Book Review | "The Light Between Oceans" by M. L. Stedman

“Perhaps when it comes to it, no one is just the worst thing they ever did.”

Books are supposed to pose the hard questions. Give minds an idea to ponder. Nothing is black or white, because humans are not black or white. Books can paint a world never imagined. Sit you down in the center of it all to play a part. And then sometimes, books can paint the wort side of humanity to make you ask yourself - “Is it really wrong?”

The Light Between Oceans paints a picture of despair and hope, asking the hard question of would you do the same? I think we can’t really judge from our perspective. Time in the 1920s is not what we know. Orphaned children were not treated with even the small sliver of care they are today (and that’s saying a lot). So when you read this book, look through the eyes of those telling the story, and not your own.

A couple lives on an island, isolated and alone. Their job is to the ignite the lighthouse every evening. One day a dead man washes ashore with a crying baby. Isabel, whose already lost three births, sees the child as a sign from God, a chance to be the mother nature would never allow her to be. What harm could be done? The baby would be put in an orphanage because no mother would dare abandon their infant. But all stories have many sides and no one is free from grief.

“When it comes to their kids, parents are all just instinct and hope. And fear.”

From the first line, I was lost. Stedman paints a gentle picture of Western Australia, weaving in and out the details carefully between the lives of the characters. Her words are soft, never going for the drawn-out texture, but taking her time to feed tidbits throughout. I would say this is her biggest strength. I’m not from Australia, yet now I walk away seeing this whole new world in bright generous strokes.

Descriptions don’t need to be flashy or all at once. I’ve heard of writers taking pride in spending a whole page on describing a horse. A single horse people. But do readers want to be slowed down by such a common image? I personally do not. For such detail to be painted, there has to be something pretty darn special about this horse.

Description is proportional to time. The longer you spend writing out a picture, the slower the story will progress and you take a risk your audience will be tired of waiting to get the story rolling. Today’s readers have the gift of the internet, we don’t need to completely lay out the basics like a stream. So wait. Say it was a stream, move on and save those moments for the imagery that really matters. The differences that make your world special.

“There are times when the ocean is not the ocean - not blue, not even water, but some violent explosion of energy and danger: fierceness on a scale only gods can summon.”

Do not read this book if you don’t want to cry. Life doesn’t have happy endings and someone must always suffer. That’s the real message of the story. Not the questions asked about the baby. Not the choices made by the characters. But the real fact, that no matter what happens, someone will get their dream and someone will be left to grieve.

The Light Between Oceans

By M.L. Stedman

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Stedman brought to life the pain of life. She didn’t sugar coat the delivery, or follow it up with ‘now everything worked out in the end.’ I appreciate this. I appreciate the raw life of the matter and character development. Stedman stuck with what her characters would do and never once let them change just to give the story a chance. She asked the hard questions of her characters and let them play it all out. Something very important. As writers, we can never let our own thoughts and desires take over to control the story just for what we want. If that character would go down the dark alley, even though we know what waits for her on the other side, that character must go.

Even in this story, we can see the Hero’s journey. Weird right? That something so far from fantasy would have the same elements of a classic story structure, but that’s the point - it’s a classic story structure. We have the initial journey of receiving the baby. Tom, the reluctant hero to choose the journey, and Isabel ready to jump right in. Multiple thresholds to overcome and the final Ordeal and choice before we reach the resurrection.

“Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an unvisited headstone.”

Not everything about The Light Between Oceans was great. Sometimes the characters came across wrong, instances where Stedman might have tweaked their responses slightly. The ending was a little wonky, and ultimately I think could have been left out. The extra chapter muddled the whole picture instead of letting the reader's mind ponder everything. I didn’t need to see the overall life ending choices. I would say more but that would give too much of the story away.

Essentially, I learned that American audiences need the full picture. We want to see how everything is wrapped up all with a bow. No loose ends. Other countries prefer that open-ended version where there are still questions to ponder and audiences can paint their own outcomes.

All in all, I really enjoyed the entire read. I give the book 4 stars. The writing was soft and gentle, just enough prose to feel the craft but not enough to bog down the emotions and journey of the story. I really wish there were more books by Stedman, but alas this is her only one. Till next time.

Love Kait and Happy Reading.

