All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Locale: Tassy's - a yummy Sunday brunch at Food Glorious Food

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr
The Book: Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure’s agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.

In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.

Doerr’s gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. A finalist for the 2104 National Book Award; a #1 New York Times bestseller; the 2014 Book of the Year at Hudson Booksellers; the #2 book of 2014 at Amazon.com; a LibraryReads Favorite of Favorites; named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review; a best book of 2014 at Powell’s Books, Barnes & Noble, NPR’s Fresh Air, San Francisco Chronicle, The Week, Entertainment Weekly, the Daily Beast, Slate.com, Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the Oregonian, theGuardian, and Kirkus; and a #1 Indie Next pick, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work.

Sarah's Summary: We had a wonderful brunch yesterday at FGF- thanks for the yummy raspberry mimosa's, Tassy! Highly recommended. We certainly missed the ladies who couldn't come. It was a great meeting.

Those of us who were able to attend all really enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See. Though Brenda and I didn't finish it we both plan to. I really enjoyed the writing and all of the stories and how they were connected. It is a book I will recommend to many. We all agreed that even though it was a "Holocaust book" it didn't necessarily read as one. Tassy was thoughtful enough to bring us each a party favor- a label-less can of… beans or peaches?! I haven't opened mine but plan on doing so tonight for dinner. We'll eat whatever is in there! Very clever, Tassy.
The Vote: Brandy presented...

• The Children Act by Ian McEwan   WINS!!
• NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 
• The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

Up Next: We will be meeting on November 2nd at Carmen's house to discuss Yeline's book, The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. 

Next to Present: Carmen

Then:

• Carmen
• Susan S.
• Brenda
• Sarah
• Gina?
• Tassy
• Yeline
• Brandy