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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