"What law of nature determines that the light of a candle always faces upwards?"

I don't know what it was exactly, but this question from Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See was the quote that first popped into my mind when I started writing this post about the book I finished last night. The novel is filled with beautifully descriptive paintings formed by words, emotions that become real in the reader's heart and the story of Marie-Laure in France and Werner beginning in Germany and ending in France.

I always read books in their original language when possible, but I enjoyed the Finnish version very much!

This is definitely the kind of book that you want to devour in one sitting but that you simultaneously hope for to go on forever. The intricate way in which the sentences are formed and the story builds up around you is so beautiful. I enjoyed picturing the setting and most of all the feeling on each page. The plot, while being extremely suspenseful at the end and keeping me firmly in its grip, was secondary because the language was so pleasing to read. I love that a read like this came to me now since I've been so concentrated on reading books with an intense and even absurd plot line.

I particularly loved all of Werner's questions (which are a lot like the one above even as that isn't actually one of his). They are so ordinary yet intelligent for a child. I also really connected to his character in his interest of science and technology. Radio waves, his most special area, really are the aspect that carries the story forward and ends up weaving all the events and characters together.

From Marie-Laure I got a wonderful reminder/lesson. Her blindness forced me to think of the non-visible dimensions of my surroundings more than before. I've appreciated the smells, sounds and general feeling around me. My other senses open up a whole new side to every day life when I think of them as the only information providers, no vision. People don't have to be categorized based on their looks -the pace of their steps or ring in their voice when they greet you can give more depth to their personality than imagined.

I feel like there's so much more to say and just pour out of my soul, but that doing so would take away from your reading experience. I absolutely do not want to spoil anything or dominate the thoughts and emotions the book brings up to you with my own. So I'll just say that I wish I had an uncle as caring as Etienne, a madman to show me secret gardens like Hubert, a stubborn but so intelligent sister like Jutta and a puzzle box to solve on my birthday.

If you have not picked up this beauty (internally but also externally, I mean, that blue <3), I beg you, do add it to your to read right now! It will rattle but also calm you. The story is touching and the writing beautiful and so wise. It was a great reminder for me to come back to the abundance of amazing historical novels, non-fiction and, well, anything not fantasy, scifi or thriller. Because I have been submerged in those lately.

"Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever."

-Anna