Try free for 30 days
-
All the Light We Cannot See
- Narrated by: Julie Teal
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $30.38
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant Nobel-prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Delightful book
- By Arathaw on 11-05-2022
-
Cloud Cuckoo Land
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.
-
-
Absolutely brilliant!
- By Anonymous User on 24-11-2021
-
Lola in the Mirror
- By: Trent Dalton
- Narrated by: Victoria Graves
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.
-
-
Chapters out of order
- By Natalie Stirling on 12-10-2023
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bravery, courage, fear, and love in a time of war. Despite their differences sisters Viann and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann is content with life in the French countryside with her husband, Antoine, and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight, and Viann finds herself isolated, so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested.
-
-
Loved it
- By Ness on 10-09-2015
-
About Grace
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: George Newburn
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in Alaska, young David Winkler is crippled by his dreams. At nine he dreams a man is decapitated by a passing truck on the path outside his family's home. The next day, unable to prevent it, he witnesses an exact replay of his dream in real life. The premonitions keep coming, unstoppably. He sleepwalks during them, bringing catastrophe into his reach. Then, as unstoppable as a vision, he falls in love at the supermarket (exactly as he already dreamed) with Sandy.
-
-
Long, winding story .
- By Louise J. Leyden on 23-06-2019
-
None of This Is True
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Nicola Walker, Louise Brealey
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
-
-
Next Level Production
- By lisa on 02-08-2023
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant Nobel-prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Delightful book
- By Arathaw on 11-05-2022
-
Cloud Cuckoo Land
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.
-
-
Absolutely brilliant!
- By Anonymous User on 24-11-2021
-
Lola in the Mirror
- By: Trent Dalton
- Narrated by: Victoria Graves
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.
-
-
Chapters out of order
- By Natalie Stirling on 12-10-2023
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bravery, courage, fear, and love in a time of war. Despite their differences sisters Viann and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann is content with life in the French countryside with her husband, Antoine, and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight, and Viann finds herself isolated, so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested.
-
-
Loved it
- By Ness on 10-09-2015
-
About Grace
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: George Newburn
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in Alaska, young David Winkler is crippled by his dreams. At nine he dreams a man is decapitated by a passing truck on the path outside his family's home. The next day, unable to prevent it, he witnesses an exact replay of his dream in real life. The premonitions keep coming, unstoppably. He sleepwalks during them, bringing catastrophe into his reach. Then, as unstoppable as a vision, he falls in love at the supermarket (exactly as he already dreamed) with Sandy.
-
-
Long, winding story .
- By Louise J. Leyden on 23-06-2019
-
None of This Is True
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Nicola Walker, Louise Brealey
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
-
-
Next Level Production
- By lisa on 02-08-2023
-
Mr Einstein's Secretary
- By: Matthew Reilly
- Narrated by: Annabelle Tudor
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All Hanna Fischer ever wanted to do was to study physics under the great Albert Einstein. But when, as a teenager in 1919, her life is suddenly turned upside-down, she is catapulted into a new and extraordinary life - as a secretary, a scientist, a sister and a spy. From racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s and Hitler's inner circle during the Second World War, Hanna will encounter some of history's greatest minds and most terrible moments, all while desperately trying to stay alive.
-
-
Mmm not what i expected
- By Kym Angrave on 05-11-2023
-
Tom Lake
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
A sublime performance by the remarkable Streep. I was desperate for this never to finish. Please share another on Audible soon.
- By Christine Rowlands on 16-08-2023
-
Yellowface
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody. When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song. But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.
-
-
First audible I’ve finished
- By Cassie on 15-07-2023
-
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing
- By: Matthew Perry
- Narrated by: Matthew Perry
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence. In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes listeners onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humour, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle with the disease and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all.