Reading Chlalenge: 73/100

Book Review | "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig

“Whenever I see someone reading a book, especially if it is someone I don't expect, I feel civilization has become a little safer.”

Thank god this was a book club pick. If not for the need to finish the entire thing, I believe this would have been thrown out and considered a lost cause.

The story introduces Tom, a man with a long past - a very long past spanning over 400 years. Having a medical condition that slows his aging, Tom has lived many lives always running from people who view him as a freak or a devil. Flipping between the present day and his history, we begin to see how our pasts drive us, staying true to ourselves, and the importance of what it means to live.

I really don’t think it helped I picked this up after War Storm. I went from a pretty average YA written novel to one of strong lyrical prose. As Brandon Sanderson would say, “You can really see the stained glass window with this one.” But, in truth, the prose was so heavy I couldn’t see past the words to the story underneath. I stuck with it, as I was forced to, and found a heartwarming, eye-opening story underneath it all.

You just have to remove a few layers first.

So seriously, stick with this thing.

I don’t think you’ll regret it.

At least I hope not…..

“It is strange how close the past is, even when you imagine it to be so far away. Strange how it can just jump out of a sentence and hit you. Strange how every object or word can house a ghost.”

How to Stop Time

By Matt Haig

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How to Stop Time is not a masterpiece of plot - a sign that Haig is probably a discovery writer. Some of the plot twists pop out of nowhere, which isn’t the worst but might leave a sour taste in your mouth. In honesty, Haig’s attempt at mystery leaves a little to be desired. What makes this book a masterpiece is his ability to throw in the hard life questions without you noticing. Multiple times I had to stop for a moment and think about what he’d just written in the most casual way. There were questions and thoughts that I think we all have but that have never been said out loud.

Haig’s superpower is his ability to weave the scenes in and out. To flow the information and bring up thoughts and philosophical quandaries without pausing. While reading, you don’t feel like your being lectured to. Instead, you feel deep inside the head of a lost wandering man who's trying to figure out his own role in a world that has destroyed him for centuries.

Which doesn’t mean that Haig’s casual name-dropping throughout the book works though. How likely are you to be in these places at just the right time to meet say, F. Scott Fitzgerald? I can believe Shakespeare and Chaplin, but the rest not so much.

Eventually, I was so deep into the story that when I turned the last page my heart sunk. I fell in love with Tom. I fell in love with Rose. And I saw the struggle of each character and their own fears. So yes, the story isn’t about plot. It’s a character-driven narrative filled with beautiful insight into the world we live in.

As you can guess, I quickly changed my rating on this story and it’s now at 4 stars. There are still some items that I would have preferred played out differently and I don’t like how long it took to get into the story. I feel many readers will end up putting this down. And that’s why I beg you to stick with it until the end.

Happy Reading

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 59/100

"Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter Book Review

“At peace? Who but the insane would ever be at peace? What person who has enjoyed life could possibly think one is enough? Who could live even a day and not feel the sweet ache of regret?”

Or the sweet ache of turning the last page knowing that the story is over, and you need to go and live your real life.

Walter has a gift that I’ve seen in only a few authors. He has an ability to weave a story from a multitude of perspectives yet leave you as if you read it through the eyes of only one soul. Just breathtaking. I had to put the whole thing down and stare out the window until I felt the shock wear off and I could breathe again.

How did he do it?

Yes, I won’t say that it worked the entire time. From the start, it was really hard to tell where things were going to go. A bunch of characters are thrown in right at the beginning. We think it’s going to be from the perspective of a set few only to realize that their roles are more as background actors to the main stage. But if that wasn’t enough, we are thrown into new roles in the middle and must accept their part to be played. And to top it off, that one character, briefly mentioned now, plays a massive role though not told out as long as you would have liked.

Does this feel like a whirlwind yet, because it stays that way for the whole wild ride?

Hold on though, because when you get to the end and you see what Walter was trying - maybe sit with it for a while - the beauty of the story comes alive and you realize that you just witnessed a masterpiece.

“I think so, too. I know I felt that way. For years. It was as if I was a character in a movie and the real action was about to start at any minute. But I think some people wait forever, and only at the end of their lives do they realize that their life has happened while they were waiting for it to start.”

