Page 12 - Hobe Sound Reflections - January '24

Page 12, Hobe Sound

book review

All The Light We Cannot See Werner Pfennig is a year older suffer tragedy. Four of the museum’s
than Marie-Laure. An orphan, at the managers will each take one of the
By Nils A. Shapiro age of 7 he lives with his younger stones, but none of them will know who
A funny thing happened sister, Jutta, at a home for children has the real diamond.
to me on my way to my 300 miles from Paris in a coal As the Nazis invade France and
computer this morning. I mining town near Essen, Germany. approach Paris her father escapes with
had planned to write a film His father, like so many others, Marie-Laure to Saint-Malo, a walled
review about one of the was a victim of a coal mining citadel on the French coast. While there
season’s most important disaster, and when he grows older he carves another wooden scale model
and long-awaited motion the future that he and those like of this small town, complete with every
pictures: the film adaptation him must look forward to will be street and building ... and in the replica
of Anthony Doerr’s 2014 descending into that same pit. Except of the house in which they live he has
award-winning World War for one fortunate difference that hidden something very valuable. Their
II novel, All the Light We is discovered quite by accident: It experiences in Saint-Malo during the
Cannot See, which is currently streaming as a four-part series seems that Werner, for reasons that occupation and through the Allied
on Netflix. he himself cannot explain, has a invasion of 1944 and into 1945 take up
But I have decided instead to repeat here the very same natural gift. One day when he is 8 approximately half of the book.
book review that I wrote in August 2015 – more than eight he finds an old radio, and the music Meanwhile, young Werner ’s
years ago – for a reason you will understand by the time you and magic that fill his ears opens up increasing expertise in radio technology
have finished reading the following column. a whole new world to the boy. Then comes to the attention of the Nazis and
when the radio breaks and the sounds suddenly stop, he is taken from the children’s home, away from his
***** Werner carefully examines all of the wires and other sister, and sent to a military school. At first relieved to
parts, wanting desperately to have it work again. Finally be freed from a future in the coal mines, he soon finds
The review this month is by way of a thank-you to he figures it out, his natural aptitude enabling a first himself being drilled in a system that demands brutality
my daughters, Brett and Hillary, who sent this novel to basic understanding of radio engineering that will prove and violence against everything and everyone, including
me and insisted I read it, even though they know that my to be his passport out of that coal mining town and into friends and family if need be, in the name of loyalty to
tastes usually run more to nonfiction, and that its 530 an entirely different future. the fuehrer and Germany! It is a system that he tries
pages are more than the 350 or so that I usually set as my But it is now the late 1930s, and the Nazi war machine to keep up with – in part out of fear, and because he
maximum because of the limited amount of evenings and has begun to roll across Europe. For 10-year-old Marie- doesn’t want to be sent back to the mines – but he is
weekends time I have to devote to my monthly “deadline” Laure and her father the imminent invasion of France torn apart in the process because, unlike the others, he
book reviews. means that they must leave Paris and try to hide at her is essentially decent. And what he faces now is a future
Having just turned the last page a moment ago, I can uncle, Etienne’s, house in the quieter coastal town of as dark and bottomless in its own way as any coal mine.
readily understand why author Anthony Doerr’s latest Saint-Malo. Before he leaves, Monsieur Leblanc makes What ultimately saves him is his skill with radios, which
novel was honored with the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for a secret arrangement with the museum. They have is highly valuable to the Nazis.
Fiction, the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence agreed that one of the museum’s most valuable objects, a Werner’s story – witnessing the contradiction between
in Fiction, was shortlisted for the National Book Award, priceless diamond the size of a robin’s egg known as the Nazi propaganda of their army’s great victories even as
and was named as one of the year’s 10 best books by The “Sea of Flames” because of the red sparkle at its heart, the devastation and corpses pile up around him while
New York Times. must not fall into the hands of the Nazis. In addition to he serves in Russia and then retreats across Europe into
Of course, I needed no reminder that my daughters are the real diamond there are three almost identical fakes. France and, finally, Saint-Malo – takes up most of the
as wise, thoughtful and generous as they are beautiful. The real diamond is said to be cursed: The one who
All the Light We Cannot See is the story of two very owns it will have eternal life, but all around him will Book Review on page 13
different people, the separate circumstances in which
they experience one of history’s most devastating events,
and how their lives eventually intersect in a dramatic and
profound way.
Marie-Laure Leblanc is a young French girl who, in
1934, loses her sight from congenital cataracts at the
age of 6. With her mother having died earlier, her very
loving father – a master locksmith at the Paris Museum Why should a financial
of Natural History – uses all his knowledge and skills to
help Marie-Laure become as educated and self-sufficient review be at the top
as possible. He introduces her to the museum’s many
collections, buys her books in Braille and carves a of your list?
remarkable miniature, wooden scale model of every street
and building in their Paris neighborhood so that she can There may be opportunities for your investments
memorize it in order to make her way around alone, if to be working harder for you. Let’s work together
necessary. On walks together she counts the steps: so to make sure your financial strategy is optimized.
many steps left to the corner ... turn right so many steps Contact us today for a complimentary review.
to the bakery ... turn right so many steps to the grocer ...
and so on. Sally S Stahl, AAMS™
Financial Advisor

1851 W Indiantown Rd Ste 106
Jupiter, FL 33458
561-748-7600
Sally.Stahl@edwardjones.com