-
-
Very self indulgent
- By Anonymous User on 03-11-2022
-
Boy Swallows Universe
- The International Bestseller
- By: Trent Dalton
- Narrated by: Stig Wemyss
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer. But Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Al on 01-07-2018
-
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
- By: Mary Ann Shaffer
- Narrated by: Taylor Owynns
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To give them hope she must tell their story. It's 1946. The war is over, and Juliet Ashton has writer's block. But when she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - a total stranger living halfway across the Channel, who has come across her name written in a secondhand book - she enters into a correspondence with him, and in time with all the members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
-
-
Narrator ruins it
- By Chelsea on 13-02-2019
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- Cormoran Strike, Book 1
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger...
-
-
Spoiled by bad language
- By Kathleen on 07-02-2019
-
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
- By: Holly Ringland
- Narrated by: Louise Crawford
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young girl loses both her parents in a tragic event and is taken to live with her grandmother on a flower farm. Growing up, Alice learns the language of Australian native flowers as a way to say the things that are too hard to speak. But she also learns that there are secrets within secrets about her past. An unexpected betrayal leaves her reeling, and she escapes to try to make her own—sometimes painful—way through the world and to find her story.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Simone on 06-08-2018
-
The Seven
- By: Chris Hammer
- Narrated by: Dorje Swallow
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful. But now—in startling circumstances—one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate. Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?
-
-
Slow, plodding story
- By CB on 14-10-2023
-
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
- By: Gabrielle Zevin
- Narrated by: Jennifer Kim, Julian Cihi
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world—of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, fades from view. When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love—making games.
-
-
Great book, didn’t like the narrator
- By Shanelle Newton Clapham on 20-07-2023
-
The Paris Agent
- By: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Emma Fenney, Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years after the end of the war, ageing British SOE operative Noah Ainsworth is reflecting on the secret agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong during his perilous, exhilarating years in occupied France. He never knew her real name, nor whether she survived the war. His daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What follows is the story of Fleur and Chloe, two otherwise ordinary women who in 1943 are called up by the SOE for deployment in France.
-
-
Incredible Bravery
- By Elizabeth on 05-10-2023
-
Someone Else’s Shoes
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nisha Cantor and Sam Kemp are two very different women. Nisha, 45, lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband inexplicably cuts her off entirely. She doesn't even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That's because Sam—47, middle-aged, struggling to keep herself and her family afloat—has accidentally taken Nisha's gym bag. Now Nisha's got nothing. And Sam's walking tall with shoes that catch eyes—and give her a career an unexpected boost. Except Nisha wants her life back—and she'll start with her shoes....
-
-
Loved it
- By Anonymous User on 23-02-2023
Publisher's Summary
Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
National Book Award Finalist
New York Times Bestseller
A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II, from the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr.
Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorise it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure’s agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialised tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Doerr’s gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work.
Critic Reviews
“This jewel of a story is put together like a vintage timepiece … Doerr's writing and imagery are stunning. It's been a while since a novel had me under its spell in this fashion.” (Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone)
"All the Light We Cannot See is a dazzling, epic work of fiction. Anthony Doerr writes beautifully about the mythic and the intimate, about snails on beaches and armies on the move, about fate and love and history and those breathless, unbearable moments when they all come crashing together.” (Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins)
"Doerr sees the world as a scientist, but feels it as a poet. He knows about everything - radios, diamonds, mollusks, birds, flowers, locks, guns - but he also writes a line so beautiful, creates an image or scene so haunting, it makes you think forever differently about the big things - love, fear, cruelty, kindness, the countless facets of the human heart [...] Doerr's new novel is that novel, the one you savor, and ponder, and happily lose sleep over, then go around urging all your friends to read - now.” (J.R. Moehringer, author of Sutton and The Tender Bar)
What listeners say about All the Light We Cannot See
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sophie
- 20-05-2015
Stunning
This was such an exquisitely written book. I love historical fiction but sometimes they can be clumsily written. This is not one of those books. It seems like Doerr was not only writing a beautiful and haunting story, he was also writing a love letter to language. Listening to the AudioBook was like returning to childhood where Nanna would read me an enchanting story, and I had no problem weaving through the timelines after a couple of chapters. Highly recommend to those that enjoy historical fiction about the war, and to those that like intelligent fiction written in such beautiful prose. Thanks Audible!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Clare Cotton
- 21-09-2016
<br />As good as it gets. <br />
I could not put it down. A WW2 story with a difference.