Beautiful Ruins: A Novel

By Jess Walter

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So at the start, we think the story is about all of these characters, but it really comes down to the two introduced from the start, Dee and Pasquale. Maybe I’m breaking my own rule of no spoilers, but I think this might help you to make it through. I don’t want you to suffer like I did sitting there and wanting more Claire but realizing that she just isn’t the one to make the real dramatic plays. Her character comes out more as background noise.

And there comes one of my biggest complaints. Why so much when the real story isn’t centered around every characters’ backstory? Do we really need to see Claire’s boyfriend drama played out, Alvis’s war wounds, or Shane’s ACT lifeline? Seeing it all done, I think the answer is yes. I feel the drift from the core components was the point. The idea of look, 50 odd years later and all of these lives are changed because of what happens, and, that in some way, we are all the same. All needing the same wakeup call.

Walter throws real life in your face. There aren’t happy endings. It’s messy and the decisions we make can’t always be easy and it just isn’t going to be a fairytale. The guy sometimes can’t get the girl but that doesn’t mean life still isn’t beautiful and fulfilling. Walter covers so many topics that at times it’s overwhelming. But that is life.

I read the reviews and they aren’t entirely the best. But, I get where people got lost. First off, the marketing department didn’t do the greatest job. It’s The Village all over again. You think you’re heading into a scary thriller only to discover there was always a way out, it’s just a sham. Beautiful Ruins goes through the same pains. Luckily, I read the genres and didn’t fall into the trap of cover and name. This is not a light summer read. This is hard, dirty, and may make you cry. That or throw the book in anger.

“His life was two lives now: the life he would have and the life he would forever wonder about.”

And, because I must always talk about craft at some point in my reviews, I’ll cover Walters stunning choice of words. I don’t know how he did it - and I think I can say something on this topic since I’ve been to the Italian coast and Rome - but each time I opened this book, I felt Italy coming back to me all over again. It was marvelous. Lifted from your seat, you’re set in the glittering waters before the Hotel of Adequate View. Turn the page and you can find yourself in the dark pillbox after a hike, sun catching the corner of a hand painted image. But, then in the next instance transported in time to the realities of current day show business.

Maybe this will make you read the book, maybe not. We all have things that touch our hearts and come at the right time in our life. I think this book was meant for me right now. I will give it 4 stars. Though I loved every moment, a few things rubbed me wrong. Walter went on a limb with some of his choices, but certain things like the book chapter and such just fell flat. If you do decide to read it, I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 49/100

"Sky In The Deep" by Adrienne Young Book Review

There are some books that grab hold, wrap around your bones, seep into your core, and never let go.

“Breathe Fire.”

Sky In The Deep stole my heart. I’ve seen Young’s interviews on the book, I’ve heard her say the words, but nothing really prepares you for the emotions of family, love, and her father found on every page. Forget that... every word. I’m already trying to see if I can fit in a reread, not only because I’m not ready to leave the Viking clan, but also because I feel that I missed so much in the first read.

“And the glacier inside of me cracked. It roared as it broke and fell into the icy water around my heart.”

I was so skeptical picking up this book. The ARC reviews have been fifty fifty. But I’ve followed Young for a while on Instagram and wanted to give my full support. Something kept telling me this book would be good. Out I went in the first week and bought the darn thing and good thing I always listen to my gut.

Sky In The Deep is a story about a girl, simply put. Every five years, two clans, set to hate each other by the gods they worship, come to fight in hopes of gaining honor in the eyes of their gods to reach the sacred heaven in death. During the fighting, Eelyn sees her brother who died five years previous. In search of answers, Eelyn is captured only to discover that the world she knows is about to change.

Sky in the Deep

By Adrienne Young

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True to form, I had no idea what to expect from this book. I knew it had Vikings, it was about family and love, but I never read the synopsis. I had no idea what to expect. That left for a great ride. The beginning starts out so strong, throwing you right in the battle, hearing and feeling every slash and thrust of the blades. Young does an excellent job portraying these scenes. I’ve said it before, writers can lose their readers in battle scenes, but Young holds you close really getting you into the moment.

What I love is the subtleness that Young uses in her writing. It’s not that she hides what’s going to happen, there’s you’re typical foreshadowing, but she slides it in not blaring loudly in your face. When it finally plays out - and yes she did go there - you don’t feel it’s just another overdone ploy. Instead, everything is natural.

