It is true that they say that it is the little things that make a book memorable. Little moments that stay with you long after the book has ended which culminates over the years and makes you think that you have stumbled upon a master piece. This book is full of such moments.. moments so poignant that I don't think that I will be able to forget them no matter how hard I tried....
I never really have given much thought to the life of a lighthouse keeper. May be because I live in this age and far away from any ocean that the whole concept is kind of foreign to me. Recently When I think of beach or ocean all I can think of is sand and getting dirty so I try to avoid trips to the beach as far as possible. But having read this book and being introduced to the ocean in a whole new light I am about to change my attitude. The magic of the sea that was woven into this book and the intricacies of a life left to its own devices have made me realize that there is a whole new world out there that is unexplored and inexperienced. Feelings left unexplained and untouched.
After having lived through a war and being discharged with all the honors that a military officer like him could have Tom wants nothing more than to live the rest of his life tending to the light that saves the life of those who are drift in the ocean. When he gets and opportunity to become the lighthouse keeper at the isolated Juan Islands he accepts it without a second thought. Then he meets
Isabel a happy go lucky girl who takes an instant liking to him "his other half of the sky". From there we take a journey with the couple as the struggle through life, the happiness the find in each other at that isolated island with the lighthouse that has become the center of their life, the miscarriages that Isabel suffers that turns her in to the desperate woman, the baby who washes up on a boat and the choices that each of them make portray a very moving story. But the story itself is not which makes this book work. It is the characters their emotions, their fears, their longing all makes this story as real as anything you have experienced. The moments when Isabel washes her still born child and cries holding the child in her arms, the scenes were Isabel's mother Violet reminiscences about her dead sons. Coming to know of her son's death when a box of his belongings is delivered to her, Tom consoling Isabel after each of her miscarriages and Isabel lashing out at him for her predicament as he is the only person on the island with her with Tom saying nothing in return holding on to his own despair, Isabel looking at the markings on the wall and thinking her of her dead brothers words saying that they will be back when she grows this tall, making her realize that she has never really grew up to that height, every time Tom calls the child he found "littlie" and ever time she calls him Dadda and promises that she will love him forever and ever and ever...... There are many more of these moments that make this book a worth while read and brings tears to my eyes but I can't divulge all of it without giving up the story. So I will leave it up to you guys to read and find out. All in All a moving tale about choices and sacrifices persons have to make in life and the consequences of those actions.
I never really have given much thought to the life of a lighthouse keeper. May be because I live in this age and far away from any ocean that the whole concept is kind of foreign to me. Recently When I think of beach or ocean all I can think of is sand and getting dirty so I try to avoid trips to the beach as far as possible. But having read this book and being introduced to the ocean in a whole new light I am about to change my attitude. The magic of the sea that was woven into this book and the intricacies of a life left to its own devices have made me realize that there is a whole new world out there that is unexplored and inexperienced. Feelings left unexplained and untouched.
After having lived through a war and being discharged with all the honors that a military officer like him could have Tom wants nothing more than to live the rest of his life tending to the light that saves the life of those who are drift in the ocean. When he gets and opportunity to become the lighthouse keeper at the isolated Juan Islands he accepts it without a second thought. Then he meets
Isabel a happy go lucky girl who takes an instant liking to him "his other half of the sky". From there we take a journey with the couple as the struggle through life, the happiness the find in each other at that isolated island with the lighthouse that has become the center of their life, the miscarriages that Isabel suffers that turns her in to the desperate woman, the baby who washes up on a boat and the choices that each of them make portray a very moving story. But the story itself is not which makes this book work. It is the characters their emotions, their fears, their longing all makes this story as real as anything you have experienced. The moments when Isabel washes her still born child and cries holding the child in her arms, the scenes were Isabel's mother Violet reminiscences about her dead sons. Coming to know of her son's death when a box of his belongings is delivered to her, Tom consoling Isabel after each of her miscarriages and Isabel lashing out at him for her predicament as he is the only person on the island with her with Tom saying nothing in return holding on to his own despair, Isabel looking at the markings on the wall and thinking her of her dead brothers words saying that they will be back when she grows this tall, making her realize that she has never really grew up to that height, every time Tom calls the child he found "littlie" and ever time she calls him Dadda and promises that she will love him forever and ever and ever...... There are many more of these moments that make this book a worth while read and brings tears to my eyes but I can't divulge all of it without giving up the story. So I will leave it up to you guys to read and find out. All in All a moving tale about choices and sacrifices persons have to make in life and the consequences of those actions.
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