warner Pfennig, a young boy with an incredible talent for transfiguring radios, and his sister Jutta, who is similarly fascinated by science and the radio shows they listen to on the topic.

Marie-Laure's father, when he worked at the museum, was responsible for crafting a key for the allegedly omnipotent stone 'The Sea of Flames', which Hitler decides he wants in his collection of precious jewels. Marie-Laure and her father flee Paris to the seaside home of her eccentric uncle, where her path eventually, crosses with that of Werner's. While difficult to retell without the spoilers, the tale is a heart-wrenching and it certainly is a tour de force deserving of all the accolades it received. My one qualm - it was too long. I am not one to shy away from an epic, and at 538 pages, this hardly was one, but I did feel the story could've been reduced by about 50-100 pages without sacrificing quality. All in all, though, if you're to read one 'good' (i.e. non breezy beach read) book this summer, made it All The Light We Cannot See.