Essay On All The Light We Cannot See

The art of storytelling has been around since the beginning of time. Stories keep people entertained and teach life lessons. Tales have been recorded in books and movies for centuries. The plot line is incredibly important to keep the audience captivated. However, an easily overlooked importance is the author’s literary choices, or how the story is told. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr crafts a beautiful tale of how a blind French girl and an orphan boy in the Third Reich collide in the heat of World War II. What makes this story amazing is the literary devices Doerr uses to keep the reader entertained. Anthony Doerr keeps the chapters short, uses switches between points of view, and uses flashbacks to create a novel that is hard

to put down.

The first thing noticed when reading All the Light We Cannot See is the short chapters. Every chapter is about two to five pages long. This creates a nice reading pace and helps the book go by faster. Since the book is 530 pages long, these short chapters are a pleasant addition to the book. Some books can become boring, especially when they are long; however, All the Light We Cannot See refrains from becoming a bore.

Instead of being stereotypical, Anthony Doerr switches between the point of view at every chapter.

Most of the switches go from Marie-Laure, the French girl, to Werner, the German. As well as these to points of view, Doerr gives you a look into the war from __________, the antagonist of the story, and Etienne, Marie-Laure’s great uncle when he is imprisoned. This creates a complicated storyline because the reader can see into the lives of the characters. This point of view switch shows you the motives of every character and creates the mood and tone of the book. The overall tone is a negative tone because of how climactic the plotline remains throughout the entire book. Changing between points of view creates a fast-paced, easy read and is an awesome feature of this novel.

Anthony Doerr included flashbacks into his story which is unusual for a lot of novels. This is an interesting concept in this storyline because it gives the reader background on every character. This background helps involve the reader and help the audience connect with characters within the pages. Flashbacks like Anthony Doerr uses brings the character’s to life and helps the entertainment value of the book. When reading this book, readers do not want to put the book down because Doerr created an unbreakable bond between character and

reader.