Summary

On the French side, there’s if Marie-Laure a six-year-old blind girl who lives with her Papa in Paris. Her father works at the Museum of Natural History guarding a priceless gemstone. But Nazis invade their little home amidst the war and they have to take shelter in Saint-Malo at Maurie’s great-uncle Etienne’s house by the sea.

On the other side, there is Werner, a brilliantly minded boy who works magic with radios. His talent is noticed by Hitler Youth and he enlists in their army.

My Review

When have we read stories of the other side of the war where people were good to one another? Stories where the people of the German side were suffering as much as those on the other. And this thought isn’t fiction. The consequences of war are equally horrific on either side. No one wants it willingly. Because they realize, the unjustness of it, the monstrosity of it. But everyone either French or German is fighting to survive.

This bittersweet story is magical. It weaves so many intricacies in these 500+ pages that the reader feels like it stays on and on.  The discovery of the gem, the fates of the LeBlanc’s, Werner’s good side all the minutiae of this elaborate plot will keep you absorbed and reading.

You will feel the sea breeze of Saint-Malo, the perforations on braille copy of Jules Verne’s book that Marie-Laure reads, the grenades and the shell firing outside the house, and the kindness and beauty of all the characters. The writing is that powerful.

Final Verdict

A thoughtful, brilliant piece of writing. Writing that is like the diamond that is at the center of the story-it shines from within.

Who Should Read It

If you’ve read it you know what I’m talking about, if you haven’t - You cannot miss this.

“When I lost my sight, Werner, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?”

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

“You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest. Of course we do. Name me a person or a nation who does not. The trick is figuring out where your interests are.”

“A real diamond is never perfect.”

“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.”

“All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?”

“We rise again in the grass. In the flowers. In songs.”

“How do you ever know for certain that you are doing the right thing?”

“Your problem, Werner,” says Frederick, “is that you still believe you own your life.”