Full disclosure first. I normally read two or three books at a time. I was reading this book in paperback at the same time I was “reading” Kafa on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel (Translator) on audible. I fell in love with both books at the same time and couldn’t quite tear myself away from either. So both books where guilty of stealing time from the other. I hate and love them both for that.

It is also important to note that the tale of two young children growing up during WWII seems to be a common theme in my reading life. I myself grew up reading and re reading the Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, I Am David by Anne Holm and of course Anne Frank’s Diary. As an adult I discovered and loved The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (also on my favourites shelf). So it is unsurprising but not inevitable that this book made my favourites shelf.

The reason this novel is a favourite though, is not only because of its subject matter, but because this book is beautifully written. The language, metaphors and descriptions are beautiful, poetic, and sometimes over done? Personally I don’t have the language skills to do them justice so I will not try. Plenty of other reviews have come close to describing it so I will let you read them. Let’s just say other reviewers have stated they have fallen in love with words again as a result of this book and I believe that that is entirely possible.

Structurally the novel is quite long (530 odd pages) with some very short chapters and some chapters are as short as a paragraph long. Personally the short chapters worked for me. The glimpses of precious moments within each chapter turned the narrative into a kind of kaleidoscope of images that overall formed the story.

The story is told in a chronological sequence of flash backs and for me that built up a lot of the tension in the tale. I am a fan of this device though I know some people aren’t.

The book has many memorable characters. The two main characters are a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and the young German boy who has a book of questions and a love of radio, Werner Pfennig. Another important character is a famous diamond called the Sea of Flames. The Sea of Flames is rumoured to make its holder immortal but at the costs of the lives that s/he hold most dear. Unsurprisingly to any Indiana Jones fans out there, the Nazis in the form of von Rumpel would really like to get their hands on the stone.

But this is not a tale of adventure. It is a tale of a fall from grace by a boy called Werner, from an innocent boy with a love of questions and radios to someone who can betray his best friend in school with devastating consequences. Yet Werner is loved by his sister and his friend in the army and can redeem himself if he chooses to. It is also about the love a father for his daughter, the power of radio waves to connect people, the brave ordinary people of the French resistance, the suffering of women and those left behind in war and mostly about how war and hate can take what is precious about a person and totally and utterly destroy it.

The book has flaws. British not American English should be used in a book describing European characters, especially in that time when that is the version of English they would have learned. The ending for von Rumplel was far too sudden. Though I loved them, for a lot of people the short chapters would be distracting. Overall I am just trying to find a fault as it is a Pulitzer Prize winner and should stand up to the highest scrutiny?

Nevertheless, this book earned every one of its five stars.