Wild Dark Shore - Spoilers Galore! > Likes and Comments

You've finished!

Because of my library wait, you've probably finished before me. Here are a list of questions from an Australian reading club. Pick a few to answer and tell us what you think.

Can't wait to join you once I finish!



Here are the questions:

1. There are twists and turns galore in Wild Dark Shore … at the 50 page mark, what are your impressions of Rowan, Dom, Raff, Fen, Orly and Hank? Compare this to how you feel at the end of the novel. Were you right with any of your assumptions?


2. “Loving a place is the same as having a child. They are both too much an act of hope, of defiance. And those are a fool’s weapons.” Rowan has a nihilistic streak – how much of this is a façade and what do you think is behind that position she seems to present to the world?


3. Climate change is almost like an additional character. Did this play out in a way that surprised you at all?


4. Each character is dealing with their own losses and trauma from the past as well as a certain level of anticipatory grief. Consider each character, the grief they are experiencing and how that shapes their view on the world and their actions.

5. The ending proved to be very controversial amongst our team! We won’t spoil it for you here, but what did you think of it? How do you prefer stories to end – happily, unresolved, realistically?

I really enjoyed this book. All the emotional twists and turns. Learning about this desolate yet beautiful island. About all the plants, seeds, seals, birds, and whales. About the traumatic past of this island and the industries that came before. Seeing it through the eyes of different characters. Slowly uncovering everything that had happened and it actually working as a book (I was so afraid the twists would be unbelievable or taint the book for me)! I am very glad this was chosen, as it is not a book I would normally have picked up.

1.There are twists and turns galore in Wild Dark Shore … at the 50 page mark, what are your impressions of Rowan, Dom, Raff, Fen, Orly and Hank? Compare this to how you feel at the end of the novel. Were you right with any of your assumptions?
(view spoiler)[
The main feeling I had throughout the beginning of the book was that either Dom or Raff had killed Hank, and maybe others. Not that I thought they were straight up murders, but the missing people and obvious secret keeping was the reason. As it progressed, I suspected Raff over Dom, as Dom is just protecting his kids. I was glad the secrets turned out the way they did, it was better than what I was imagining.
I also really thought Fen had been sexually assaulted and was dreading having to read about it at some point. My reasoning was based on Fen living out with the seals, being unable to live in the house, and having a rift with her father that did not seem to be caused by her actions, but something that happened. In the end, what happened with Hank was sad but much easier for me to read. Then when Dom attacks Hank, and we are reading from Fen’s perspective, was one of the most powerful portions of the book for me. “… she is grateful for her dad’s size and his fists, which she has never understood until now. She knows what the fists are for now,.. She is able to look away from the door at last.” As a father to a daughter, as a person who’s been hurt, I felt this to my core.
(hide spoiler)]

2. “Loving a place is the same as having a child. They are both too much an act of hope, of defiance. And those are a fool’s weapons.” Rowan has a nihilistic streak – how much of this is a façade and what do you think is behind that position she seems to present to the world?
(view spoiler)[
From her childhood upbringing, to losing a young sibling and being blamed (and blaming yourself), to losing the thing she had spent her adult life building (her house and homestead), no wonder she was nihilistic! I am no psychologist. I just know as a character she felt believable to me, and that her transformation over a few months with this (also broken) family on a cold island at the end of the world REALLY REALLY worked for me.
(hide spoiler)]

3. Climate change is almost like an additional character. Did this play out in a way that surprised you at all?
(view spoiler)[
The speed of the changes seemed unrealistic and just used as a narrative tool. It worked, but I didn’t give it much more thought.
(hide spoiler)]

4. Each character is dealing with their own losses and trauma from the past as well as a certain level of anticipatory grief. Consider each character, the grief they are experiencing and how that shapes their view on the world and their actions.

5. The ending proved to be very controversial amongst our team! We won’t spoil it for you here, but what did you think of it? How do you prefer stories to end – happily, unresolved, realistically?
(view spoiler)[
I was sad, as I like happy endings. However, this was a great ending in my opinion. Rowan literally gave her last breath to save a child she has come to love. It was beautiful. She found a purpose and peace on Shearwater, and with the Salt’s, that she was not expecting to find and didn’t even think existed. She was the catalyst of healing for the Salt family and will live on with them. She has a legacy even after she lost everything.
(hide spoiler)]

Steve wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. All the emotional twists and turns. Learning about this desolate yet beautiful island. About all the plants, seeds, seals, birds, and whales. About the traumatic past of..."

That sounds really encouraging Steve! And it's good timing because I have made it in one of the two library systems to where I am next! My hold should be coming through in a week or two.

I loved it too, Steve!
Just finished and I read it quickly. The writing flows beautifully. I think some of it is unbelievable (rescuing the whales!) but I just went with it.
One of the questions suggests climate change as another character, I didn’t feel that. It’s always there of course, but I think it was the island that was like a character. The weather and sea were like its moods, the wildlife, the history all added to the atmosphere.
As for the characters, I think it would be difficult not to go a bit crazy in an isolated place like that. I know for Antarctic bases where they are stuck over winter the researchers go through psychological tests before they’re approved so I’m not sure a bereaved family would be the best to send for such a long period of time (even with breaks back on the mainland).
I really enjoyed all the little plant stories throughout too.
As for the ending, I didn’t hate it. She could’ve written it the other way but then I think the whales would’ve had to die.