The characters beautifully drawn. A story that totally engaged me. Written e
with humanity and great sensitivity. A great deal to reflect on. The narrator's voice was perfect.
This is as good as it gets.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike
- 06-11-2017
boring
struggled to finish this boring book. It was hard to follow when there was little dialogue between the characters. most of it is in third person or narative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 25-10-2018
great book, hard to listen to.
read this title for a book club. was very excited to get stuck in after reading all the reviews. the narrator however was very difficult to listen to - this was a pretty major down fall. I ended up reading the hard copy instead.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deb
- 12-03-2016
All the Light....... I enjoyed to hear
This story was brilliantly written. I was captivated.
Reader was excellent and kept me listening late into the night.
Marilyn and her Father and Uncle were so interesting with characters interwoven in a story that brings the life of France before and during the War to life.
The German children used for Hitler's demonic reign brought me to tears with the hardships they endured during their training.
Living in Australia we really have no idea of how hard it would be to live in a war torn environment. For that I am glad!
This story is a must read and I am looking forward to reading more from this author and hopefully with the same reader.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bob
- 14-05-2015
Exceptional Book
I love this book. Gentle people in a a violent time. The story captivating. the reader was fabulous and did the book proud.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RCF
- 13-09-2015
Long and tiresome
Bloated and self indulgent. Might read better than it sounded, however, as I disliked the reader's monotone and poor French pronunciation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joel
- 03-02-2016
A lasting impact
It's been 4 weeks since I finished this book and my mind still turns to it daily. The vivid imagery, the characters, the simply exquisite style of Doerr ...I was, and still am, immersed it all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Judith
- 15-10-2016
Distracting narration
The story was ok, but the repeated mispronounciations by the narrator were an irritating distraction.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Isabelle
- 27-10-2015
A slow-burn story
Long and sometimes tricky to keep up with (due to the jumps back-and-forth in the timeline) it is still a fantastic read!
The story unfurls slowly, with a delicious use of language. The narrator is one of the best I've listened to.
It's a slow-burn narrative, and once the stories start to converge, it becomes highly enjoyable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Adele
- 23-12-2014
Mispronunciation sure, but buy it anyway!
All the Light We Cannot See is a well balanced gem of a book - beautifully written descriptions and dialogue. Most of all I loved the diverse and complex relationships. The humanity of all the characters was deftly captured, and the many and varied forms of love.
A few words were noticeably mispronounced and it was a little disruptive when that happened. I got the impression that the reader was aware of some of them opted to persist rather than introduce inconsistency. Ideally those mistakes should have been spotted and corrected before publishing. However, aside from these relatively infrequent glitches I loved the narration - it was unobtrusive, understated and sensitive. I was totally engaged and had no difficulty distinguishing one character from another and certainly experienced a wide range of emotions along with the characters.
I would encourage anyone who loves really good literature to listen to this beautiful story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lydia
- 23-05-2015
An exceptional novel.
If you could sum up All the Light We Cannot See in three words, what would they be?
Haunting.
Exquisite.
Multifaceted.
What did you like best about this story?
That it was told from perspective of 2 individuals, on opposing sides of the war.
The fleeting touch of romance toward the end.
What does Julie Teal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The narration transfixed me. I thought it was excellent.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Diamond sparkles in the dark.
Any additional comments?
