Mark started things off by stating that he had been enjoying the book and thought it would make a good book club choice, but then started reading / enjoying The Narrow Road To The Deep North, by Richard Flanagan and became concerned that “All the Light” was perhaps a bit too light (sorry) for the book club. He nonetheless stayed with his recommendation since he hadn't finished reading “The Narrow Road”. The general consensus of everyone who read all or part of “All the Light” before the meeting was that it was indeed a good read but, yes, a bit light. The fact that “All The Light” was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction after our selection of the book was a bit of a mystery to all. It was good but not that good. The plot was considered a bit too formulaic and some of us were concerned that perhaps it had been written as a potential movie. Some of us loved the idea of the German children listening to the great-uncle Etienne's lectures on the radio while some thought it too far-fetched. Most of us thought the diamond was perhaps superfluous but in an interview the author felt he needed it to pull the story along. Was the diamond the “light we cannot see” as proposed by Maren? Interestingly , while typing these notes Mark read an op-ed piece
http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-thorson-light-we-cannot-see-0514-20150513-column.html
where the author gives his take on the light we cannot see – about halfway through he diverts on a tangent away from the book – you have been forewarned but the piece is worth reading. Caroline thought the model of St Malo made by Marie-Laure’s father, with its interlocking parts, could reflect the interlocking parts of the narrative. Everyone liked the character, Volkheimer, who brings the duffel bag to Jutta at the end, and thought he was the best developed. Conversely, we didn’t know Werner's sister Jutta very well although she did play the part of his conscience quite often. Was the friend Frederick, who gets horrifically injured, a metaphor for the collateral damage of war as was perhaps Volkheimer? The author's writing style allowed one (as was the author's purpose) to see the wonder in common objects – a lump of coal that really represents the sunlight from millions of years ago that allowed a plant to grow and eventually have a metamorphosis into coal.
Caroline had some interesting thoughts after the meeting. Taking the model of St Malo one step further, she thought that perhaps the crushing of the model under the boot of the enemy symbolized the crushing of France / Europe? Posters of heavy military boots immediately spring to mind. Caroline found a few examples on the web (see below).
http://www.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://obeygiant.com/images/2008/08/tyrant-boot-poster.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.obeygiant.com/headlines/revok-tyrants&h=599&w=450&tbnid=9HsRl7PSfDsrBM:&zoom=1&tbnh=95&tbnw=71&usg=__hrMjD5oXqfZy-LcfRBazl_w4H8c=&docid=hbQ4EzhiPSq57M
http://www.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.war-stories.com/images/war-posters/wwii/poster-wwii-fight-were-fighting-to-prevent-this.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.war-stories.com/war-posters-wwii-2.htm&h=412&w=290&tbnid=-Ln-CHs3mk_myM:&zoom=1&tbnh=94&tbnw=66&usg=__WWKHAx-VfU4cUYU69AzsM_VJxg8=&docid=De0M-M8_ty94BM
http://www.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://web.stanford.edu/~nauerbac/ddr%2520kunst_exhibit_sept10/exhibit/GDRposters/helpnic.jpg&imgrefurl=http://web.stanford.edu/~nauerbac/ddr%2520kunst_exhibit_sept10/exhibit/GDRposters/nicaragua.html&h=310&w=218&tbnid=9ANF84zrSWN1eM:&zoom=1&tbnh=94&tbnw=66&usg=__Sc7-klBQdCggoGzXmh2z5VuWn8M=&docid=n7xifA0M3xYu2M
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/16/boot_symbolism_imprint/
Caroline also supposed that one could extrapolate even further by saying that the spread of von Rumpel’s cancer is also a metaphor for evil being “eaten up” and thought it seems tenable, given that the book has a definite moral undertone.
Maren also followed up after the meeting with a list of literature concerning war that was part of the curriculum at East German schools (- giving examples why she doesn't like read books on war).
Dieter Noll "Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Werner_Holt
(probably not translated)
Nikolai Alexejewitsch Ostrowski "Wie der Stahl gehärtet wurde"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Steel_Was_Tempered
Translation available as PDF ("External links"):
Bruno Spitz "Nackt unter Wölfen"
Naked among Wolves, translated by Edith Anderson, Berlin 1960, Seven Seas Publishers
Chingiz Aytmatov "Jamila"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamila_%28novel%29
with a link to a translated online version and reference of a translation in book format
Erich Maria Remarque "Im Westen nichts Neues"
"All Quiet on the Western Front"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front
References on translations available there
Mikhail Sholokhov "Destiny of a Man"
Other titles: "Fate of a Human", "Fate of a Man"
Movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_of_a_Man
On the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Sholokhov
"One Man's Destiny, and Other Stories, Articles, and Sketches", 1923–1963, 1967
Mark
