Reading this book was one of the best decisions I made in 2015.
This was the book I was so eager to tell you about back in December . I wrote a short review of it here on The Curator that I think actually managed to avoid any spoilers (I know, you’re all shocked!)
My mom was the one who told me about this book (she has good taste every now and then haha). Even though I told her I’m partial to the classics and I rarely read historical fiction, let alone WWII novels, she still said, “Trust me, you’ll love it.”
She was right.
Anthony Doerr captured everything I love about fiction in this “miniature” novel of epic proportions: a story that moves across time, spaces, and characters. A story that surprises me, grips me, guts me, and refuses to leave me. Prose that reads like poetry for all 530 pages, with words that roll into each other with such ease it’s enviable.
Listen to this description of the heroine, Marie-Laure, meeting her Uncle:
“His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it beneath your fingers.”
Sentences like this made me stop and re-read aloud for the pure pleasure of their musicality and originality. There’s so many more non-visual descriptions in this book because the reader sees through Marie-Laure’s eyes, and she’s blind. So your other senses come wondrously alive.
Put it on your reading list for 2016, and then come back and tell me what you think.
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