The story starts on the day of the attack. It was dark, confusing and intense - which illustrates the atmosphere during wartime just right.
Though the book started with some intensity, by the time the chapters formally begin, it does start to get a little slow but it does not drag out. I found that Doerr did take the time to beautifully described the places and unfolded the events. His descriptions are so beautiful and poetic. His writing style is like the perfect light dessert after a savoury meal - you don't expect it to hit but it unknowingly does and surprisingly leaves you in awe.
The story switches between the lives of two main characters Marie-Laure and Werner and three time periods in their lives which is before the war, during the attack of allied forces in an attempt to liberate France and after all the chaos. I got confused quite often with these switches because I didn’t pay attention to the year before each chapter. If you’re going to read this, I suggest you pay attention to the those years just to set your mind on what the chapter is going to be about.
There are far too many interesting characters in the book but we'll leave that to mystery for now.
Marie-Laure
Marie-Laure lost her eyesight around three years before the Nazi occupation in France. She lived with her father in Paris and her father worked for the museum. When Paris got word of the impending Nazi occupation, Marie-Laure’s father got tasked with safekeeping a precious gem. They seeked refuge in her great-uncle who was heavily traumatised by the war and who was said to be “seeing things”.
At first, Marie-Laure found her uncle quite odd as he really was but she was patient with him and tried to understand him when he gets episodes. She even took the courage to be a part of this other world that her uncle seems to create on his mind. Marie developed a close and loving relationship with her uncle and he sort of took the place of her father when he left.
"When I lost my sight, Werner, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?"Marie-Laure
Werner
Werner is an interesting character with a pretty strong character development in the book in the beginning but this fizzle out after a few chapters. He is a young German orphan boy who didn’t want to work in the mines since he lost his father there. It was almost inevitable but due to his skill in fixing electronics, he impressed a general or an officer that he got into training as a soldier. His sister Jutta, didn’t want him to be one of them because she heard about and believe that it wasn’t for a good cause as they have been made to believe. Before he left their orphanage, she told him…
"Is it right to do something just because everyone else is doing it?"
As Werner went on and become a soldier who was valuable to the Nazis, he constantly looked back into his childhood memories and his little sister. This became sort of his conscience but having a good conscience does not really mean anything if you’re actually a part of and/or doing something wicked.
How they meet
Marie-Laure and Werner obviously lived two very different lives and they didn’t meet for a very long time. Theirs is not a romantic relationship, but a friendship that sprung on the darkest of times.
Werner did help Marie-Laure. It was very kind of him to do so. If you're going to read the book, I would highly suggest you read until the end to see how fate played out and ask yourself whether it was well-deserved or not.
In conclusion…
The book took me good 16 days to finish. I didn’t expect it to be that slow of a burn but it was worth every second of it. This is a great piece of literature. It wasn’t intensely emotionally gripping but it was dark, amusing and felt so real.
Also, the book has a very brief scene of r@pe towards the end so that would be something to keep in mind as a trigger warning or in case you want to gift this to someone younger than high school.
I really liked this so much and if you are looking for a great historical fiction. It is very well-written and without a doubt rightfully deserves its bestselling status.
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