Parisian Phoenix Publishing

Netflix recently released their four-episode adaption of the historical fiction novel All the Light We Cannot See. And of course now I want to read it.

The women in my local public library book club recommended the small screen adaptation since we were reading another World War II historical fiction.

I really hate being trendy so I resisted.

Even when I saw Hugh Laurie was in it, I resisted. Hugh Laurie played Dr. House, MD. Even when I heard it was French World War II historical fiction, I resisted.

But then, I heard the main character was a blind woman.

Well, snap. I had to check it out a little if only to report to Nan about the representation of blindness and disability. Within the first seconds, I recognized that the production was stunning. And in that very first scene, the viewer meets an independent, intelligent blind woman.

And the actress playing her, and the actress playing her younger self, are both legally blind.

And Netflix has the series audio-described in several languages, so it is possible that Nan and I could watch it together.

Marie, the blind protagonist, glues the whole story together. It is so refreshing to see a fierce disabled character play such an important role in not only life, but in war, and against the Nazis.

I still have one more episode to go, but at least I finally placed Marie’s father. The actor who plays him is no other than the actor who plays Bruce Banner.