All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was almost certainly the most celebrated American novel of 2014. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It won’t take very many pages for readers to understand why: Doerr’s  prose is stunning. Even Updike would be in awe—or, perhaps, in envy.

The plot sets blind Marie-Laure, whom we first meet as a youngster living with her father in pre-World War II Paris, and German orphan Werner on courses which bring them together in the French town of Saint-Malo as the war reaches its conclusion.  There are elements of coming-of-age stories, adventure stories, and suspense thrillers bound up in the plot and the plot undoubtedly lets the puppeteer’s puppet-strings show from time to time.  But that’s really a quibble—there’s enough wisdom in every metaphor and most images Doerr writes to make up for just about anything.

In this internet age, it’s quite easy to find out a lot about what authors were thinking when writing their books because interviews with them are often posted.  Here are three with Anthony Doerr—one in print, one on radio, and one video.

First, the one in print.

Next, the NPR interview:

And, finally, an interview conducted on Idaho Public Television: