Book Review | Book Chatter

All The Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
(Scribner Book Company, Hardcover, 9781476746586, May 2014, 531pp.)

The Short of It:

An absorbing story but not as riveting as I had hoped it to be.

The Rest of It:

This story is basically about two people, Marie-Laure, a blind girl living with her father in France before the German occupation of France and Werner Pfenning, a young German boy, orphaned and living with his sister Jutta in a home for orphaned children.

Marie-Laure’s father is the key holder of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, which is where a gemstone called the Sea of Flame is kept safe, at least for a time Much of the story is about this stone and its whereabouts because in order to protect it, fake stones are handed out for safekeeping, the protectors unsure which stone is in fact the real gem.

As Marie-Laure tries to survive in France while her father is away, Werner has been chosen to attend an elite school for the Third Reich. His knack with all things electronic, primarily radios and how they work, make him a coveted asset to the Third Reich.

As you can imagine, the two stories intersect at some point and when they do, you can’t help but be swept up by it all. Marie-Laure is blind but a lover of books; books which are mentioned often in the novel itself. In between the serious bits, are fantastical parts of the story that lessen its blow somewhat, but at the same time, made it slightly unrealistic for me.

It’s not fantasy. I want to be clear about that but Doerr’s delivery lends a fantastical nature to the story. There’s a hidden room behind a wardrobe, a secret grotto, miniature houses, and to me, it smacked of convenience (a little bit) and took me out of the story a few times.

We read this for book club and everyone enjoyed it, as did I. Maybe the hype of winning the Pulitzer had me thinking it would be a little more than what it was. Not sure but it fell a little flat for me and I found myself skimming towards the end.

Overall, it was a good read but there were times where I found myself questioning the events that took place and each time that happened, I was pulled out of the story. It read like a screenplay. Very visual, and that part I enjoyed quite a bit. I thought it had been optioned for a movie but surprisingly, I don’t think that has happened yet.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Misery
By Stephen King
(Signet Book, Mass Market Paperbound, 9780451169525, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon’s #1 fan and when she finds her favorite author on the side of the road, injured in a car crash, she takes him home to “nurse” his wounds.

The Rest of It:

It’s King! And this one is a doozy. I’d forgotten the ending even though I’ve read it twice before and seen the movie so reading this book for the third time was like reading it for the first time.

Why did I read it again? This.

#MiseryRAL

I am a total sucker for read alongs involving Uncle Stevie. As long as my eyes are not scratched up by a hair brush, I will say yes. That’s all I’m saying about that. So when Care asked, I of course said yes.

The book. Wow. I had forgotten how intense the story is but I was quickly reminded just a few pages in. I won’t go into details because if you haven’t read it, you really must. Basically, Annie is nuts and when she finds Paul Sheldon on the side of the road, injured and needing help, she steps in and takes it a little too far.

Annie Wilkes is quite the character and King takes great pleasure in sharing all her cockadoodie mannerisms and oogie hygiene habits. Those words are sprinkled throughout the book, numerous times and every time I heard them, I got chills up my back. They are SO Annie.

And Paul, not as helpless as you think but still, what a predicament to be in. Trapped, injured and having to rely on Annie?? Oh my word. Yes, a tough situation to say the very least.

On the gore chart, this one is a little intense. But on the supernatural front, there is nothing really to speak of. What makes this story scary is that it could actually happen.

What’s neat about the book is that there is a story within a story. Paul is writing a book while held captive and King spends a good chunk of time fleshing that story out. Almost to the point where one blogger wanted to read the rest of THAT story! No? Yes!

Overall, this was just too much fun to read as a group. Every time we came across a little gem, we’d hop on Twitter to comment. If you want to check out the comments, search for #MiseryRAL. I guarantee you will want to join in on the next King read along after reading some of those tweets.

To sum this up, I enjoyed the book more this time around than the first two times. I must have been very young when I read it before because I really didn’t remember too many of the details. So glad I decided to read it again.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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