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annie_brewer's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Read via audiobook (Random House)
While I thought this book was beautifully written, I felt that it lacked substance. A lot of the story was highly passive and conflict was readily resolved. The characters were bland and while their motives were sympathetical, their personality is constructed meerly to align with the plot.
My favourite part of the novel was the chapters on Janus and the description of the rugged Australian coastline - the wildness was highly alluring and tangible - but felt that their could have been more pinch points during the period Lucy lived at the lighthouse.
A good book, but could have been a much richer story.
While I thought this book was beautifully written, I felt that it lacked substance. A lot of the story was highly passive and conflict was readily resolved. The characters were bland and while their motives were sympathetical, their personality is constructed meerly to align with the plot.
My favourite part of the novel was the chapters on Janus and the description of the rugged Australian coastline - the wildness was highly alluring and tangible - but felt that their could have been more pinch points during the period Lucy lived at the lighthouse.
A good book, but could have been a much richer story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: War
Minor: Racism
contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Light Between Oceans is a story about right and wrong and how sometimes they look the same. Set in Australia, this novel follows Tom Sherbourne, a man returning from the horrors of the Great War to try pick up the shards of his life and settle in to a new purpose; that purpose is to become a lighthouse keeper on the remote island of Janus. During one of his off-shore leaves he happens across a new light in Isabel Graysmark. At first tentative and unbelieving, Tom holds off their engagement but Isabel is determined and soon they are married, living together on Janus' isolation and desperate for a child. After Isabel's third miscarriage a miracle appears from the ocean. What happens next is a story of motherhood, loss, regret and a battle of morality.
I really enjoyed this book. I already knew I loved the story as I had seen the movie long before reading the book. I find the characters very realistic and heartfelt, their struggles, plight and reactions to things that happen are believable and grounded in their previous experiences. This book really makes you think about what is right and what is wrong and how single choices can have grave consequences. My only issue that stopped it from being 5 stars is that the tense seems to change in every chapter, often starting the chapter in present tense and then by the end of it, it has flipped to past tense. I found that mildly annoying but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the whole book.
I would recommend this to anyone like me who likes a book to make you cry. I cried many times.
I really enjoyed this book. I already knew I loved the story as I had seen the movie long before reading the book. I find the characters very realistic and heartfelt, their struggles, plight and reactions to things that happen are believable and grounded in their previous experiences. This book really makes you think about what is right and what is wrong and how single choices can have grave consequences. My only issue that stopped it from being 5 stars is that the tense seems to change in every chapter, often starting the chapter in present tense and then by the end of it, it has flipped to past tense. I found that mildly annoying but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the whole book.
I would recommend this to anyone like me who likes a book to make you cry. I cried many times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Blood, Suicide attempt, and War
Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Terminal illness
michaelion's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Autism dad, ADHD mom.
I knew exactly when to stop the book before the shit hit the lighthouse fan but I also knew I didn't wanna dnf! I also wanted to give it away but the ending was so lovely now I'm like I might as well keep it. That was so sweet and sad and beautiful. Extra points because this book actually got me to root for a man!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Minor: Misogyny and Vomit
sophiemcauley's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Grief
Minor: Cancer and War
craigpwmoroney's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: War
jodar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The novel explores themes of family love and of heart-breaking loss that tears families apart. The MCs face terrible moral dilemmas upon which they stumble because of their almost tragedy-like virtues. The characters and dialogue are well-crafted and believable, notable given this is the author’s first novel. There are some genuinely moving, emotionally charged passages throughout the story.
And yet… I found some of the plot a little too tidy in places, a bit too melodramatic. And at times the characters felt almost stereotypical and uncomplicated; the feeling that “this is exactly how this dramatis persona would think, speak and act ”.
Further, the male MC holds some grim, cynical philosophical attitudes to life:
And yet… I found some of the plot a little too tidy in places, a bit too melodramatic. And at times the characters felt almost stereotypical and uncomplicated; the feeling that “this is exactly how this dramatis persona would think, speak and act ”.
Further, the male MC holds some grim, cynical philosophical attitudes to life:
A life had come and gone and nature had not paused a second for it. The machine of time and space grinds on, and people are fed through it like grist through the mill. (Chapter 10)
and:
Years bleach away the sense of things until all that’s left is a bone-white past, stripped of feeling and significance. (Chapter 37)
and:
Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an unvisited headstone. (Chapter 37)
These thoughts are, I suppose, understandable in light of his experience, though it is difficult to see how such a view didn’t darken his interactions with other people more significantly.
And the authorial voice, too, comments of the society:
And the authorial voice, too, comments of the society:
History is that which is agreed upon by mutual consent.
That is how life goes on – protected by the silence that anaesthetises shame. (Chapter 17)
So yes, it is a story of love and grief and of love reclaimed despite the loss and tragedy, but in the end it feels to me to be a story of ultimate despair.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
sudsysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
ellenadkins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed this book.
Thought the starting chapters were a bit unnecessarily long, however once Isabel and Tom met the book really engaged me.
I found myself getting really annoyed with Izzy and really disliking her due to how much she blamed Tom for everything when in reality most of it was Izzys fault.
However I was devastated everytime she miscarried and had her baby stillborn. I was also sad when it come to Lucy leaving them. But still really disliked Izzy
Thought the starting chapters were a bit unnecessarily long, however once Isabel and Tom met the book really engaged me.
However I was devastated everytime she miscarried and had her baby stillborn. I was also sad when it come to Lucy leaving them. But still really disliked Izzy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Minor: War
connortal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Really great book, really challenges your sense of right an wrong.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility and War
Minor: Xenophobia
jollymama's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, and War