Tag: frompagetoscreen

Throwback Thursday: The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Renee at It’s Book Talk. It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago. If you decide to take part, please link back to It’s Book Talk.

This week I’m revisiting a review of a book I read earlier this year as part of my From Page to Screen Challenge – The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman. You can read my comparison of the book and the film here.

oceansAbout the Book

The year is 1926. After four harrowing years on the Western Front, young Tom Sherbourne takes up the post of lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. In the small coastal town on his way to Janus, Tom meets the headstrong, vibrant Isabel. They fall in love, and on his first shore leave they marry, then return to Janus together—both eager to begin their life, cocooned from the rest of the world with just each other, the gulls, and the stars for company. Years later, after two miscarriages and one still birth, Isabel’s grief is all consuming. But one fateful, April morning she hears the sound of cries carried in on the wind: a small boat has washed ashore, its occupants a dead man and a squalling baby girl. Tom wants to report the boat immediately, but Isabel resists, pleading with him to put it off for just one day. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim the girl as their own and name her Lucy—a devastating, resounding choice that forever changes two worlds.

Format: ebook Publisher: Scribner Pages: 356
Publication: 31st July 2012 Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

 Find The Light Between Oceans on Goodreads

My Review

I found the story of Tom and Isabel emotionally engaging, even harrowing at times, as their longing to have a child is tragically denied them. The dilemma for the author is to make the reader understand and empathise with their decision to claim the rescued baby as their own. Isabel’s profound grief at her failed pregnancies, culminating in a kind of madness, is convincingly portrayed and it seems understandable that she should view the miracle of the baby as a “gift from God” to compensate for her loss.     From the reader’s first introduction to Tom, it is apparent he feels an immense sense of guilt – survivor’s guilt – that he should have survived the war unscathed when so many of his comrades did not. This overwhelming sense of guilt is the key to his decision to acquiesce to not reporting the boat, his actions when he learns the truth about the baby and, ultimately, his desire to protect Isabel from the consequences of their actions.

For me, the standout aspect of the book was the depiction of Janus in all its raw beauty and the guardian role of the lighthouse ‘slicing the darkness like a sword’. There is much imaginative and lyrical writing:

‘The water sloshed like white paint, milky-thick, the foam occasionally scraped off long enough to reveal a deep blue undercoat.’  

‘The wind continued its ancient vendetta against the windows, accompanied by the liquid thunder of waves.’

I have to admit that, once Janus was left behind, I found the story less compelling and Isabel’s ultimate choice didn’t completely convince me given all that had gone before.   I am rather averse to excessively sentimental endings and to me the final chapter read like it was designed to provide a “Hollywood” finale (as indeed it now has).

In three words: Emotional, lyrical, thought-provoking

Try something similar…Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville

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MLStedmanAbout the Author

M.L. Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. The Light Between Oceans is her first novel.

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From Page to Screen: The Sense of an Ending

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About the Book: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The book is both a reminiscence on adolescent friendships, early romantic relationships and their aftermath and an exploration of the unintended consequences that can flow from actions. In this case, it is the events set in train by the main character’s reaction to a romantic disappointment. The reader becomes aware early on that the narrator, Tony, is being selective in the events he recounts, either consciously or subconsciously. At one point, he admits, ‘I told her the story of my life. The version I tell myself, the account that stands up.’ So key themes explored in the book are truth, memory and storytelling.

Read my review of the book here.

About the Film: The Sense of an Ending (2017)

The Sense of an Ending is directed by Ritesh Batra from a screenplay by Nick Payne based on Julian Barnes’ novel. The film stars Jim Broadbent as Tony, Charlotte Rampling as Veronica, Harriet Walter as Margaret and Emily Mortimer as Sarah Ford.

More information about the film can be found here.

Book v Film

The film largely follows the plot of the book but chooses to put more focus on some characters, for instance, Tony’s daughter, who does not appear in person in the book at all. In the film, Susie (played by Michelle Dockery) gets quite a bit of screen time and we see Tony supporting her in the latter stages of her pregnancy. I can only assume this was done to give his character more humanity but to my mind the whole point is that Tony finds it difficult to read and respond to other people. Young Tony’s visit to his girlfriend Veronica’s parents is close to the book and I liked the way the director emphasised the allure Veronica’s mother, Sarah, might hold for a young man, as this helps to make sense of later events.

Presented with an actress of the stature of Charlotte Rampling, it’s not surprising that the film expands the meetings between Tony and Veronica in later life. I felt the characterisation of Veronica downplayed the anger she displays in the book.  I thought Harriet Walter’s performance really captured the essence of Tony’s ex-wife, Margaret, as portrayed in the book and she communicated Margaret’s affectionate exasperation with Tony perfectly.

I enjoyed the flashback scenes to Tony’s schooldays and adolescence and I thought they had a really credible period feel. The director uses an imaginative technique at several points that allows us to see Tony reassessing events in his past and seeing them from a new perspective.

The Verdict

In the book, Tony muses: ‘How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts?’ Adjusting, embellishing and making cuts are clearly all part of adapting a book into a film. Some of the changes I could understand, others less so.  The film is well-crafted with good performances but I don’t believe it is completely successful in communicating the essence of the book.

What do you think? Have you read the book or seen the film?