All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

image from LibraryThing

This is a story of incredible beauty and unfathomable darkness.  It is WWII France and Germany.  It is children growing up in a world where childhood was not allowed and nightmares are real.  But, so is beauty.

This is the story of Marie-Laure, a French girl whose father is a locksmith at a Paris museum - a locksmith tasked with hiding a priceless treasure as he flees Paris with his blind daughter.

At the same time we follow Werner, the white haired radio whiz who escapes the overpowering poverty of a mining town for the education brainwashing of the Third Reich.

Their paths cross in radio waves in the most unexpected way.

This is a beautifully crafted book.  Descriptions are detailed and inviting and unexpected.  The beauty of birds on the wing juxtaposed with incredible cruelty toward prisoners.

This book took me a bit to jump in to.  The characters are introduced and then the book folds back to an earlier time and slowly moves forward.  But - even more was the image of Marie-Laure alone in a house with the fires of a bomb raid creeping toward her.  I was afraid for her...how could a blind girl be alone in a burning house.

I cared for her from the very beginning - and so did Doerr!

I loved this one!! Our April book club book

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

I've been putting off reading this book...a book about the French Revolution??? I am not too keen on historical fiction. Too often there is more history than story!

That is not the case in this story! I really enjoyed it! It's a fast read - one that pulls you in and keeps you interested. There are children - Yann the orphaned son of a gypsy dancer and Sido the forgotten and mistreated daughter of an insane Marquis. There is a dwarf, a very talented fellow named Tetu who is able to control a wooden puppet by pulling at the invisible light threads with his mind. And a horrible villian named Count Kalliovski - his name alone brings fear into those who surround him.

This is a story at the start of the revolution, when the excesses of France cause the people to revolt. When the revolution was about equality and freedom for the masses. In this turmoil Sido's father spends and spends and spends and ignores his rising debt, he has the Count to back him up. You see the Count is more than willing to lend money to anyone - so long as they share their secrets with him. It seems a tiny price, until he comes to claim his pay. At that point the borrowers understand blackmail for the first time - and for many the last.

Sido is held captive by her insane father, until by chance Yann crosses her path on a fateful night. At that moment both of their futures are sealed - though they don't know it.

The Count has other plans for the dwarf and Sido. He plans to kill the dwarf - he knew the Count when he was only a nameless gambler with a special interest in a gypsy dancer. And Sido - he plans to marry her in order to gain her vast inheritance. To that end he has blackmailed Sido's father.

This story stands alone rather nicley - but the story does not end with this book. There is a sequel... Can't wait!!

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Another excellent read!!! Yippee...things are looking up!

This is the July book for our book club. It's the story of Sarah a 10-year-old French girl captured on an awful night in July of 1942, a truly horrible moment of French history. A moment that has been forgotten by many and that is why De Rosnay chose to tell this story!

On that night, the French police brought together thousands of Jewish families and eventually deported them to Auschwitz concentration camp. But it was not a straight deportation...instead the men were sent first, then the women and then...they didn't know what to do with the thousands of children...

De Rosnay tells this story through twin lenses. One is Sarah - the girl wakened from her bed that awful night and taken away. The other is Julia, an American journalist who has lived in France for 20+ years with her husband and daughter. Julia is assigned to write an article about the 60 year commemoration of that awful night. Through her research she discovers a connection between her husband's family and Sarah. You really care about the two characters! Sarah with a secret that drives her and tears her up and Julia caught on a path that wasn't at all what she expected.

Although the story is somewhat predictable, it doesn't keep you from rushing through the book. This is a story of layers of secrets spanning families, decades and oceans. The weight of those secrets is evident in their lives and attitudes. For some that weight is made heavier by the indifference of an entire population.

This book made me wonder at our ability to not care, our ability to turn a blind eye and choose to forget the unpleasant, and the darkness that forgetting invites into your life. It also made me wonder about how the ordinary and simple acts of people who care can have such a profound impact on those caught in tragedy!

Reminds me of Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum and The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff, with the strength of the female characters and time frame and the unexpected twists!

Read it!!!!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I'm not sure this is the best book to break my reading haitus.
I wanted to like it.
I wanted to love it.
I wanted to see the beauty and the elegance in this.
But, instead it felt as prickly as a porcupine - not a hedgehog.

The story takes place in Paris. Renee is the dumpy, invisible conceierge in an upscale apartment building. She is also a closet snob and incredibly intelligent. Her whole theory is that she grew up as a poor, ugly woman and that is what she will remain..no matter what.

The other member in the house is Paloma - a 12 year old who has decided to commit suicide before 13. She believes that the world is a sad and unhopeful place one that she doesn't want to experience as an adult. But, she is also a very intelligent girl who decides to look for hope jsut to mae very sure that she is making the right decision.

The story follows these two women through a period of time. Then a new tenant moves in - Mr. Ozu a Japanese gentleman. Life in the building changes and the circles of these two intersect with Mr. Ozu.

The basic story is appealing and interesting - but there is so much other narrative about art and beauty and intelligence and blah blah blah...clearly I am not a part of the intelligent society.

So - I found myself skimming and scooting hoping for the story to open up and draw me in. Instead I just kept plodding along until it ended. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be in the know...but I've decided this proves that I am really not in the know!

Oh well!!!