Review: The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I only give it 3 stars because while I liked the book, I didn't love it. But I would recommend others to read it for themselves. The story and the idea of it are very original (husband and wife isolated on a lighthouse island desperate for children, rescue a baby without known parents and take her for their own. The resulting deception and tragedy that the child's mother is alive and grief struck with the loss of her baby and husband cause the make-shift family to fall apart.)

The storytelling dragged at times and maybe because I listened to the audiobooks, but I wasn't clear who some characters were at times. I was getting them confused. It was very sad at the end, and it ended as well as a story about such a difficult situation could end. I'm not sure why the connection and love that was apparent between Tom and Isabelle wasn't as moving as I think it should be.

CORRECTION: I thought this book was written by a man and assumed that maybe that is why I didn't connect with the emotions and writing, but M.L. Stedman is a woman, so there goes that theory about the disconnect. But I still stand by my assessment that there is a disconnect of emotions that may be because it was written from 3rd person, so there was a detachment throughout the book that mirrors Tom's personality.

I would recommend other to read the book because I think it does show interesting dilemmas concerning bitterness, hatred, forgiveness, deceit, love and redemption. So many of the characters went through these and suffered loss. It also is a portrayal of a small community and how it affects everyone in it. The townspeople and their complicity in the crime but yet denial of it.

A good book, I can't say that I would read it again but it was very thought-provoking, and I want to see the movie. I have a feeling I will like the movie much more than the book.

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