All The Light We Cannot See Summary
Biography:
Doerr grew up outside of Cleveland Ohio where his mother, a science teacher, taught him about how things worked in the world (Schulman). At the time, “to call yourself a writer would be precocious. Or pretentious” (Dean). All the Light We Cannot See is Doerr’s second novel and fourth book. It took him ten years to write it, partially due to the amount of research about World War II and radio he had to do (Dean). Doerr writes in present tense and a short and concise style. His syntax includes mostly short to medium length sentences. He uses short sentences to set the scene such as “The gate creaks.” and “She climbs the last flight” (Doerr 230). The book is broken up into well over a hundred chapters that are each just a couple pages …show more content…
Werner Pfennig is an orphan who lives in an orphanage with his sister. He becomes fascinated with radios and soon becomes known for his skills. He is recommended to the National Political Institution of Education, a youth academy, where he learns to triangulate the location of a transmitting radio. When he’s sixteen he is sent with a group of soldiers and uses his skills to find members of the resistance who his fellow soldiers kill. Meanwhile, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind girl who lives with her father moves to Saint-Malo to live with her reclusive great uncle, Etienne LeBlanc. Her father is a locksmith who is carrying an infamous diamond called The Sea of Flames. After her father is arrested, Marie-Laure starts becoming part of the resistance by making transmissions on her grandfather’s radio. The two stories converge as Werner hears reports and and eventually finds her transmissions. The main narrative finally catches up to the slow pace story of the two main characters during the siege of Saint-Malo that has punctuated the main storyline. Warner saves Marie-Laure from Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel, who is after the diamond, and they spend a couple hours together before they go their separate
Doerr grew up outside of Cleveland Ohio where his mother, a science teacher, taught him about how things worked in the world (Schulman). At the time, “to call yourself a writer would be precocious. Or pretentious” (Dean). All the Light We Cannot See is Doerr’s second novel and fourth book. It took him ten years to write it, partially due to the amount of research about World War II and radio he had to do (Dean). Doerr writes in present tense and a short and concise style. His syntax includes mostly short to medium length sentences. He uses short sentences to set the scene such as “The gate creaks.” and “She climbs the last flight” (Doerr 230). The book is broken up into well over a hundred chapters that are each just a couple pages …show more content…
Werner Pfennig is an orphan who lives in an orphanage with his sister. He becomes fascinated with radios and soon becomes known for his skills. He is recommended to the National Political Institution of Education, a youth academy, where he learns to triangulate the location of a transmitting radio. When he’s sixteen he is sent with a group of soldiers and uses his skills to find members of the resistance who his fellow soldiers kill. Meanwhile, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind girl who lives with her father moves to Saint-Malo to live with her reclusive great uncle, Etienne LeBlanc. Her father is a locksmith who is carrying an infamous diamond called The Sea of Flames. After her father is arrested, Marie-Laure starts becoming part of the resistance by making transmissions on her grandfather’s radio. The two stories converge as Werner hears reports and and eventually finds her transmissions. The main narrative finally catches up to the slow pace story of the two main characters during the siege of Saint-Malo that has punctuated the main storyline. Warner saves Marie-Laure from Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel, who is after the diamond, and they spend a couple hours together before they go their separate