Writing is like a puzzle. Authors have to find the right fit for each word, sentence, chapter. EACH. WORD. This is why I am not an author, only a writer. I am too lazy/impatient/intimidated. (couldn't even decide which of those words to use!!)
By works like this.
Doerr is a Pulitzer Prize winner for a novel I didn't love. Yes, it was beautiful and a bit redeeming yada yada but come on y'all, it was SOOOO SAD!! My book club loved All the Light We Cannot See, but I was like, meh. I may not have loved ATLWCS, but there is no doubt this man has a seriously good command of language.
Good thing Sally* tells me to give authors a second chance, and too bad he didn't win the Pulitzer again. This book was abso-fricking-lutely amazing. I can see how it might not be for everyone. It is very...imaginative. And the structure took some getting used to. And it is looooooong. And I thought it was amazingly brilliant.
Briefly, you should know that we have three different time periods going on that cover several centuries and three locations, and five different characters whose stories we follow. It seemed like it would be impossible to follow but somehow, the transitions back and forth were smooth and truly did help narrow the story down, even when we have two characters with two time periods each. Don't let that intimidate you though. I don't think I am astute enough to catch all the parallelisms that are deep in this book, but I sure tried, and I sure enjoyed the journey. The common thread, and title, is an ancient "lost" Greek fairytale about a man on the search for paradise. I am also sure that the title is a wink, a double entendre, and more than just a title. For more plot than that, go read the book flap, which is so well written in its own right that it could win an award, were there awards for that sort of thing.
As a reader and lover of books and stories, I appreciated how this one ancient text stood the test of time and helped frame each of these stories, giving at the end some sort of freedom to each of our main characters, albeit in different ways. A young girl learns to read in Constantinople; an old man finally finds happiness and purpose at his local library in Idaho; a troubled teenager takes righteous action which goes horribly wrong; an isolated young woman puts together a life-altering puzzle of clues. None of these people know each other, but their lives are woven together like a tapestry. This is a book about a book (there is a book on the cover!), about a library or two or three (I literally sat up when Konstance's Library was introduced), about how words are immortal. It is also about war and environmental conservation and owls and dreams for the future and misunderstood youths and Love - romantic and familial. It truly is about finding one's way in this life. And how the threads of one life can be revealed in the most unusual ways in another.
I took so many notes on this book. I just cannot put them all in a review. Doerr must have had a string wall to keep all the connections straight. My book club doesn't know it yet, but we are going to read this one. We will have differing opinions I am sure - this is not a beach read. And yet, I felt very light reading it. I actually felt like a scholar. Even with some bad things and a few loose ends, this book made me happy as a reader. So very much to talk about, and yes I still have some questions especially about the end(s). This is the sort of book I have a hangover after reading. Took me a few days to pick up my next book. I just wanted to enjoy the aura of it, to think about it.
And, yes, to go thank a librarian, as Doerr does in his dedication: to all the librarians, then, now and in the years to come. Fingers crossed.
*If you are new to this blog, and you don't know who Sally is, she is my local independent bookstore owner and Bookseller. She recognizes me (or sometimes just my voice!) when she hears me come into her store (Park Road Books) and always has a perfect recommendation. And I love her.
PPS - to see my review of ATLWCS on Goodreads, here it is: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr | Goodreads
No comments:
Post a Comment