From the Bookshelf of Discourse in a Digital Age…

The Light Between Oceans

M.L. Stedman

Start date: September 15, 2016

Finish date: October 12, 2016

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Sep 05, 2012 Naberius rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book and actually devoured in it a sitting (it was a Sunday morning, I had my coffee and a cinnamon roll, and I wound up just sitting and reading and reading ...... in all fairness, my husband was also mowing through his book). I know the plot doesn't sound like this would be a thrilling, page-turner of a read ----- but I got really caught up in the characters, and in their stories, and I just kept reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen.

I liked how the a I really enjoyed this book and actually devoured in it a sitting (it was a Sunday morning, I had my coffee and a cinnamon roll, and I wound up just sitting and reading and reading ...... in all fairness, my husband was also mowing through his book). I know the plot doesn't sound like this would be a thrilling, page-turner of a read ----- but I got really caught up in the characters, and in their stories, and I just kept reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen.

I liked how the author writes the characters; not only do we see their development through the book, but we see their interactions with each other, and how those interactions begin to drive the story. At first, we just have Tom, who has been keeping the lighthouse, and the girl he meets and marries, Isabel. Isabel is younger than Tom, and she's a good balance to his quiet, steadfast character. That's not to say that she chafes against life on the island ---- but she's a bit more outspoken and high spirited than Tom. They seem to have a good marriage, but when the boat washes ashore, and they decide to keep the baby as their own, cracks appear in their relationship.

At the same time we're spending a lot of the story with Tom and Isabel and the baby, other characters are introduced ..... and this is where the cracks in Tom and Isabel's marriage really start to become larger. I don't want to have any spoilers here, so I can't say too much more ---- but suffice to say, their decision to keep the baby as raise her as their own seems like a good decision at first, but then some serious repercussions happen later.

As I said, I got caught up with these characters, and their lives. I found myself wondering if I would have made the same decision as Isabel did, or what I would have done if I were Tom. I thought about how it would be to live on an island, where you didn't see people from the mainland very often, and how that would impact your personal privacy. I felt the author did a nice job of really developing the main characters, so that you understand their motivations --- and their emotions. Needless to say, this is a somewhat emotional story, where the secrets kept for the best-meant intentions can cause a lot of fissures between people (and not just the two people in a marriage). I did also like the setting, with the island and the lighthouse (and I learned a lot about what goes into the upkeep of a lighthouse, which was interesting). ...more

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