Although we cannot see the light, we must illuminate the characters

As I dive into the novel that is "All The Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr I find myself being optimistic.  A good World War II novel has not passed under my nose for some time, and I am looking forward to the pleasant aroma, the nostalgic scent of well-crafted European history.

Enough with the nonsense what you are looking for is to gain the insight, investigate the lines, and know the true meaning of the novel. The bestseller starts rather oddly, beginning with the future rather than the past or present. This left me a bit confused at first, although most books normally do, as I had absolutely no knowledge of the characters, setting, or plot to work off from. As I trudged through the maze of words I found myself getting progressively more...lost. What were these odd one paragraph chapters, who was Werner and why was he stuck underground, and who would spend that much time building a miniature model of Paris. I realized how many people in their midlife crisis felt at this moment, I had no direction, but forward. However, my salvage soon came, the header of part one, a fresh beginning.

Clearly the author heard my prayers as both of the main characters, Werner and Marie, were now children rather than adults, which made it much easier to understand. As said before the two main characters are Werner Pfennig and Marie-Laure Leblanc, or Marie for short. The book portrays them as two simultaneous stories, so every chapter the scene will swap and one character will shift over to the next.  The characters, from what I've read so far, are opposites of each other in society as well as personality. First and foremost there is Werner, a young German orphan living Zollverein, Germany with his sister Jutta as well as tens of other children. Werner is quite crafty with his hands and mind, he is what we would call a genius. Werner has a knack for the sciences as he is able to fix every radio in the town, to do calculus at age ten, and even create his own long-distance frequency radio.  Even with his gifts,  given his current circumstances as a German orphan living in the power source of Germany, a large coal mining and steel factory city, he is destined to be in the mines as every other male who turns fifteen is as well. Obviously this does not happen because what kind of suspense would that give this novel, absolutely none. As most stories do the main character catches a "lucky" break, he happens to be asked to fix a high-standing Nazi officer's radio. Clearly impressed by his work the officer gives him the opportunity to study for the National Institute, a highly regarded Nazi education center for the young. We see Werner as very conflicted as his life goal is to be a scientist, however, it would mean the abandonment of his only living family, his sister. Basically as we all predicted, Werner goes to the school.

What is interesting about Werner is that I see him as a protagonist, but being a Nazi I should see him as more of a antagonist given what the Nazi's did in history. To add to Werner's typical German roots he also embodies the stereotypical Aryan appearance, bleach blond hair, sky blue eyes, but then all of the ridiculous Nazi stereotypes "perfect nose, chin, etc." I think what accounts for this is his spark for innovation, but not for the Nazi values.  Yes, I realize that he is working directly with the Nazis ,and I have no idea what he will do in the future, but up to given point it appears that he is only there for scientific enlightenment, not war.  However, as the story for Werner goes on I could definitely see a conflict of interests between his morality and the Nazi's wants. Along with this notion I think that there will be a journey that Werner will embark where emotional sentiment and countries interests collide as shown with the comment by Herr Seidler, “You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest. Of course we do. Name me a person or a nation who does not. The trick is figuring out where your interests are.”(pg. 84) See after this conversation he destroys the radio he built, feels a connection to the Reich. Will this feeling remain constant? This inner conflict is what makes Werner a likable character, it gives a reason to root for him.

At this point you are salivating like a stray dog for food, and I'm supplying the juicy morsels of knowledge.  I will not hold you back any longer.  Onto the other main character in the novel, Marie-Laure Leblanc. Just by the name you are probably able to hypothesize that this character is from France. If not then I will tell you she is indeed from France, to be specific Paris, add in the butchered French accent and it will sound better. Marie is a girl who is born in Paris with her father, a locksmith who works for the Museum of Natural History, but mostly with the gems (this will be VERY IMPORTANT later).  She lives a very typical childish life except for the fact that she is blind.  Now, this comes about at a young age for unknown reasons. Growing up in a big city like Paris for a young blind girl can be very difficult. However, her father is fairly handy and builds a miniature version of the entire city complete with benches, flowers, and almost all of the most minute details.  In contrast to Werner, Marie relies on her senses rather than Werner more tactile view. She uses smells, tastes, hearing, etc to make places, through her point of view we should not be able to distinguish, feel like she can actually see. Also in comparison to Werner, Marie is a very typical protagonist. She is a part of the underdog, in terms of war, France. While also being a person with a lack of sight it makes me constantly favor her because she already has a disadvantage. Other than the obvious blindness, some problems that I could see occurring are with the Germans who take over Saint-Malo (the location where she moves post-Paris bombing), as well as the fabled diamond, Sea of Flames.  Opposite to Werner who has conflicting views of morality, Marie is generally of kind heart and mind. She does not seek out violence or want it ever. During a time of such harsh war, and the brutality that occurs in Werner's passages the addition of Marie adds some light tones.

For now I will be signing off. Paste in some cliche French sounding goodbye.