Annie’s Comments (group member since Jun 06, 2016)

Annie’s comments from the The Light Between Oceans Read-A-Long group.

This was the first time that I have read a book following a schedule and I really enjoyed it. There were definitely times that I wanted to continue reading to the end, but I found that by only reading a few chapters at a time, I focused more on small details that I might have skimmed over by reading it all at once.

I am glad that Lucy-Grace was able to adjust to life with Hannah and that she had a happy childhood. I felt sorry for Isabel, especially since she never got to see Lucy again. Tom has suffered along with Isabel for many years, but has a second chance to be in Lucy-Grace’s life.

Thanks Caitlyn and Simon & Schuster Canada for having this read-a-long. I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to seeing the movie.

1. Something had to be done for Lucy and since Hannah agreed to follow the advice of the doctor, Gwen was the one who had to do it. Hannah had every right to be mad at Gwen for taking the situation into her own hand and taking Lucy to visit Isabel.

2. I was very surprised that Isabel went to support Tom and confess to her part in the situation, especially after Hannah's offer. All of Isabel's actions up to her decision to go to Tom had me believing that she would choose motherhood above everything.

I am also losing sympathy for Isabel. I can understand the sadness at losing the child she raised for four years and how she is angry at Tom for ‘ruining everything’, but I can’t believe she would consider letting him take the blame for a murder that he did not commit.

1. I agree with Dr. Sumpton’s advice. The new arrangement is difficult on all parties, but I can’t see how Hannah and Isabel could work together to transition Lucy/Grace to her new life. Hannah doesn’t trust the people who kept her child and Isabel is still convinced that Lucy belongs to her. In the scene in the store, I can imagine how Isabel must have felt seeing Lucy and feeling her in her arms, but she did nothing to calm Lucy’s emotions about Hannah.

2. I think that Tom will take the brunt of the punishment for kidnapping Lucy. He has shown how devoted he is to Isabel and won’t let her take any of the blame for what they did. I just hope that Isabel will back him up on the question of murder, so that he isn’t punished for a murder that he did not commit.

So much is happening right now that it was hard to stop after Chapter 25!

1. The most shocking revelation is Bluey telling about the rattle for the reward money.

2. I wasn't surprised about anyone's reactions so far. Isabel's family and the police officer that knew her since she was little, believe she was the victim. I look forward to seeing how everyone reacts when they find out more about what happened.

3. I know that Isabel is losing her daughter and her world is falling apart, but I was not happy with how she is turning against Tom.

4. Yes, the conversation between the police officers sounds like Tom has taken all of the blame and that Isabel was not responsible for any of it. Once again, Tom is trying to do right by Isabel. I think that Isabel is angry enough to let it happen.

1. I thought that it was Tom that left the letter for Hannah. It never crossed my mind that it might have been Isabel.

2. I think that Isabel is talking about Tom doing right by her and their family. Isabel knows that Tom was never happy with the decision, but he won’t do something to hurt Isabel.

Based on the next line of the Chapter 20 quote above: ‘But even a moment’s agreement with Tom would be fatal, she knew.” (pg 182, ch 20) , it sounds like Isabel knows that if she gives an indication that she agrees that they did the wrong thing, Tom will confess.

3. Stedman has done a great job with the story. At the beginning, while living in such isolation on Janus, it was understandable that Isabel would want the child after her losses and that she could believe that she could pass of the baby off as their biological daughter. Learning more about Hannah and the type of person that she is, and how much she has lost, I really feel for her. I agree with Jaclyn that it might be crueller to let Hannah know that the baby is still alive, if Isabel doesn’t plan on giving her back.

This book is getting so good and I love reading everyone comments.

Up to Chapter 15, it was starting to look like maybe it was for the best that Lucy was with Isabel and Tom. She was doing so well with them and Isabel was a great mum. We also found out that Lucy was helping Isabel’s parents get over the loss of their sons in the war. It did seem like she was exactly what everyone needed. Then, we get the first hint of who Lucy’s birth mum is and what she has gone through.

I agree that M.L. Stedman packs so much into each line. In every chapter, we see Tom’s inner torment about keeping Lucy. Even though he loves Lucy and would do anything for her, I don’t think there is a time when he forgets that they should not have kept her. I also realized that Tom is the one who had to actually do everything to keep Lucy --- digging the grave, burying the body, getting rid of the boat, sending the notice of Lucy’s birth, not recording that a boat arrived on Janus.

