Being blind doesn't stop the mind's ability to visualise space so a model you can feel with your fingertips to gain information is a great idea. Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Cannot See uses the construction of a model town for a carpenter/locksmith's blind daughter as a symbol of how to engage with the world. But there is more than blindness she has to face. She also loses her father and her country because this is a small French girl trying to survive first in Paris then in Saint Malo during the Second World War. She is destined to meet our other protagonist who is a Nazi radio operator and so also lives in a world described to him by others. What Doerr does well is make us have equal interest and sympathy in both characters. I was a little cautious that this would turn into a corny romance. It didn't. It was romantic but the ending wasn't telegraphed in the way I expected. So for an American to set a novel in historical Europe, to enthuse it with the atmosphere of a Jules Verne fantasy, throw in the corruption of money and to contrast it all with naturalistic greed and violence is quite some accomplishment. I found the bestseller pace and short chapter formats a bit formulaic but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
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