All the Light We Cannot See vs Where the Crawdads Sing: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fiction
All the Light We Cannot See
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the…
1 film adaptation
vs
Where the Crawdads Sing
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Where the Crawdads Sing is the quickest read — about 7 hours vs 10 for All the Light We Cannot See.
- Where the Crawdads Sing has the widest readership — 3778692 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| All the Light We Cannot See | Where the Crawdads Sing | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.3 (2061893) | 4.4 (3778692) |
| Google Books | 4.5 (4) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (11862) | 4.5 (52356) |
Reception
| All the Light We Cannot See | Where the Crawdads Sing | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 2061893 | 3778692 |
| Editions | 72 | 44 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 2133539 | 1483067 |
| Reading it now | 119150 | 162851 |
| Written reviews | 128411 | 232281 |
| Wikipedia attention | 29517 | 20762 |
| Pages | 544 | 384 |