Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

11 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

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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:
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:
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.

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eliselerario's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Selfish, petulant child of a woman steals a child from a grief-stricken but loving mother and ruins the dreams and lives of everyone she loves in the process, including her own

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connortal's review

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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. 

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hanngigi's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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phantomgecko's review

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emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to shake everyone in this book for their bad decisions.

Just a heartbreaking situation even though the solution was apparent.

I cried a fair bit at the end.

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silverrose187's review

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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udari's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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maya_books's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0


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lavenderbluestories's review

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emotional reflective sad 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

4.5


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abigailnoack's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I've owned this book for several years and had gotten to a point where I told myself I had to either read it or get rid of it. And I don't remember exactly why I bought it so long ago, I've never heard a lot about it. 
For the most part I liked it. It's a pretty complex story about having the life you want and fighting for what's right. I didn't particularly relate to any of the characters but they were interesting enough to read about it. 
I don't know exactly how to feel about it. Really this book isn't my usual type. I don't read much adult fiction (which isn't really the problem here), but it's the kind of story that isn't about the journey, it's about how it all ends up. I wanted to keep reading to find out how everything works out. So it works. It kept me reading. However, I really love feeling engaged through a whole story and want to be satisfied through every page, not just at a just ending. 
One little note - It really annoyed me the way that Lucy was written as a young child. I just didn't get the impression that the author had spent much time around children (not to say he hasn't, I have no idea), just the way she talked and interacted with Isabel and Tom felt so unnatural.

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