#1 in War fiction
All the Light We Cannot See
- 544
- Pages
- about 10 h
- Reading time
- Series 2023
- On screen
- NYT bestseller · 91 weeks on the list, peaked at #1
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
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About the book
All the Light We Cannot See is a 2014 war novel by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during World War II. It revolves around the characters Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl who takes refuge in her great-uncle's house in Saint-Malo after Paris is invaded by Nazi Germany, and Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy who is accepted into a military school because of his skills in radio technology. The book alternates between paralleling chapters depicting Marie-Laure and Werner, framed with a nonlinear structure. The novel has a lyrical writing style, with critics noting extensive sensory details. The story has ethical themes, portraying the destructive nature of war and Doerr's fascination with science and nature.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- SeriesAll the Light We Cannot SeeIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.4 across 1,593 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 90% of the weight and the score stays at 8.5 — the War fiction average of 7.9 barely moves it. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 83 | 5% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 1.5K | 95% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“More of a 2.5 star book for me. I feel like the quality of the prose was quite good, there was some interesting detail there, but the book unfolded at such a painfully protracted pace and the characters never quite came alive. Werner Pfennig is a tragic orphan who joins the Hitler Youth to escape poverty; Marie-Laure is a blind girl who's only lost one parent by the start of the story but soon enough loses a second; and the villain could easily have come from a children's movie: he is a Nazi who wants to track down a jewel that, according to legend, will make the beholder live forever. Of the…”
Frequently asked
What is All the Light We Cannot See rated?
8.5 out of 10, from 1,593 reader ratings across 2 independent sources.
Is All the Light We Cannot See worth reading?
Readers give it 8.5/10 from 1,593 ratings in open sources.
How long does it take to read All the Light We Cannot See?
About 10 hours at an average reading pace — 544 pages.
Where does All the Light We Cannot See rank?
#1 in War fiction on the current snapshot.
Was All the Light We Cannot See a bestseller?
Yes — 91 weeks on the New York Times list, peaking at #1. Sales are shown here but never scored.
Has the book All the Light We Cannot See been adapted for the screen?
Yes — All the Light We Cannot See (2023).
How long is All the Light We Cannot See?
It has 544 pages — longer than 67% of the ranked books in War fiction.
If you liked this
Same shelf — War fiction — with scores between 8.4 and 8.6, closest to this book.
