My Goodreads and Amazon review of And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II (Rated 4) – In-sight. From the moment an accident renders him blind at age eight, Jacques Lusseyran, author of the 1953 memoir And There Was Light, discovers his inner vision. Not only does he rely on his other senses to perceive the world, he creates an interior vision keener than the one he had when sighted. A voice conjures an entire face, a smell paints a full-color picture, touch reveals a soul. He has insights into human nature, history, and the future that able people won’t or can’t see. After Germany occupies France, the lack of suspicion accorded a blind person enables Lusseyran to undermine the enemy. In 1941, he becomes a leader in a resistance movement that grows from fifty teenage boys to a network of hundreds of young men who distribute an underground newspaper, Defense of France, to over two hundred thousand nationwide. Because writing down the movement’s activities risks discovery, Lussyran’s ability to memorize everything is an invaluable asset. So is his infallible judgement about who to admit to or bar from their ranks. Despite the perils he faces, Lusseyran is buoyed by the friendships of a close-knit inner circle. As an author myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I was moved by the ardor with which he writes about the men who sustain him. From his perspective as a middle-aged author, he marvels as his energy and stamina. Readers will too. Admiration for the author aside, the memoir’s early chapters can be frustrating to read. Lusseyran’s writing is often vague, circling a point rather than saying straight-out what he means. His blindness may help explain why he writes that way. Blindness entails finding alternative paths; it makes one more internally directed. I speak from experience; blind in one eye, I too rely on internal cues to “sense” things hidden from view. The strategy works on a personal level but in a book intended to communicate with others, it’s unsatisfying. Ironically, when Lusseyran enters the resistance and must camouflage his acts, his writing is clear and direct. By the end of the memoir, as readers contemplate today’s threats to democracy, they will long for leaders as capable and courageous as Lusseyran.
Blindness propels rather than prohibits bravery
Why writers read: “We read to know that we are not alone.” – C. S. Lewis
