Tom Sherbourne has returned from the horrors of World War 1. To find solace he works on lighthouses. In the first chapter, we learn that he and his wife find a boat washed ashore on the rock that their lighthouse is on. In the boat is a dead man and a very much alive baby. Ensue drama.This is a difficult one to talk about. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't. This isn't a book where I hated everything - which is probably why I found it so frustrating. I didn't feel I could jut write the whole thing off as rubbish.
I liked Tom. His character was clearly depicted and although I might not have agreed with everything he did (and it is not what you think it is), I felt I understood him well enough to see why he made his choices. He was one of those old-school characters. Ones who were honest, reliable and honourable. It was for him that my heart ached in this book. No one else.
The concept of living out on an isolated rock in the sea was really appealing (well, today I would insist on internet... but that is just because I have become so dependent on it). I liked Janus and the lighthouse. Those parts were interesting, and I thought that had the best writing in the book. I felt Stedman had really done her research here, and although I felt informed, at no point in time did I feel bored or tempted to skim a few pages.
“Perhaps when it comes to it, no one is just the worst thing they ever did.”
― M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans
But, but, but... There were so many things I did not like, I do not know where to start. Let's go with the easiest. The changes between past and present tense irritated me. There was no reason for it, and it just felt like poor editing. Inconsistencies in tense is something I am forever correcting, and it kept pulling me out the story - which was annoying. If it had turned out that the passages written in the present tense were, I don't know, reflecting things as they currently were in the future, then I would have been fine with it. But as it was, I felt a dice was rolled to determine which tense was used where. If you can see a reason behind this, feel free to let me know in the comments. I was too irritated to spend more time on it. If nothing else, I used loads of energy trying to ignore it.
I did not like how the actions of other characters needed intense justification. Instead of making me understand their actions or thoughts, it made me feel that they were even more unrealistic, because they needed such flawed, constant and detailed reasoning. In fact, that gets me to another thing I didn't enjoy: the actions of some characters. I am fine with people doing dumb things - I really am. Just look at the world we live in and you'll see it is common enough. But some actions felt completely unbelievable. Could I hear a mother saying this? No. Could I believe a wife to do that? No. Just no. Oh, and apparently I don't like kids in books. There innocence and 'cuteness' is exaggerated to such an extent. Where is the snot, the tantrums (ok, so there was one... but... you'll see what I mean when you get there...) the vomit, the stubbornness? I find children written like this unbelievable. Sorry. I'm a teacher. And although I teach high school, my school extends all the way down to Grade R. The child in this was every parents dream, but nothing anyone ever really sees.
This part is a bit spoilery, so I warn you now to skip to the paragraph below. One thing I did appreciate was the metaphor in the title. The light between oceans: the child bringing happiness between two very dark times: World War 1 and life without the child. I must also admit that I appreciated that they did not get the kid back. That would have made the story completely unrealistic.
All right. We're back into unspoilery territory. I gave this 2 stars on Goodreads and 2.5 in my own records. As far as I am concerned, for Goodreads, this was ok. After all, I didn't throw it out the window. For my own records, where 3 stars is ok, I was a bit more honest.
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