As I have noted before, the thing about reading nothing but Pulitzer-prize winning novels is that you will always be reading something of quality. Not that I’ve loved all of the books I’ve read thus far — I have liked all of them at least — but you can’t argue with how well-written they are.
I’ve been fortunate, even more so, to be on quite the good run lately. Three of the last five books I’ve read have ranked 1 to 3 for me, with All the Light We Cannot See coming in an incredibly close third behind The Orphan Master’s Son and Demon Copperhead. It easily ranks in my “fantastic” category, and yet another one I can recommend with no reservations.
The book itself did take a bit of getting used to as far as Doerr’s writing style. His chapters are incredibly short, and there are very few that are consecutive within a character’s story. I normally don’t like this — jumping around between scenes. But it turns out not to be so bad in this case. Like I said — short chapters. One, two, three pages in many cases. So it moves well. You don’t get wrapped into a particular story only to leave it behind for thirty pages before it picks up again.
The backdrop of the story is also phenomenal. Germany’s rise and slide into desperation during World War II is well narrated throughout. Short sections where he jumps forward to a time when the German army is disintegrating and falling back to help build you to a point where you’re thinking, “Ah, we’re getting close to the time to which we’ve been jumping forward throughout the book — I can see it coming together, how destiny is bringing people to this point.” It’s very well done. And of course I’ve always liked history. The twentieth century was incredible with it.
So yes: read the book. I can’t see how it would disappoint. Do it well before November — before the Netflix series arrives. That way you might be able to watch it and not be too disappointed (although this teaser looks interesting).