This is one of those novels that resonates with the reader for a long time after they have finished it. The tragic characters, seemless prose and startling imagery lifts this piece of writing into the heady realms of flawless storytelling. It is so true to life, so relentlessly real, so eloquently and effortlessly immersive that for those all too few hours that I was reading this the world outside the book disappeared from view and Doerr’s world was my world. It spoke to something deep inside me, beyond the senses and imagination. The characters are so fully sculpted by Doerr’s artistic fingers that when one of them dies I felt a deep sense of loss, not grief as such, that is too strong a word, more a profound sadness as if a person you have admired from afar has passed away suddenly. When I finished the book I felt a sense of completion as well as regret for the ending of a deeply moving experience. I knew that my perception of the world around me had altered ever so slightly, the sign of a natural and gifted storyteller.
There are a number of stories set amidst the Second World War that are beautifully woven into the plot and perfectly knitted together at the end. A young blind girl taken by her father from her beloved Paris district that she knows by heart to an alien seaside town to escape the Nazis; an orphaned boy with a natural gift for radio communications adopted by Hitler’s youth to fight the war; a dying German soldier on a quest to find a rare jewel; and a community of french people defying the Germans with secret radio messages. Doerr interweaves some inventive themes throughout the narrative that add a sense of mystery and mysticsm to the story, such as the Sea of Flames jewel, the tale of Captain Nemo, a model of St Malo that hides a secret, and a keeper of the keys.
Doerr expertly narrates the story through the eyes of these characters cleverly interplaying the timelines between the beginning and the end of the war. This has honesty and integrity etched within the writing so that the reader is wholly engaged and committed to the storytelling experience. There have been a plethora of novels set around the hardships of the first and second world wars and it would be easy to dismiss this as just another one to add to the list. Don’t. This is a unique and enthralling tale told by a master storyteller that enhances, and may even surpass, those that have gone before it. My book review, a poignant 9.5/10.
Thank you for reading my book review. Your book buddy, Charles Whitmore.