1. Stedman has brilliantly made all characters come to life. I have sympathy with almost every character. From the beginning, I have had sympathy for Tom because of his childhood, war experiences and his trying to do what is right for Isabel, even if he knows it is not really the right thing to do. I thought the scene where he is digging the grave and remembering back to the war when this same action became just a regular task was heartbreaking. I have had sympathy for Isabel when she had her miscarriages and stillbirth, and now we discovered that she had losses in her childhood, as well. After learning more about Isabel’s parents, I think that Isabel moving out to Janus must have felt like losing their last child. Now, after learning about Lucy’s birth mum, I feel for her and I think that my sympathy will shift even more to her.

2. Yes, My thoughts about what was best are changing now that we know about the baby’s mother. The mother is not just a nameless person; she is a woman that was cut off from her family for marrying the man that she loved. Now she has lost her husband and baby and has not recovered from it.

3. There were a few times in these chapters that we saw Isabel does realize deep down that they did not do the right thing, but she justifies it by her belief that Lucy was a blessing sent to them after all of the pain. There was a line in Chapter 13 she admits that she knows how much Tom did for her and how thankful she was to him. There was also the time before their shore leave where she thought of not going so she could remain in the safety of Janus. She is also prepared with the replies that Tom can’t bring himself to make, like when Ralph and Bluey ask if Tom was useless Tom was at the birth and when at the Church Fete, Tom was asked if he was the baby’s dad.

4. I found the letter that Violet received from the mum of another wounded soldier very touching.

I also liked this quote “The isolation spins its mysterious cocoon, focusing the mind on one place, one time, one rhythm – the turning of the light. The island knows no other human voices, no other fingerprints. In the Offshore Lights you can live any story you want to tell yourself, and no one will say you’re wrong: not the seagulls , not the prisms, not the wind” (pg110, ch12)

In these chapters, we saw both the happiness and sadness that Isabel and Tom had in their first four years of marriage and living on Janus Island. I think that after living alone for so long and after their losses, it would not be hard to think of the arrival of the baby as meant to be and not give too much thought to the real mother in the outside world. I do think that they should have a harder time justifying to themselves that they should bury the deceased man and not report him.

I found the information about Janus interesting. Tom is the one who is torn between two ways of seeing things. He follows the rules and knows that the right thing is to report the boat and the man and the baby. He also loves Isabel and knows how hurt she has been after losing their last baby.

Tom and Isabel are opposites in a lot of ways. Their childhoods were very different and I think that is Tom’s upbringing is why he is comfortable following the rules and not needing to claim things as his own. Isabel seems to have had a happy childhood and is comfortable doing the things that she needs to do to make Janus more like home.

I think Tom’s childhood plays a big role in his character. He tells Isabel that his father was very strict. He probably imagined that if he could find his mother, things would be better. When he got a chance to look for this mother and found out he was too late, he went straight into the Army. I think that he really loves Isabel and she brings him out of his controlled life at little. I expect that we will see him in an inner conflict for the rest of the story between doing the right thing and trying to keep Isabel happy and his family together.

Stedman has done a great job describing the isolation of a lighthouse keeper’s existence and giving us a glimpse into the type of people that Tom and Isabel are when they meet each other. I can’t imagine living alone for three months and not even getting news from the outside world during that time.

1. Now that you pointed out the words in the last line of the Our Father prayer, they do set a tone for the temptation that Tom and Isabel will face. When I read the preface before reading everyone’s comments, I didn’t think of the actual words that Isabel was saying. I just thought of her finishing a prayer before the driftwood cross. Both Tom and Isabel are good people, who have suffered recent losses and the temptation would be great to keep the baby. I think that their isolation on the island will make it easier for them to give in to the temptation and not consider the outside world.

2. Isabel holds sway in this decision. I don’t know if we can (yet) say that about other decisions in their relationship. Tom is a by-the-book type person who follows the rules, but he loves Isabel and would go along with her because he doesn’t want her to suffer another loss.

3. I think that Tom’s experiences as a solder are one of the reasons that he choose a solitary job like a lighthouse keeper. He probably needs time to come to terms with what he saw and what he did during the war. Also, to accept that he made it out with his life while so many others did not. His experiences as a soldier would also fit in with the regulations and routines that the lighthouse keeper must follow. We also had a glimpse of Tom’s childhood where he thinks about the day his mum left and his dad tells him not to mention her again. This must have impacted Tom’s character.

Finally, I liked the preface. The reader finds out the major dilemma right away and then we slowly find out what led up to it and how their decision plays out.