The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay

This is an intriguing novel. Nina is forty-something-year-old woman who has spent most of her life in a love triangle with two brothers, Paolo and Luca. She actually married Luca, but now they've separated and she's come to this tiny Greek island where they honeymooned, trying to find herself again. Following a serious accident, she is befriended by the handsome and attentive island doctor, and they share their life stories.

Despite the action of the accident, this is very much a novel of the mind. We see Nina, through the process of sharing her life story with Dr. Christos, learning that how she thinks things were, and how things actually were, are two entirely different things. Through the process of her body recuperating, Nina realizes what actually was wrong in her marriage, and comes to understand the forces that impacted her relationships with both Paolo and Luca.

This is a really beautifully written novel, and I was drawn into the story almost immediately. I highly recommend it.

The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay

All the Light We Cannot See

This is the most amazing novel I've read in some time. Anthony Doerr has managed to create a story and characters that take you through the emotional spectrum, from heartache to hope, from outrage to joy, and everything in between. I couldn't put it down, and when I finished it I felt spent.

Okay, I know that sounds over the top, but you have to believe me.

This is the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl living in Paris, and Werner, a brilliant German orphan living in a mining town, growing up just before and during WWII. The novel is told in a sort of chronological order, switching from Marie's story to Werner's, and sometimes going forward or backward in time as necessary. Marie's life goes from Paris to the coastal town of Saint-Malo, while Werner's goes from the Children's Home to an elite military prep school to the German army. But the reader always senses the connection between these two bright, sensitive, and endearing characters, and they do eventually come together.

Doerr uses characterization and beautiful prose to show us the dark side of war, and the bright side of humanity. He shows how there are good people who do bad things, and situations that make heroes of the unlikeliest among us. It's an amazing book, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

All the Light We Cannot See