Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Thanks to G.B. for notes for this months topic -- There was a lively and compelling discussion among fourteen members of the Park Grove Library Book Club on Tuesday, November 18 around M. L. Stedman’s debut novel, The Light Between Oceans.  We welcomed a new member, Wendy.  She belongs to a book club in Edina, and as a Cottage Grove resident, decided to check us out.  We benefited from some of her keen insights, are happy she decided to join us, and hope she will continue as part of our group.

Our leader led the discussion, and as we introduced ourselves, we were asked to state the person in the book with whom we felt the most empathy.  The answers were all over the place!  A couple of members mentioned Tom, and a couple mentioned Isabel, and a couple mentioned Lucy Grace.  But Frank, Septimus, Bluey, and even Isabel’s parents received votes.  This is something we felt was important to note – Stedman created so many rich characters, and the moral ambiguity inherent in the book was so over-arching, that it was hard to figure out who we should feel the sorriest for.  There was unanimous agreement that the book was excellent and extremely well written, though one member, a new mother, was so emotionally impacted by the story that she could not finish it.

It was noted that the lighthouse has been a source of myth-making in literature – standing for sanctuary, and the edge of knowledge and reason.  And that Janus Rock was named for Janus, the Roman God of doorways, “always looking both ways, torn between two ways of seeing things.”  The image of sanctuary and the notion of opposites (looking in two ways) were interesting to talk about as was the dichotomy of light and dark, war and peace, truth and lies, safety and danger, and how those things framed the choices that Tom and Isabel made.   We also spent time talking about isolation and morality – more specifically:  Is it easier to make a choice when you don’t see the effect of your choice on someone else?  In this story, isolation allowed Isabel to deny the consequences of her actions, but Tom felt less ambiguous and had a stronger moral compass even though he lived on a daily basis in the same isolation as Isobel.  This may have been due to the clear and unchanging structure around his job responsibilities (the many regulations, the logbook, specifics around the light, etc.) 

Unfulfilled duty haunted Tom.  He was scarred by what he witnessed in the war and felt he had let others down.  He was determined to be better as a light keeper.  So he could not forget the blank he left in the logbook which should have been filled with documentation of Frank and the baby’s beached boat.  But as the story progressed, his own moral dilemma grew to include not only the decision to tell a lie and to keep Lucy knowing the impact that would have on Hannah, but also his obligation to Isabel, who he deeply loved, as her husband.  His job in life was to keep the light burning – nothing more.  And he determined to do this for Isabel, knowing that to tell the truth and to return Lucy could snuff her light out forever.  As he sought to make the best of things, and to assure Hannah that Lucy was alive and well, he was willing to put his own life in jeopardy so that each of them were hurt as little as possible in the process.  Sadly, the circumstances were such that no one could win.    

Someone pointed out that Lucy means light and Grace means God is with us.  She rightly noted that so much depended on this child to bring happiness to so many people.

An interesting interview with the author can be found at here

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