June 2-13: The Light Between Oceans

[Rach , Moderator]

Discussion for The Light Between Oceans!

[Book Concierge]

Here is part of my review:

The Light Between Oceans - M. L. Stedman
Audio book performed by Noah Taylor
4****

I admit I was expecting a lighter, historical romantic epic, but Stedman delivers a wonderfully complex psychological study of love – between a husband and wife, parent and child. This is a story of a couple pulled in opposite directions and yet somehow striving for the same goal. Tom loves his wife and would do anything for her, but what Isabel wants requires that he goes against all he believes is right.

The twists and turns of the story had me mesmerized. Central to the plot are issues of forgiveness, loyalty, ethics, compassion, and revenge. Stedman poses several moral dilemmas. To whom do we owe our loyalty? Does Tom protect his wife’s fragile psyche or follow his conscience and the rules and regulations of his government job? Does he love her enough to give her what she wants? Can he forgive her for what she’s required of him? Can she forgive him for going against her? How far will parents go to protect their child?

The reader is constantly wondering … Might she …? Could he…? Would she…? What would I do in their place? I think this would be a great book club discussion book.

Noah Taylor does a good job with the audio, but his Australian accent was difficult for my American ears. I was really happy I had a text version to check for those scenes where I simply could not understand his pronunciation. I think he handled the various characters reasonably well, including the women and little Lucy.

[Margot]

The Light Between Oceans
M.L. Stedman
4****

I agree with you Book Concierge. I was surprised, I was expecting more of a summer read. But I loved the ethical side to the book.

(view spoiler)[I have a few friends who had miscarriages and I know how sad and depressed they were afterwards. So I could understand Isabel's point of view and Tom who only wanted his wife to be happy, but I couldn't help thinking about the real mother out there... this is not a black or white situation.

That’s for the “taking the baby” part, but then there is the “giving back the baby” part… I could not help but make parallels with the “Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo”. I read a documentary book about that some years ago and it was quite disturbing.
Argentina was under the rule of a military government (dictator) in 1976. Protestors (university students, intellectuals, journalists, syndicate people) were kidnapped along with their whole family, tortured and killed. The children under school age were placed in the families of police or military. Pregnant women were kept in prison until they gave birth. Then they were executed and the baby placed in a family within the regime.
In 1977, the grandmothers of 500 missing children protested on the Plaza de Mayo. They were stopped by police and military. The media got wind of it and the military regime got really bad international press for mistreating little old ladies… The grandmothers got the support of international groups and were offered the help of a genetic bank.
So the grandmothers would conceal themselves and wait for children coming out of school and if they felt a child bore resemblance to their missing sons or daughters they would approach the child and try to get a hair with root for DNA purposes.
All the grandmothers and living relatives (brothers, sisters if they were alive, aunts and uncles) of 352 families (that’s more than 3,000 people) gave blood samples for DNA. The blood bank says the results are 99.99% sure even if there are no surviving parents (mother or father). In 1983 the “National Bank of Genetic Data” was approved by government.
So far 105 of the 500 missing children have been identified and returned to their real families.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmot...
But this is where I see a link with the novel and where I see a huge moral dilemma.
Of course returning the children to their real families is the right thing to do. I would never deny that. BUT… can you imagine the shock for a child who was raised in a military family, who heard lies all his life about the intellectuals (protestors or whatever they were called), who grew to love those people as their parents and now they are taken from those families and when they learn the truth it is that the people they called “Mummy” and “Daddy” are the people who contributed to the kidnapping, torture and murder of their parents.
How can you survive that and stay sane?
Of course, the situation in the book is not the same, but I can't help but ask myself, was it really in the best interest of the child? Probably, but there is still a doubt in my mind... (hide spoiler)]
I am sorry if I wrote too long a post. Please tell me if you want us to keep it short.

[Carolyn]

Book Concierge wrote: "Here is part of my review:


The Light Between Oceans
- M. L. Stedman
Audio book performed by Noah Taylor
4****

I admit I was expecting a lighter, historical romantic epic, but Stedman delivers..."

You've summed it up wonderfully BC, and I don't think I can add more other than to say that, although I didn't listen to the audio version of the book, I'd have no problem with Noah Taylor's Aussie accent lol. As I read it I wondered how my American friends coped with old-fashioned Australian colloquialisms such as something being "a bit of a furphy", but the language in this novel really helped to paint the picture of a different time and place. I loved every bit of it.

[Shannon]

So good, especially listening to the audiobook read with an Australian accent.

I wish I had written down or marked all the great lines & passages, but I didn't. Here's one though:
"Scars are just another kind of memory. Isabel is part of him, wherever she is, just like the war and the light and the ocean. Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an unvisited headstone."
It speaks to the grief & loss prevalent throughout this book, but also a bit to the shared experience & inevitability of living.

[Sylvie]

This book is well built with a good balance between descriptions, narration and dialogues. I also liked that each character is well-developed. Stedman takes time to bring in each intervening character by sliding in short stories about their past which explain their reactions. It's never too much that it takes away from the main story and is judiciously inserted as the action progress so we don't have a chapter on all protagonists but discover them slowly with a fuller description later. Very well done.

Now for the meat of this discussion. Of course it is all about the moral dilemma of who a child should be living with if he has known 2 sets of good parents due to some circumstances but..
I strangely do not see the dilemma here. I think the child should be returned with the family if he will be loved and well cared for. I'm not sure this book was about who the child should be with. I think the dilemma is more about how doing one's duty can bring pain first but ultimately doing one's duy will bring calm to chaos and love to people around us.

Look at Isabel. Had she gave back the child ans simply love her to save her but respect the mother, she might not have been separated from Lucy once Hannah will have recovered her. Hannah would have kept her in Lucy-Grace life as the "2nd mother" who saved the life of her precious child. She might even have sent Lucy-Grace for vacation on Janus when the child is a bit older and let her see her when the couple were back on mainland. Isabel selfishness kept her away from that child for the rest of her life.

And what about duty. It's the sense of duty that was bringing order in all these war memories Tom is having. It's a sense of duty that helped him rebuild his life after war. And it's when he failed his duty that pain, hate and anger came back to destroy lives.

So strangely I don't know that this is a story about a child torn between 2 families but more a novel about war and the pain of all the people we lose in our lives and mostly on the importance of doing one's duty to bring love and truth in the world. As a Quebec French newspaper motto states so well: "Fais ce que dois"

[Book Concierge]

Exactly, Sylvie. The child in this novel is the plot device used to explore these issues.

[Cathie]

This book is by far one of my favourite reads of this year. A truly wonderful story and life, lies and how deceit only grows bigger and more out of our control once we have spun it. It's also a wonderful story about love and staying true to those who you do love even when they are undeserving of your loyality. Definitely a 5 star book for me.

[Kelani]

I have this book but havent had a chance to read it yet! I will probably start on Sunday! I will update when I do!

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

Loved this book, and immediately recommended it to a few people I know. I was excited to see the movie, but was horribly disappointed. I couldn't even finish the film.