All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr

The title of the book seems almost poetic. The story was set in france during WWII and I absolutely loved the book. It reminded me a tad of the book thief, with one of the central characters resembling to me, Rudy.
Marie-laure was a blind French girl who lived alone with her father in a small apartment in Paris. When france was invaded by Germany, father and daughter escaped to Saint-malo, a small coastal town to seek refuge with Marie-Laure’s eccentric grand-uncle, Etienne. On Marie-laure’s father, was a precious gem called the sea of flames which was entrusted to him by the museum he worked in. The gem was believed to be cursed, offering protection to its holder but misfortunes to those around them. The story moved between Marie-Laure and Werner, an intelligent orphan boy in Germany. Gifted in radio, Werner applied for military school to escape his destiny - a coal miner- something which he would live to regret. Fellow boys in the school were like predators, constantly seeking out the weak and eliminating them. Werner’s best friend ended up with permanent brain damage after a vicious attack in the school. This left Werner even more disillusioned with the military. Soon he was sent into the field to seek enemies through the scanning of radio signals. One operation which he was involved in left a young innocent girl dead.
When Werner neared Saint-malo, he detected strange familiar recordings which he once heard when he was a kid fascinated with science. The recordings were done by etienne and his brother. This eventually led Werner to Marie-Laure. He however kept his finding a secret and saved Marie-Laure when a German soldier who was in pursuit of the sea of flames found Marie-Laure’s residence. Although Werner and Marie-Laure only had a short meeting, he fell in love with her. Things didn’t end beautifully with Werner captured and subsequently died when he stepped on a land mine planted by the Germans. Marie-Laure however lived a long life and went on to become a director at the museum her father worked in Paris.
What did I love about the book? I’m not sure. It’s simple yet moving, juxtaposes the dark and light sides of human nature, love, sufferings, hope, death. It’s chilling how war pushes a normal human being into one who’s capable of killing fellow human beings in cold blood. Can I imagine myself being capable of such acts if the situation calls for it? When someone declares an “enemy”, when there is something precious to defend, do we naturally transform to killing machines? I don’t know.