On top of that, even with her moodiness, anger and sullen teenager ways, you have to love Eelyn. She’s a fierce warrior and I think in my top fictional characters list.

I do have a negative comment. I really wish I didn’t but I can’t lead you astray without giving a warning. Sometimes Young’s writing can be a little disjointed. Many times Young lost me in the story. I would be at point A, but then, out of nowhere, the character would be at point B. It was almost as if I missed an entire paragraph. It could have just been me, but it happened too many times not to mention it.

Ugh.I’m putting this book down feeling lost and broken and wanting more. I’m glad this isn’t a series - I feel like I’ve jumped into too many to keep them straight - but I really don’t want to say goodbye to Eelyn or Iri or Fiske. At least her next book is in the same world, supposedly a companion novel. I’m really curious who’s going to be in it. Now, I just need to wait a year. There’s always the title reveal to get excited about. Till then I’m sending all my willpower to urge Young to write faster. Either that or I’ll find a way to bug her on Instagram.

Love Kait.

Reading Challange: 39/100

"The Wildling Sisters" by Eve Chase Book Review

Have you read a book before where the sound of the words draws you in? Each one a carefully constructed symphony of prose, ending in a musical crescendo that lulls you into a poetic dreamland.

Well….

That was the Wildling Sisters for me.

Set between two worlds, same house, the stories collide 50 years apart where the mystery of a missing 12-year-old plague an English country manor. A new family moves in the house unaware of its dark past yet still bringing their own mystery. Fifty years previous, four sisters, abandoned by their mother one summer, are forced to reside with their aunt and uncle who five years earlier lost their own daughter when she went missing. Eventually, the mystery of it all unfolds, past and present, till both worlds must meet.

Dark stories unfold until the end when everything comes delivered with a nice red bow. All questions get answered. There is no air of mystery leaving us hanging. Though I enjoyed finding out everything, it was a little rushed and I could have lived without it. Others agreed, some saying that it was just all too nice. And with a book that is set a little darker, maybe a light ending wasn’t the best option.

The Wildling Sisters

By Eve Chase

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But the main theme throughout was motherhood. We have the absent mother of the girls, the mother who lost her child, and the mother stepping in for a dead mother. I hope that was the focus. If you remove the theme and the fact that they are in the same house, it would feel like two stories thrown together because they were too short to stand alone. Even the point of views - there are two total - are so very distinct that when they switch, you can easily read the difference.

I think Chase’s writing is the reason that I enjoyed myself. Most of my peers thought the story was dull. Nothing surprising comes out in the end - it was more of a dud - and many may give up once the excitement wears off. This isn’t a murder mystery, isn’t advertised as one, yet that is exactly what Chase wants you to believe within the first few pages as girls drag a lifeless limp body through the garden. Maybe if the beginning had been a little less dramatic, readers would have been prepared for the slower storyline. Instead, we spend the entire story wondering where the body fits into the mix.

Yet don’t give up. This story has a great gothic undertone. It doesn’t go super dark but poses a few more questions about missing girls and sex. Darker themes are my jam now and I think it’s because I’m getting older. But these moments in the story are what give it life. They breathe a realness into the story. That mixed with Chase’s prose is why I’ve ultimately given this book 4 stars.

Overall, a quick and easy read. I was able to finish it in three days with a very hectic schedule. I would place this on your summer beach list. You might just enjoy the transport back to the English countryside.

Love Kait

"Winternight Trilogy" by Katherine Arden Book Review

“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me.” - Katherine Arden

Alright. Review done. I think the quote above about covers it.

This book is more than just a story.

Set in a time before Christianity was the common religion, before Moscow was an empire, and the pagan beliefs where clung to by a few braves souls. When frozen gods roamed the forests and stories were still told before roaring fires. People’s beliefs of the old begin to fade and the pagan creatures hang onto last breathes. What would you do if only the clapping hands of children that believed could keep you alive? What if those stories told by wise old mothers were actually true?

That is the world that Arden has created. A fearful, fairy tale filled frozen Prussia with a girl that still sees it all. Vasya is unafraid of the domovoi in her oven. Instead, she fears the coming change of Christianity and the slipping of magical power. Is she the only one that can save them and herself?

