January Book Club: All the Light We Cannot See

i just have to say that this was great use of font size and colour! and couldn't have been improved even with like that crime scene warning 'don't cross here' tape - i rea without intending to sometime, like if i pause netflx then comeback and there's the episode synopsis has popped up and i inadvertently read it and it spoils the show for me, hate that so totally appreciate a good clear warning - great job

 

i haven't read the whole thread and it's waaay past the month anyway but i'll answer this because it goes towards my normal reading preferences anyway.
On the whole, i hate jumping back and forth btwn time periods - days, weeks, months, years, whatever. I know the reasons authors do this (the build and glimpses of the future so u're invested in the character like to see if they ever got out of the Bee Hotel) but as a reader or listener, i can't remember the date or time stamps for chapters and unless it's a paper copy, flicking back to check is not easy and i honestly cant be bothered so the start of every chapter basically i spend trying to reorient myself and this detracts somewhat from me enjoying the story. Chuck in an extra character/plot line, away in another country from the previous one or even with the Von Rumpel guy searching places and that gives me a metaphoric headache and doesnt exactly make me want to keep reading or pick the book back up.

It would be interesting to see how the story worked rearranged into chronological order.If this was told chronolgically, the end would still have been the end and Marie and Werner would still have ended as they did. I think it would have been a lot shorter with a lot less retelling to re-establish scenes like switching back and forth to Schulpforta.

 

i thought this was the purpose of that scene too and the discussion of their living conditions & work was to contrast Fredrick's family's opulent home

 

bwahahaha!

 

i did wonder whether Werner would end up like Etienne (muttering and a recluse with his radio bits) but i get the author giving him a sudden and tragic (barely a sentence) demise, given the actual history

 

i thought these two, who were basically opposites in stature and standing, were more interesting than Werner

the diamond and hearing whether they got to the end of captain nemo or whatever was really what kept me pushing thru this book - sad but true- and i really wasn't happy that the former was left ambiguous! i'm glad she got to swim with snails in foreign beaches but geez!

 

So that's what happened?! #cantletitgo

 

I thought this was funny...So I got my notice that the book is here, but my library card is expired now...ugh. I was not meant to read this book.

 

Oh dear. At least it should be easy to renew your card...

 

So my DD is reading this ( or supposed to be) for school now & I'm re-reading b/cos I couldn't remember anything apart from the time & settings (& I didn't realise how long ago we read it) & now I'm extra glad to see the discussion here & all the clarification & opinions to remind me b/C I never wrote anything on Goodreads about this book!