One of the best novels I've listened to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robyn
- 09-04-2017
Wonderful
A little difficult to keep track of the story as it jumps between characters as well as time but excellent story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 14-01-2018
Great story of loss resiliance and courage
Doerr creaates memorable word images of places and people . He weaves a back and forth tale that keeps the reader engaged. it is hard to stop listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mariechen
- 29-05-2017
Enjoyed it the second time too, but a little less
Would you consider the audio edition of All the Light We Cannot See to be better than the print version?
Not really. I read the print version a year ago and I enjoyed it a lot. I got it on audible because I loved it enough to read it again, and because I thought my blind father would enjoy it a lot.
And he did.
But I didn't like it as much as the print version. There are many factors that could have contributed to it, but I guess this is just not the kind of book I like to listen to in audio, if I have a choice. People like my dad don't have a choice, and they learn to love all sorts of books in audio.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Jutta! (Werner's sister)
She probably could have been characterised a bit more thoroughly, but I enjoyed the way she thought for herself, and the way she supported Werner all the same. I would have liked to know her.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
In this reading, not really for me.
For my dad, it was when Marie-Laure walks away from the house near the end, and when she walks towards safety. He felt it was poignant, and also very realistically written from a blind person's perspective of navigation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Blanca
- 22-02-2017
Wonderful reading. Poetry in capital letters.
A historic view of our world, it helps us understand the ordinary and extraordinary life during ww2
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- etienne van de Merwe
- 24-11-2023
Magnificent !
Such an elegant mastery of the language. Sight in the minds eye. taste in the mouth, sound in the heart, tears in the soul.
wow truly wow!
Thank you!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sue
- 08-06-2023
Too tedious
I just couldn’t finish the audio book. Read the origional which I found hard going but the audio is even more difficult to get through.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- buyer
- 20-12-2022
Beautiful
Worth every minute - catch every word. Crafted by a master. Held my attention all the way even after 45 years of reading ww2 books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tom Dawkins
- 29-11-2022
An extraordinary book
This is one of the best books I've listened to. Lyrical, lush, and very moving. A unique story extraordinarily well told, it moves back and forth in time following two young people swept up in a world gone mad, this book grabs hold of your heart and doesn't let go. I've only just finished it and already I miss it. The reader is perfect.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- JF7588
- 06-02-2015
Despite the narrator
Technically exquisite writing - esp from the close pov of the blind girl - and the research a little too heavy to always convince as the characters' knowledge and not the writer unable to resist sharing his long hours in the library, but a story both epic and intimate, sustained and sincere, if sentimental. The narrator is almost comically inadequate. That she struggles with French and German words I can understand - but English, too? Navvies, noted in a review above, is a favourite, but her pronunciation of 'extravagance' is the best, and may outlast the memory of the book itself for me. Wasn't anybody at the recording listening to her? These errors were so numerous I decided to make them added pleasures, but, yes, the writer and the readers deserve better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
107 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- bignewshound
- 10-04-2016
THE WORST NARRATION I HAVE HEARD BY A PROFESSIONAL
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
Great novel - almost a masterpiece but no one should have to suffer this narration.
What was one of the most memorable moments of All the Light We Cannot See?
Julie Teal's mispronunciations: 'Pistol Packing Maar Maar' - hilarious. As if read by a gawky public schoolgirl. So many mistakes. Embarrassing. The producer was not fit for purpose. The talent was miscast. And she clearly DIDN'T PREPARE. She just turned up and read it. BADLY. 'd think twice about casting her again. JCA, take note.
What didn’t you like about Julie Teal’s performance?
It was an insult to the novel. Re-voice it. Julie Teal cannot do this type of narration.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
All the above for the right reasons reading it ...and for the wrong reasons listening
Any additional comments?