And this is where the story is so much more. Not only are we filled with the rich texture of folklore but the issues covered are still just as relevant today. Case in point with the quote above. Vasya does not only fight for her friends, but also for her right to be a strong minded woman in a time where women are expected to keep house and have babies. I’m super impressed that the concept was carried out in both books.

Arden has a craft for well executed descriptions. You can feel the crack of skin from the cold, or the warm fire keeping out the chill. She fuses politics and fairytales in a story that is not dated. It was fresh, exciting, and felt perfect for any age.

The first book receives a solid five stars.  I couldn’t wait for the second book. I sat down and bam, disappointment.

Why?!?!?!

I think that Arden might have burned out on the first book. That or she hadn’t intended to make a second story.

Her strong prose was lost in the first half. I can see now that it was a setup for the second half, but the magic of her writing was all but gone. Vasya felt like a different creature, and not because she had grown as a person. I wasn’t lost in the whimsy of the moment. I did stick with it, glad since the second half was downright amazing again. Everything I loved about Arden’s writing was back. Was it enough to make up for the first half…. I don’t know. But it does make me very excited for the third and final book of the series which comes out later this year.

If you’re looking for a bit of whimsy, a Russian telling of fairy tales, and a well executed and well written story, then I would definitely give this series a try.

Love Kait.

"Lilac Girls" Book review

*WARNING: Spoilers ahead*

From the moment I saw this book and read the description, I had such hopes and then I read the first sentence; chills went down my back. This was going to be the best seven hours of reading. But, when I got past that, there was serious buyer’s remorse. I wanted with all my heart for this book to be good, wishing it with every word that I read, but, I’m sorry to admit, it didn’t hold up. My first response would be that I was sorely disappointed.

Let me begin by saying that the best part of the whole book was the author’s note at the very end. Wow. That little side note of explanation told a better story of Caroline and what she did for the girls of Ravensbruck, not the 487 pages of actual story. Martha Hall Kelly took this amazing woman, who is supposedly the inspiration for writing the book, and turned her into a shallow, soul exasperating person with a fictional love interest that in my opinion brought the whole story to just above daytime soap opera. And, I will add, that this love interest was never fully wrapped up in the end.

This story begins right before WWII. Since Caroline is considered a war hero, I assumed that her actual heroism would occur during WWII. No, in fact, it actually occurs about 12 years after the war has ended. Something that is not alluded to till you read that part about 2/3rds in. Kelly did nothing to dissuade this and I feel many times played into that thought process by adding in certain facts in addition to including characters such as Herta and Kasia. A backstory is extremely important, but did we have to go through every detail of what occurred and then only spend a bare minimum on the heroism of getting the survives help?

And I also ask why was Herta included? Seeing a different point of view was interesting, but there was no Schindler’s List ending. Herta ended up being the same evil person feeling no remorse for her part in the experiments. For myself, and a few others, we expected Herta to turn around at some point and help save the girls. She went from having a conscience about killing to, oh look now, I can do this without a second thought. In essence, the character felt like two different people.

Kelly also included too many topics for each one to be fully developed. She touches on motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, mental illness, WWII which has enough material, concentration camps, politics, women’s rights, marriage and so on. Characters also felt thrown in. Major characters that had larger roles were left hanging. In my opinion, Kelly took on too large of a task. This could have been broken down, one POV, and multiple books. One book about the sisters and one book about Caroline.

One of the most intriguing characters was Kasia’s mother. With so much potential of even her own story, this character was in essence left hanging. She had such a chunk of the story she almost felt like a main character. For Kelly to only spend a few lines at the end to explain what happened to her was so sad. Instead of having Herta explain to Kasia what happened at the end, since Herta supposedly saw it, Kelly could have used the old teacher's adage of show don’t tell. If Kelly wrote a book about the mother, I would give her a second chance.

And my final mark against this book is the writing itself. What started as elegant prose that was sweeping me through the streets of New York and Lublin, turned into an annoying list of she did this and he did that. The description and sweeping melodies were lost about halfway in. It became dry and downright boring. No more getting into the character’s mind and experiencing how they felt and saw things. I continued to read only because I wanted to see how it all turned out.

In truth, though I had hoped for so much more, this book felt like a waste of my time. I will give it a 2 out of 5 stars. I’m glad that the Ravensbruck girls have had their story told. I had such better hopes for Caroline though.