All the Light We Cannot See

It seems a bit silly to write a review of a book that already has too many to read, but here's my two cents. I also know I'm bucking the popular trend by not raving about it.

I did love the premise & how it showed the parallel lives of two children all the way to the end of WWII. Each from very different circumstances. There have been soooo many books about the war, so this was a very fresh perspective to see it from.

The author did a fantastic job of showing life for the average French and German citizens during the build up to war and during - the ongoing terror of being involved just because you were alive.

What I didn't love was the ending. I won't spoil it, but after all the sadness, tragedy, and ever-grinding stress the characters go through, I think they (and the reader) deserved a little bit happier ending. It didn't need to be sparkles and rainbows, but yikes.

I'm also not so fond of the colons, semicolons, and the endless loose and run on sentences. Yes, I am aware this is 'literary', but 100-150 word sentences that comprise their own entire paragraphs are annoying to read. (IMHO, of course.) I had to keep going back over them, to be sure I understood the author's intent/implication with that sentence. They took me out of the story more times than I can count.

The bottom line is it is worth reading - for the unique perspective alone.