Thoughts on The Light Between Oceans and Spectre

After a long, long time, I finally managed to finish reading The Light Between Oceans! Actually, I finished reading the book a few weeks ago, but it has been really hard for me to find the time to write about it. I go out a lot during the weekends now. and when I don't, I am usually too lazy or too tired to write haha. But now I miss writing, so I will write my thoughts on that book and the movie that I saw recently, Spectre. Oh, there might be spoilers ahead, so watch out haha.

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS BY M.L. STEDMAN

In this book, there are three lives that get intertwined. Those are the lives of Tom Sherbourne, a war hero who signs up as a lighthouse keeper after he comes back from the war; Isabel Graysmark, Tom's young wife who longs for a child but keeps losing the chance to have one; and Hannah Roennfeldt, a woman whose life falls apart after she loses her husband and baby.

After losing their third baby, Tom and Isabel find a boat that carries a baby girl floating in the sea near the island where they live in isolation. Even though Tom is hesitant in doing it, they decide to keep the baby because Isabel thinks the baby is a gift from God after all the pain that they have been through. Little do they know, their decision will heavily impact someone else's life and their own future.

This story is such a beautiful one. I really love the words that the author choose to tell the story. The story is actually quite dark because it explores how death and loss can affect people, but somehow the words give the sense of purity and innocence to it. This gives me a mixed feeling. The beauty of the diction makes me admire the story, but what happens in the story itself makes my heart hurt. So, yeah, this book gives me all the feels.

Another thing from the book that touches my heart is the moral message. The message of this story is very common, very true, but often forgotten by people: let it go. We often forget that sometimes we should not enforce things, that we should just let go of them. We often forget this, like Isabel, who cannot accept the fact that she has lost her babies and insists in keeping a baby that is not hers. Like Hannah, who cannot accept the fact that her daughter has changed and can never be the one that she used to be. Things just get worse when they cannot let those things go, but when they are finally able to do it, the tangled problems just disentangle themselves. I like how this message is delivered in this book.

Rating : 4/5

SPECTRE

Spectre is the twenty-fourth Bond movie and Daniel Craig's fourth Bond movie. This time, it features Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, who plays the main villain, Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci as the Bond girls. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw join Daniel Craig in reprising their roles as M, Moneypenny and Q.

Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig as Q and Bond

Even though Dame Judi Dench's M died in Skyfall, she is still the one who sends Bond for a mission in this movie. It turns out that she recorded a video for Bond before she died, which tells him to kill a man and attend the man's funeral. This funeral leads Bond to a secret organization, which surprisingly connects him with some enemies from his past.

Actually, I am not a fan of Bond movies, but I really enjoyed the previous Bond movie, Skyfall. So, I had quite high expectation for Spectre. After finally seeing it, I must say that I am quite disappointed. The story is not engaging at all. And I was really tired and cold when I was watching the movie, which makes it even harder for me to follow the story haha.

The acting element is not impressive either. Not bad, just not impressive. This is quite surprising because the actors who are involved in this movie are great, talented actors. I still love watching Ben Whishaw's Q here, though. I love how he represents young people in Bond movies. And he has more screen time here, which makes me happy haha.

Rating : 2,5/5