Janelle wrote: "I loved it too, Steve!
Just finished and I read it quickly. The writing flows beautifully. I think some of it is unbelievable (rescuing the whales!) but I just went with it.
One of the questions ..."

Interesting point on the psychological impact of isolation. What you describe about people being tested before being approved for these type of assignments is very similar to how astronauts get tested.

I also really enjoyed Orly's plant stories sprinkled in!

Wanted to answer the questions before I read people's comments.

1. At the 50 page mark I was sure I had read this before but i couldn't have because it hadn't been out for long. I swore that Rowan was there to sabotage the seed bank. That Hank had started something to save more seeds or was bringing the whole thing down. I also was sure that the mother, Dom's wife, was some how not dead and somewhere on the island. I luckily was not write on any of my accounts - I had not read the book before, Rowan was there to rescue her husband and Dom's wife had been dead a long while just haunting him.

3. Climate change is an underlining factor. I'm struggling with seeing it as another character although it was something they had to contend with, discuss, plan for, and at times escape from. It was a looming presence that in every scene affected discission making. I thought it was beautiful how it was presented but not over described. The state of the world was burning, flooding or starving.

4.
Dom: The loss of his wife in the midst of an impossible decision to save either his unborn child's life or his wife's. The struggling to raise children while not blaming his son for his wife's death.

Hank: Being the center of the universe is hard. Not getting what you want is hard. I thought he handled insanity well and I'm glad the ghost of the island got to him. He didn't handle life well. But he washed away easily enough.

Rowan: Always put in a guardian-parenting role and never wishing to be one. Dealing with the loss of her brother while still providing safety for her siblings and mother. (The symbolism for an unstable home and the boat house was just...bravo) Building a safe home since one was never provided for her. Loving the one person that loved the same place as her and dealing with the fact he never loved her.

Raff: Dealing with the loss of his first love. Coming to terms with his anger and learning there are different ways to deal with it. Anger can be worn out, squashed or dealt with.

Fen: Also dealing with the loss of her first love. At 17 I'm hard pressed to say it was statutory rape. It was consensual. Although I do believe Hank was in the wrong and taking advantage of one so young. I appreciated the author taking this route and not making it a more graphic trauma. Although dealing with almost being murdered I believe is trauma enough.

Orly: Carried the guilt of all his decisions of well meaning. I could list them all but each compounded into something worse. Not truly his fault but not helped by him trying to help.

5. I loved loved loved the ending. Every part of it:

Rowan coming full circle. Saving Orly with her last breath where she could not save her brother River.
Dom recognizing his wife's ghost for his monstrous guilt and letting it go.
Raff embracing adulthood and stepping up - embracing his anger like a wave and just letting it pass him. (leaving his punching bag behind) Facing those who were deceased be unearthed to bring back to the mainland.
Fen facing her fear of Hank and having no hand in his self-destruction.

For some reason for me the happily ever afters always ring false with me. These types of endings stay with me longer and I think emulate life more truly.

Janelle wrote: "I loved it too, Steve!
Just finished and I read it quickly. The writing flows beautifully. I think some of it is unbelievable (rescuing the whales!) but I just went with it.
One of the questions ..."

Orly's stories (I loved those too) were a beautiful description of his personality and where his mind was at. And made more sense when you discover the seed switch. Each character had a different writing style it seemed to their sections. Orly's was my fav.

Steve wrote: "Janelle wrote: "I loved it too, Steve!
Just finished and I read it quickly. The writing flows beautifully. I think some of it is unbelievable (rescuing the whales!) but I just went with it.
One o..."

Janelle and Steve
I didn't even think about psyc evals to be a lighthouse keeper. I know those jobs are hard to find. Usually passed down to family members.
I have found evidence of informal evaluations for hardiness but no official historical evidence of psyc exams. I did run across an article that believe Mercury poisoning is more a culprit to insanity cases involving lighthouse than isolation.

https://hakaimagazine.com/article-sho....
"In the 1890s, some keepers began floating their lenses in liquid mercury. The lens’s metal base spun more easily in the mercury, which helped the light rotate faster with less frequent winding. The resulting quicker flash was safer for seafarers, but not for the keepers, who breathed and touched the mercury on their daily cleaning rounds. Modern scholars have wondered if mercury, not isolation, was behind reports of lighthouse keepers behaving erratically or losing sanity, since chronic mercury poisoning causes confusion, depression, and hallucinations."
Sorry I find the topic of Lighthouse keepers fascinating.

I’m glad you loved it too, Lindsey. I agree with your analysis of all the characters.
Interesting about the lighthouse keepers. It’s always such a great setting for a book (or a movie).