December-January 2017- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Our big read for the summer break was the Pulitzer Prize winner for 2015, All the Light We Cannot See. This is yet another book based on World War II, however it looks at the conflict from a different perspective. The two main protagonists are teenagers. One is a blind French girl named Marie-Laure, the other an orphaned boy pushed through the German war-machine named Werner.

It was refreshing to see a depiction of WWII from the German perspective, and which didn't revolve around the unquestionable horrors of the Holocaust. This book is based on the occupation of France, is centered around Saint-Malo on the Breton coast, and contains horrors aplenty.

Our discussion turned to the fact that this war still continues to resonate with people; so many stories are still being written about it. Later generations have no experience of the suffering that so many people went through. Cheryl put it succinctly- how on earth did anyone survive the horror of WWII? The experience of war changes people, as we see through the story's characters.

It scored well and some of us loved it. There were some negatives, however. The drawn out ending ruined the story for Megan, and Annette thought it was too contrived and felt like a soap opera.

Scores:
Allison- 7
Anna- 10
Annette- 5
Carmel- 10
Cheryl- 7
Glenda- 8
Kirrily- 7
Kristy- 10
Megan- 7
Phil- 9

Average: 8.0