Book Review : All the Lights We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Background : World War II

Story 1 :

Marie - Laurie Le Blanc, is a French girl who looses her eye sight at the age of 6. She lives with her locksmith father in Paris. Her father makes a wooden replica of the neighbourhood, so that Marie-Laurie can easily walk around. In the museum where her father works, she hears a story of a very rare and costly diamond which is cursed. Anyone who possesses the diamond will never die but misfortune will hover around him. The museum takes enough precaution to hide this diamond and also makes replicas of the same. When Germany attacks Paris, Marie-Laurie and her father take refuge to her great uncle's house in the walled city of Saint-Malo. Her initial days in Saint-Malo is full of anxiety as she wants to go back to Paris. As a thirteen year old, who does not understand the complications of the war, not being allowed to go outside to the beach, makes her angry. But when she finds out that her father is making a wooden model of the neighborhood in Saint-Malo, she realizes that their dream of going back to Paris is far fetched. The war takes a more devastating turn and she has to do things which is nerve racking for someone like her. 

Story 2:

This story is of a German boy Werner. Werner and his sister, Jutta, lives in a children's home in Germany. Werner has an acute knack for science specially in mending old radios. He repairs an old radio and listens to a broadcast by someone from France. The person mostly talks to kids about the wonders of science and the Universe. Werner and his sister loves that broadcast but as war progresses the broadcast stops. Werner's prodigy catches the eye of a German Commander who gets him admission in the infamous Hitler Youth Academy. For Werner it was his only way out from the children's home and pursue his dream of becoming and engineer. Werner does well in the academy, but the horrific events in the academy makes him realize that he will have to bury his emotions and his sense of right and wrong. 

All through the book we get to learn about the war and how it changes people's lives on both sides. Marie-Lauri's anxious wait for her father, her eagerness to go out and her frustration in not being able to do so. Werner's shock and disgust at the sight of people being killed at the slightest of doubt, not even sparing kids. The author has been able to portray these feelings extremely well and it would seem as if you can visualize the war right in front of you. 

The way these two stories have been brought together at the climax is something that makes this book worth reading. Inspite of the war and all the devastation around at the end the book talks about how goodness and selflessness triumphs over the evil and makes life worth living.

It took me first 10 chapters to actually get a grasp of what is happening, but once you get that, the book is unputdownable!! The chapters are very small, which makes it easy to comprehend and not loose track of the story. Though Marie-Laurie and Werner were the two main characters and the story revolves around them, there are other important characters in the book, and the author has woven stories with them as well. And, all these characters are brought back at the end of the story, thus giving conclusion to each story. Author's strong command over the language will make you smile and cry along with the characters.

Overall. this is the kind of book, whose effect will linger on for quite sometime.

Book Review - Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

"There was something else beside laughter in her eyes. Hercule Poirot shook his head doubtfully.

'She cares too much, that little one,' he said to himself. It is not safe. No, it is not safe.'"

And safe it wasn't.   

Linnet Doyle, is on her honeymoon in Egypt with her husband Simon Doyle. Linnet is rich, beautiful, sophisticated and an extremely clever business woman. There is nothing that Linnet cannot do. Anything she wishes for she has it, including her husband, who was engaged to Linnet's best friend Jacqueline de Bellefort. Jacqueline had requested Linnet to get a job for her would be husband Simon in her estate, but Linnet ended up snatching Simon from Jackie and marrying him. Jackie's agony and her desire to kill Linnet was quite evident. So she arrives in Egypt and sails in the same boat as Linnet and Simon. 

The boat however, has many other passengers including our esteemed Detective Hercule Poirot. Othe co passengers include Mrs Allerton and her son Tim Allerton, who is upset at the sight of the Detective. Rosalie Otterbourne and her novelist mother Mrs Otterbourne. Socialite Marie van Schuyler, her nurse Mrs Bowers and cousin Carolina Robson, communist Mr Ferguson who is unhappy with all the people around him because of their social status, Austrian Dr Bressner, Linnet's trustee Andrew Peddington, her maid Louise Bourget, Italian archeologist Richett and Mr Finthorp. 

Linnet is particularly upset seeing Jackie, who is following her around in the trip. She asks Hercule Poirot to help her, but Poirot refuses to work for her. However, he agrees to talk to Jacqueline. Jackie tells Poirot that she carries a gun and is very eager to kill Linnet someday for what Linnet has done. So when Linnet Doyle is actually found dead in her cabin, everyone suspects Jackie. And to top it all, it is Jackie's gun which has been used to kill Linnet. Along with the murder there is a theft also that has been committed as Linnet's precious and expensive pearl necklace is also found missing. As if things were not complicated enough, there were two consecutive murders the following day -  one right in front of Hercule Poirot and his friend Colonel Race.

The investigation begins and Poirot and his friend questions everyone on the boat and also searches their cabins. How Poirot solves the case and how he finds out the killer and also the thief who had stolen the necklace is something absolutely extraordinary. Christie's way of creating suspense and then solving it is brilliant. 

I am very fond of Agatha Christie's novels, specially the Poirot ones. Her way of detailing the characters, laying out the plot is like no other. What I like most about her novel is Poirot's philosophy on life, death and crime. He solves the crime no doubt but does not pass judgement on the criminals and tries to help them in some way, even if that means helping the criminal to kill themselves.

Book Review : The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Anthony Webster, a man in his sixties, recollects his old days. His school days. His two other friends Colin and Alex and how a third boy named Adrian made to the group. Together they went through their school life and parted with the promise that they will always remain friends. But life has different plans. In University, Anthony meets Veronica and they are in love with each other, but they broke up eventually and surprisingly enough they end up having sex after they have broken up. Later, Tony, through a letter from Adrian, gets to know that Adrian is going around with Veronica. A few months later Tony gets to know that Adrian has committed suicide. Till here we feel it is a mundane story of a sixty year old man's life who is easy going and has a "go with the flow" attitude. 

But then you start the Part Two of the book where Tony gets a letter from a lawyer and things take a very different turn. As a part of a will by Veronica's mother, Tony is left Adrian's dairy and five hundred pounds. But Veronica refuses to part with the dairy. As we read through the book we get to know that Tony, in a moment of rage had written a letter to Adrian. A very cruel and disgusting letter which only a dumped lover can write and Tony had conveniently forgotten about the same. And thus unfolds the very unusual and thriller-like gripping plot of the story. 

When you read through the second half of the book, you will find yourself wondering about Adrian's dairy. What is there in it? Will Tony even get it? The plot becomes more gripping whrn Veronica sends a photocopied part of the diary. But little do we know that the story is much more than that. It is this unconventional teasing of your thoughts which hooks you to the story. You keep reading with something in your mind but what unfolds is absolutely different and unfathomable. Tony's way of grappling through his emotions, his guilt when he confronts the letter he had written years ago in a state of rage. But as Veronica says "You will never get it. You never did", neither will us the readers get what the story is unfolding until the very last page of the book. And even at the end we are left wondering about the child, the mathematical equation which is there in the part of Adrian's dairy that Tony was handed over.

A brilliant piece of work, the story line, the way the story unfolds, the way it provokes you to predict something completely different and you keep thinking "ok, so what next" is what makes the book a worth reading. A must read according to me!