118 pages • 3 hours read
Anthony DoerrA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Background
Part 0, Chapters 1-8
Part 1, Chapters 9-31
Part 2, Chapters 32-36
Part 3, Chapters 37-61
Part 4, Chapters 62-67
Part 5, Chapters 68-95
Part 6, Chapters 96-100
Part 7, Chapters 101-120
Part 8, Chapters 121-128
Part 9, Chapters 129-147
Part 10, Chapters 148-165
Part 11, Chapters 166-167
Part 12, Chapters 168-177
Part 13, Chapter 178
Character Analysis
Symbols & Motifs
Themes
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Quiz
Content Warning: This section of the book includes a scene of rape, described in the guide.
In January 1945, Jutta and the four other girls remaining in the Children’s House are transported to Berlin with Frau Elena, to work at a machine-parts factory. Berlin is bombed every night through the spring. The Reich falls apart: the mail stops, young boys are shot in the streets as deserters and children are killed by falling bombs. Jutta and the other women work moving rubble from the bombings and clearing the streets.
Jutta receives notice that Werner has been killed.
The Russian army closes in on Berlin and all the women fear what will happen to them when the soldiers arrive. They are raped by three Russian soldiers who find them in the factory. Jutta hears one officer repeating a list of names while he rapes her; she assumes that they are the names of fallen soldiers.
Etienne rents the same apartment that Marie-Laure grew up in. They wait daily at the train station, scanning the faces of each arrival, and read the newspapers hoping to see her father’s name. He could be on his way home: he could be long dead. Dr. Geffard, the mollusk expert, waits with them.
By Anthony Doerr