"We all come into existence as a single cell, smaller than a speck of dust. Much smaller. Divide. Multiply. Add and subtract. Matter changes hands, atoms flow in and out, molecules pivot, proteins stitch together, mitochondria send out their oxidative dictates; we begin as a microscopic electrical swarm. The lungs the brain the heart. Forty weeks later, six trillion cells get crushed in the vise of our mother's birth canal and we howl. Then the world starts in on us." 
 Lately, I've fallen victim to the bittersweet literary experience of reading amazing books that cannot be properly, adequately expressed in words. All the Light We Cannot See is one of those novels. I will attempt to summarize why I loved this book so much: 
 The cover: I know, I know, "don't judge a book by its cover" and all of that... but this one is absolutely breathtaking, and sets the mood for the entire novel. 
 The characters: Marie-Laude is now one of my favorite characters I have ever read. Intelligent, brave, and loyal to her family, she fascinated me from the very beginning. I loved reading about how she read A Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne in Braille: how she envisioned an entirely different world under her fingertips. It was breathtaking to read about. 
 "Her fingers walk the tightropes of sentences; in her imagination, she walks the decks of the speedy two-funneled frigate called the Abraham Lincoln. She watches New York City recede; the forts of New Jersey salute her departure with cannons; channel markers bob in the swells." 
 I also loved Marie-Laude's relationship with her father. I love reading stories about loving father-daughter relationships, as I have personally never had one. It was such a heartwarming (and simultaneously heart-wrenching) topic to read about. 
 "...Marie-Laude smiles, and he laughs a pure, contagious laugh, one she will try to remember all her life, father and daughter turning in circles on the sidewalk in front of their apartment house, laughing together while snow sifts through the branches above." 
 Although I also really enjoyed Werner (particularly his fascination with radios,) his friend Frederick intrigued me even more. I grew attached to him in only a short number of pages, and my heart was broken by the end of the novel, primarily because of him. 
 The prose: Perhaps my favorite aspect of All the Light, I was absolutely blown away by Doerr's writing style. Every sentence was effortlessly well-crafted. When the situation called for it, Doerr made you feel as though you were actually there with the characters. Just a few examples: 
 "But God is only a white cold eye, a quarter-moon poised above the smoke, blinking, blinking, as the city is gradually pounded to dust." 
 "Oh, to be free! To lie once more in the Jardin des Plantes with Papa. To feel his hands on hers, to hear the petals of the tulips tremble in the wind. He made her the glowing hot center of his life; he made her feel as if every step she took was important." 
 "All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?" 
 All the Light We Cannot See is a novel with a lot of hype surrounding it (hello, it won the Pulitzer!). So, a simple question could be asked: is it worth the hype? 
 Yes. It is undoubtedly worth the hype. This novel is one that I wish EVERYONE would read, regardless of your literary tastes. Definitely five out of five stars.