"Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”
For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father guards in the Museum of Natural History. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when the Nazis invade Paris. And a future which draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of the Hitler Youth."
Despite its length, over 500 pages, the group had all finished it by the time of our meeting, or very nearly had which is unusual for us. To start off with the book is a little slow, flitting around from character to character, and between time-frames. Yet it sucked us in and didn't put anyone off.
We loved the two unlikely protagonists and how far apart their lives seemed to be at the beginning. You were filled with a sense that their lives would cross. It was only a matter of when, not if.
The characters were all well written and the group particularly liked the supporting cast, Madame Manec, Etienne. We discussed how Doerr managed to make Werner sympathetic despite being a member of the Hitler Youth and hunting down resistance fighters. We certainly were all routing for him to escape from the cellar!
Was the Sea of Flames really cursed? Etienne's house was the only one not to be bombed, protecting Marie-Laure when those around her could not. Madame Manec was not so lucky, neither was Marie-Laure's father.
It was a true feast of the senses, be it the feel of the wooden town made for Marie-Laure by her father, the taste of the chocolate for her birthday or the sound of Clair de Lune over the radio. We all loved it and scoring was strong, (nothing lower than an 8). It averaged (with some terrible math from myself) 9 out of 10.
Next months book is The Cactus by Sarah Haywood.
We loved the two unlikely protagonists and how far apart their lives seemed to be at the beginning. You were filled with a sense that their lives would cross. It was only a matter of when, not if.
The characters were all well written and the group particularly liked the supporting cast, Madame Manec, Etienne. We discussed how Doerr managed to make Werner sympathetic despite being a member of the Hitler Youth and hunting down resistance fighters. We certainly were all routing for him to escape from the cellar!
Was the Sea of Flames really cursed? Etienne's house was the only one not to be bombed, protecting Marie-Laure when those around her could not. Madame Manec was not so lucky, neither was Marie-Laure's father.
It was a true feast of the senses, be it the feel of the wooden town made for Marie-Laure by her father, the taste of the chocolate for her birthday or the sound of Clair de Lune over the radio. We all loved it and scoring was strong, (nothing lower than an 8). It averaged (with some terrible math from myself) 9 out of 10.
Next months book is The Cactus by Sarah Haywood.
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