All the Light We Cannot See: Parts Five–Six

by Anthony Doerr
Marie-Laure is a blind French girl who flees the Nazi occupation of Paris. Werner Pfennig is a young orphan living in a German mining town. In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways as they try to survive the havoc of war.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Parts Zero–Two, Parts Three–Four, Parts Five–Six, Parts Seven–Nine, Parts Ten–Thirteen
15 words 572 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. palpable
    capable of being perceived
    His body radiates a faint but palpable heat in the chair beside her.
  2. fabricate
    put together out of artificial or natural components
    Madame Manec brings her omelets, cassoulet, brochettes of fish, fabricating miracles out of ration tickets and the dregs of her cupboards, but Marie-Laure refuses to eat.
  3. gusto
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    The cheers lose their gusto and a pure longing to flee floods Werner.
  4. perfunctory
    as a formality only
    When his turn arrives, Werner throws the water like all the others and the splash hits the prisoner in the chest and a perfunctory cheer rises.
  5. coruscate
    reflect brightly
    He stared into the stone's ice-blue interior, where miniature mountain ranges seemed to send back fire, crimsons and corals and violets, polygons of color twinkling and coruscating as he rotated it.
  6. unwitting
    not aware or knowing
    On the last day of February 1941, a dapper little Gestapo man comes to him with the news that the unwitting Dupont has tried to use the forged tickets.
  7. melange
    a varied mixture or assortment of things
    Von Rumpel expected a melange of fear and indignation and hunger, but Dupont sits upright.
  8. privation
    a state of extreme poverty
    At least, out on the beaches, her privation and fear are rinsed away by wind and color and light.
  9. duplicity
    the act of deceiving or acting in bad faith
    The exchange rate is a farce, the price of carrots indefensible, duplicity lives everywhere.
  10. complicity
    guilt as a confederate in a crime or offense
    Debating perhaps whether to tell him or pretend she does not know. Accusation or resignation or complicity.
  11. platitude
    a trite or obvious remark
    Werner writes four lines, a smattering of platitudes—I am fine; I am so busy—and hands it to the bunk master.
  12. ungainly
    lacking grace in movement or posture
    While he talks, he makes ungainly movements and bumps the table so that the spoons clatter in their bowls.
  13. mitigate
    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
    All of Etienne’s adult life, Marie-Laure realizes, Madame Manec has tended his fears. Skirted them, mitigated them.
  14. pallid
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    Every six or seven days, the same two pallid casualty assistance officers enter the refectory, and four hundred faces go ashen from the effort of not turning to watch.
  15. regalia
    paraphernalia indicative of royalty or other high office
    Werner is summoned by an eleven-year-old in full regalia to the commandant’s office.
Created on Mon Jun 15 19:28:22 EDT 2015 (updated Fri Jul 11 19:02:29 EDT 2025)

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