All the Light We Cannot See

In Section Zero, Doerr includes his first example of hyperbolic speculation: a series of rumors spread by French people whose fear of their Nazi occupiers overcomes rational thought.

Here, people whisper, the Germans have renovated two kilometers of subterranean corridors under the medieval walls; they have built new defenses, new conduits, new escape routes, underground complexes of bewildering intricacy. Beneath the peninsular fort of La Cité, across the river from the old city, there are rooms of bandages, rooms of ammunition, even an underground hospital, or so it is believed. There is air-conditioning, a two-hundred-thousand-liter water tank, a direct line to Berlin. There are flame-throwing booby traps, a net of pillboxes with periscopic sights; they have stockpiled enough ordnance to spray shells into the sea all day, every day, for a year.

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In Section One, Jutta and Werner find comfort in the Professor's radio show, using him as an escape from the ever-increasing precarity of their surroundings. As children, they are inclined to make up all sorts of stories about the man whose voice takes them out of their abject misery. Jutta even utilizes hyperbole to convey her image of the Professor to Werner:

“He sounds rich. And lonely. I bet he does these broadcasts from a huge mansion, big as this
whole colony, a house with a thousand rooms and a thousand servants.”

Werner smiles. “Could be.”

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In Section One, Marie-Laure observes on several separate occasions the sheer number of rumors flying around Paris regarding the actions of the German army. Some of these rumors are ludicrous instances of hyperbole, as in the following passage:

Marie-Laure sits on a bench beside the mollusk display and trains her ears on passing groups. A
boy blurts, “They have a bomb called the Secret Signal. It makes a sound, and everyone who hears
it goes to the bathroom in their pants!”

Laughter.

“I hear they give out poisoned chocolate.”

“I hear they lock up the cripples and morons everywhere they go.”

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