All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr

(Tansley Reads Rating: 74%)

 

Icebreaker :  If you were giving someone a gift of reading, as President Obama did for his daughter, which five books would you include?

 

Questions

 1.  On page 390, the author writes, “To shut your eyes is to guess nothing of blindness.” Do you think that being blind gave Marie-Laure any advantages?

2.  What was the basis of the friendship between Werner and Frederick?

              
3.  Werner, Frederick and their classmates are all called out into the yard and each is told to throw a pail of cold water on a chained prisoner. Werner follows the expectation but Fredrik refuses multiple times and pays for it dearly.  Does Werner ever show a similar strength of character anywhere in this story?

 4.  Why do you think Doerr chose these two characters (Werner and Marie-Laure) to write about?  Was it because of their differences or their similarities?

 5. How crucial a role does radio play in the story and in the time period?

6.  Why does Doerr use the novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, as such a big part of this story.          

7. On page 368, Werner thinks, “That is how things are...with everybody in this unit, in this army, in this world, they do as they’re told, they get scared, they move about with only themselves in mind. Name me someone who does not.” But in fact many of the characters show great courage and selflessness throughout the story in some way, big or small. Which characters put themselves at risk in order to do what they think is right?

8. There were multiple characters with both major and minor roles in this book.  Whose story did you enjoy the most and was there any character you wanted more insight into?

9.  Why do you think Marie-Laure gave Werner the little iron key to the old kennels and why would Werner have gone back for the wooden house but left the Sea of Flames?

10. The 1970s image of Jutta is one of a woman deeply guilt-ridden and self-conscious about her identity as a German. Why do you think she feels so much guilt over the crimes of others? Do you think she should feel any shame about her identity?

                       
11. What do you think of the author’s decision to flash forward at the end of the book? Did you like getting a peek into the future of some of these characters? Did anything surprise you?

 12.  When Werner and Jutta first hear the Frenchman on the radio, he concludes his broadcast by saying “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever” (pages 48–49), and Werner recalls these words throughout the book.  How do you think this phrase relates to the overall message of the story?

13. In this story, what is All the Light We Cannot See?

 14:  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?