"Ashes, ashes: snow in August. The shelling resumed sporadically after breakfast, and now, around six P.M., has ceased. A machine gun fires somewhere, a sound like a chain of beads passing through fingers. Sergeant Major von Rumpel carries a canteen, a half dozen ampules of morphine, and his field pistol. Over the seawall. Over the causeway towards the huge smoldering bulwark of Saint-Malo. Out in the harbor, the jetty has been shattered in multiple places. A half-submerged fishing boat floats stern up (p. 208)." For starters, the line about machine guns sounding like beads really appeals to my sense of hearing. I can really picture the sound even better because as opposed to likening it to something not everyone has heard, Doerr likens it to a common household sound. It's something I could literally go downstairs and do to immerse myself even more into the book. The entire passage is overlaid with lots of visual imagery as well. Doerr describes von Rumpel and the scenery around him. The little things about the boat and the "snow" in August really help as well.
