All the Light We Cannot See | Teen Ink

All the Light We Cannot See

August 25, 2019
By Linssy GOLD, Shenzhen, Other
Linssy GOLD, Shenzhen, Other
10 articles 0 photos 0 comments

All the light we cannot see is a fictional novel written by Antony Doerr. The story is set in World war two in France and Germany. It is a story about a girl and a boy who live in different places and have completely different life. They don’t know each other at all. The girl, Marie, is a blind girl living with her father, they move to Saint Malo to Marie’s uncle’s house. The boy Werner is an orphan living in Germany with his sister, then he joined the strict school far away from home…


The story is written in a unique way. One chapter is about Marie, the chapter after is about Werner, then the next is back to Marie…Each chapters are short. The storyline is like twined together. However, the tow of the main characters never seems to have chance to meet, it is almost like two separate story in one book. This let us wonder how Marie and Werner are going to meet, or whether they are going to meet at all… The questions are left for us to find out in the book.
        

The sea of flame is a stone which will give its owner wealth but give bad luck to the people the owner cares at the same time. This is an old legend, but it may be true as well. The mystery of this precious stone is also one of the main line in the story. It seemed Marie and her father had got the real stone, but they cannot make sure and that is supposed to be a secret. Meanwhile other people are trying to get the stone as well… This fairy tale style little story stands out in the book because the rest of the book is just full of reasonable things. It makes the whole book like a mix of fantasy and real facts, both mysterious and serious.
        

Except for the stories happening, there are also many deep meanings in the book. When the German government set stricter restrictions to citizens slowly, Madame Manec said “Do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then? The frog cooks.” She is comparing themselves to the frog, and the Germans to the person who boils the frog. The policies and restrictions the German give the citizens is like boiling the frog, they act is slowly and gradually increase the rate, so that the citizens will not feel wrong instantly, just like the frog waiting to be boiled. This is a strong metaphor and it gave me clear impressions.
         What’s more, Werner’s situation in the “school” is also like the cooked frog. Werner and the boys were like the frog, the school and the instructors were like the one who cooks the frog. At first they let the boys do things that were relatively less unfair, like choosing the weak ones; when they got used to that, they were forced to do more cruel things like pulling water on the criminal. This process was going on and on, overtime the boys became numb, until they were all calm even when the saw murders of innocent people. This is just like the frog in the water waiting to be boiled, the longtime had weakened their senses.
        

The theme of this story is warmth of people, how people survive the war with their kindness and love in heart. The power of kindness is really strong, especially in the harsh cruel environment during the war, when people’s hearts are more vulnerable…
I will recommend this book to my classmate who are interested in history and warm stories. There are really many moments in the book when you can feel the kindness and warmth of people. Overall it is a good book to read.



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