I love this book. It is almost a masterpiece. But how can Anthony Doerr, his agent and his publisher have allowed this abysmal narration to be released. It is laughable at times and pitiful at others. I counted 11 mispronunciations in the first 90 minutes. What was poor Julie Teal's producer doing. Not listening to the recording, clearly. Absolutely awful. She's a great actor but - like quite a few TV actors - Anna Chancellor is another - dreadful as a VO and audio artist. So sad where there are some really great narrators out there who know how to do it. Please Please get rid of this version and get a competent performer to re-voice this. At least this shows that this kind of work is not easy. Too many sub-standard people are now muscling in on this. Audible is partly to blame. Please, install some quality control. You are important enough now to take a stand on behalf of your customers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
94 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MB
- 05-10-2014
Great story, woeful narration
Would you listen to All the Light We Cannot See again? Why?
No, the narrator makes too many jarring errors of pronunciation.
What didn’t you like about Julie Teal’s performance?
Too many mispronunciations. For example, navy - in a passage describing how huge trees were cut down to make masts for ships - the French & British navies become "navvies". Seriously - why didn't someone stop her? So many mistakes I found myself calling out the correction "Not 'straff' - STRAFE!" Just hope I didn't do it on the train.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
84 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nicola
- 17-11-2015
Fabulous story, marred by distracting narration
Would you consider the audio edition of All the Light We Cannot See to be better than the print version?
Haven't read the print version but many times wished I was reading it myself to avoid the many jolting mispronunciations by the narrator. They were very distracting and such a shame as it spoilt the flow of the story for me. So, no, I'd recommend the print version for that reason!
What was one of the most memorable moments of All the Light We Cannot See?
I loved the story, the characters and the vivid settings. The account of Werner's schooling at the hands of the Third Reich was really chilling, especially the victimisation of his friend Frederick.
Would you be willing to try another one of Julie Teal’s performances?
No I don't think so. She has a lovely clear voice and I trusted her to tell the story, but there were just too many bizarre errors in pronunciation.
Any additional comments?
A wonderful book that deserved better attention to detail in the production of this audio version.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
41 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- uccellina
- 24-09-2016
Tedious
Turgid prose plus distracting narration make this a painful listen. Those who like redundant adverbs/adjectives crammed into every available space and have nostalgic thoughts of a British ladies with apparent social aspirations might enjoy it.
As a rule, I don't mind eccentric pronunciations but these are constantly shifting (e.g. Marie is variously pronounced Mary, Murray, Marray etc.) and therefore confusing and distracting. Many pronunciations of foreign words are outright incomprehensible and rather a lot of English words read with great affectation. These factors would be outweighed by an otherwise strong performance or a great book but this felt like a book read aloud in a classroom with the pronunciations a jarring distraction. The mind can never sink in to enjoy the story.
I don't think I would have loved this book if I'd read it myself - it's bloated - but the narration really killed it for me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
33 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Claire
- 10-02-2016
Two sides to every story
Would you consider the audio edition of All the Light We Cannot See to be better than the print version?
No. Although it is very well performed, and the act of listening to this time-shifting and disorientating novel relates very well to the experience of the story's blind heroin, who has to rely much more on her other senses (particularly touch and sound), I think this is a novel better read in print as the point of view changes rapidly from segment to segment (there are no 'chapters' as such) and it's easier to immerse yourself in the written word in this case: so much of the novel is interior thoughts rather than dialogue, which somehow feels more personal when read by yourself.
What other book might you compare All the Light We Cannot See to, and why?
Any war literature - All Quiet on the Western Front for its German perspective, and even a touch of Anne Frank in the tale of Marie Laure as she is confined to the indoors for a large part of the novel, and is constantly in danger of discovery for her household's role in the Resistance. It has a touch of fantasy with the folklore surrounding the diamond, and it could also be viewed as the tale of an orphaned young girl during occupied France.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
I fear I shouldn't say due to spoilers, but I really liked the way the time shifts gradually revealed missing details to the reader without losing any sense of the tension the characters experience.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I liked hearing Werner's interior thoughts, especially that he just wanted to stay in that moment and that place for a thousand years, knowing he would want nothing else.
Any additional comments?
