This Just Misses Being Book Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        When I began reading Anthony Doerr's novel, with its lyrical descriptions of Marie-Laure's neighborhood, and the miniature reconstruction of it, so she could follow its pathways, being blind, and then her love for Jules Verne, evidenced by her incessant rereading of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea," I got that momentary chill that indicated this book might be "one of those;" hence, a Book Of The Year.  But, alas, it was not to be.

                         The book will certainly find a place on my Best Of List For Fiction In 2014, but what kept it from the Number One spot, was Doerrr's short, fragmented, receptive style of alternating the characters' stories.  I found this tedious and annoying at first, disrupting the story's flow.  Then, somewhere into the book, it clicked, and I went with it.  Meaning I didn't like it any more or less, but I came to accept it.

                           However, the language  is exquisite.  Mare, her grandfather, Uncle Etienne, Werner Pfennig, his sister, Jutta, are exquisitely drawn, and the way Doerr  mixes science, the Holocaust, and the whimsical fantasy and reality of a blue stone, and how all this transpires down through time to the present day, is remarkable for its maintaining focus, and being deeply moving.  As I closed the book, I found myself crying--for Marie,. Jutta, everyone.  And for a novel that turns out to be, ultimately, a very satisfying read.

                            But by structuring the book the way he does--and having read and gone with it, I can now understand why he did--Mr. Doerr runs the risk of readers who prefer more linear narrative, whom he may lose due to their impatience and frustration, some of which I felt initially.

                            Had things been rearranged a bit--because all the right elements are in place--this might have been the Book Of The Year.  But this was Doerr's decision, not mine, resulting in a book which might not top the lists, but deservedly earns some kind of place on them.

                             I am the last person to judge a book by its cover.  But anyone drawn to this book by the breathtaking beauty of its cover jacket will not be disappointed.  In fact, I am sure there are art prizes for such, and, as far as I am concerned the cover art for this book should win Top Honors.

                             Now, I have to go, girls!  As the year winds down, the reading speeds up!  Have to find that Book Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!