Saint-Malo photos, for all readers of All The Light We Cannot See

post #245
     Many people I know seem to have read Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See.  I have not finished it yet, but my friend George Ella said in January that it was the best book she will read all year.  It took me many months to realize that the city of Saint-Malo which is featured in the story is a place I visited -- for the first time -- in May, 2014.  And being me, I took photos there.  And made an album in my Zenfolio account. I have finally put it together in my head that I can share those photos with readers known and unknown by putting the album on this blog.  And today's the day!

        While figuring out how to do this, I followed a link to Goodreads.com where I discovered this marvelous photo of Saint-Malo.  I wish I had seen it before my visit.  Even in walking the wall all around the town, I couldn't get a feel for how it sits on the English Channel.  I am including this whole Goodreads section, I think, though there are other reviews on that site as well. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in literature this year.


 PART ONE, the photo and a book review from Goodreads.com:

Jul 22, 2015 LeeAnne rated it 5 of 5 stars  (on Goodreads web site)

Shelves: france, literature, germany, favorite-fiction, lyrical

All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr

This book has the most hauntingly beautiful prose I've ever read. It's brimming with rich details that fill all five senses simultaneously. It's full of beautiful metaphors that paint gorgeous images. I didn't want this book to end, but I couldn't put it down.



"In August 1944 the historic walled city of Saint-Malo, the brightest jewel of the Emerald Coast of Brittany, France was almost destroyed by fire....Of the 865 buildings within the walls, only 18 ...more

flag 582 likes · Like · see review

PART TWO, the story of visiting there with my friends Mariko and Christian:
      My friends have often been to Saint-Malo; they live only an hour away, in Rennes, in the region if Bretagne. I have been good friends with Mariko since meeting her in Japan a long time ago. I thank them both profusely for being willing to go there once again to show me the place for my first time ever.  We had a lovely day in mid-May for our excursion.  
       The guiding design of the town is the thick wall around the outside, with a wide walkway all along the top. It felt like a big star, with the views toward the interior being either high buildings or streets leading into the center of town.  The views away from the town feature boats and ships and nearby land along the northwest coast of France. The whole thing is very dramatic.  I can't imagine the destruction of the place near the end of WWII that is part of the story in the book.  It must have been an enormous community decision to rebuild the town as faithfully as was feasible and affordable.  
    
Revision May 2020: I'm redoing the photo entries for this post. I deleted the slide show link that was here because it wasn't working. Enjoy!

looking into the city from the ramparts:

Mariko and Christian

school group

pointing toward Canada... see a history book....

writer and diplomat Chateaubriand, early 1800s, native son