At the beginning of the novel, I feared it would unfold like a Dan Brown - too much jarring American-english, impossible situations too heroically overcome - but the characterisation and themes are too intense for that to happen: the horrors of WW2 are always shocking and gut-wrenching to read about, and several incidents in this novel offer no exception (spoilers: the Vienna incident; Frederick, his Mother; Volkheimer's actions; Jutta and Fray Elena's horrific ordeal; Daniel leBlanc's pitifully optimistic letters to try to protect his daughter; all the loss of life), so it's no fluffy, escapist read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
24 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- d t
- 12-07-2020
Ignore the nonsense about the narrator
The sort of people who bothered to whine about the narrator's pronunciation are the sort of people who say "Pareee" rather than "Paris" and "I'm better than you" than "Hello." Ignore them. It's a moving book about the war, the experiences two characters have on the Opposing Teams, and the inevitable conjunction of events towards the end.
I remember the book, and how gripping it was. I also remember putting up curtains as that's what I was doing at the time. I don't remember the narrator being bad because try as I might, I'm simply not petty enough.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carol
- 28-10-2014
Page turner, but overwritten.
Is there anything you would change about this book?
Yes, oh indeed yes! Why can't some Readers be bothered to check basic pronunciation in foreign languages? It is so sloppy and unprofessional. Sometimes a Reader gives a consummate performance and one is left breathless with admiration for their mastery of different voices, for their fluency and, above all, for their managing to pronounce names and words from other countries and their languages correctly. But this is not the case with Julie Teal. Her ignorance is astounding. Surely she has heard the word 'Führer' pronounced elsewhere? Or commonplace French forenames such as Etienne? If not, then the producer, or someone should take the trouble to correct her, or she should take the trouble to find out. It can absolutely ruin a book and is thoroughly irritating.
Would you be willing to try another book from Anthony Doerr? Why or why not?
Perhaps, as the story is quite good, though pretty trite at times, and definitely overwritten. It is superfluous to give two or even three adjectives to qualify so many of the nouns. 'Less is more' sometimes!
What didn’t you like about Julie Teal’s performance?
Her pronunciation above all. However, it wasn't her fault that the short, choppy style in places makes it very hard to carry the story along with any fluidity. But her voice and register range is very limited and she makes far too little differentiation between some of the main characters' voices.
Did All the Light We Cannot See inspire you to do anything?
No!
Any additional comments?
I did enjoy some of the incidental detail woven around gemmology, radio transmitters and receivers, the works of Jules Verne and so forth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mr. Brendan Hayes
- 26-07-2014
Wonderful, absolutely wonderful
Where does All the Light We Cannot See rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's up in the top five. My book club - I'm 7 years in this book club....... - voted it the best book we had ever read..... Now!
What other book might you compare All the Light We Cannot See to, and why?
I suppose "The Girl who Dropped from the Sky" covered a similar epoch.
What does Julie Teal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
i'm a convert to audiobooks because of the acting/voicing talents of the narrators/actors/actresses. It's like the difference between a b/w and 3D colour movie for me. The narrator is a huge contributor to the enjoyment of the book.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Historical Fiction at its very best
Any additional comments?
Now I'll have to ensure I visit St-Malo sometime soon in the future, to see the actual geography being writing about. I wonder does no.4 Rue Voberelle exist....???? Will I be able to resist walking the beach and looking in the ocean for the sea of Flames.......
I want to thank Anthony Doerr for his talent. I searched the internet for a way to contact him to personally thank him for this book..no luck...so I hope he gets to read my thanks here.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Pest of Buda
- 09-09-2018
4 hours too long
I wish I liked this book more, it had a good story which flowed long nicely. It's not fantasy, and it's not a love story, it's a historical tale of struggle and desperation during World War 2. What I liked about this book was that it didn't take any sides and showed the unfairness from both camps. However, it really does go on too long. Imagine a whodunnit movie where two hours go by until the viewer finds out whodunnit. Well, then imagine another two hours where the viewer is subjected to how the whole cast live out their lives after the event.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful