Harbor Lights

by Theodore Weesner

Set in southern Maine, Harbor Lights follows the last weeks of lobster fisherman Warren Hudon's life. His character and passions shaped by the rough waters on which he spends his days, Warren has created a life of almost absolute isolation. But when he is diagnosed with rapidly developing cancer, he finds himself driven to make peace with his long-estranged wife, Beatrice, and their adult daughter, Marian. Told in restrained, evocative prose, Harbor Lights mesmerizes its readers with a tale of a marriage gone seriously awry and a man's growing rage that culminates in an act of passionate violence.

Genres: Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

American author and Professor at Emerson College.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was awful. The story did not have any redemption, depth, and all the characters were horrible people. It was about a lobsterman suffering from cancer- how can you end up with zero depth?

Halfway through the book I knew I did not like it, but I held on, hoping the ending would be thoughtful and prove me wrong. But man, it just got worse.

This is definitely in the competition for books I most disliked reading.

Also, I don't think I read a book that is so gender-roles conforming. Ugh.

I have much different tastes than whomever put this on the too good to miss shelf at the library.

[Hannah Seeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It dealt with some pretty complex emotions, and managed to create an interesting plot despite its many extremely unlikeable characters.

The characters were well written, and even though I didn’t find most of them very sympathetic, I think that was the author’s point. A very nice little story about family responsibility and how far you can push someone without breaking them.

[Emily Olson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate it when a whole book can be summarized in three sentences.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I wouldn’t exactly recommend this book to anyone, I am glad I read it. It is a story of a fisherman who, in the face of terminal cancer, examines his life and its disappointments. The defining element of his life has been his wife’s unfaithfulness with a prominent member of their community (this is not a spoiler, it is revealed almost immediately and drives the entire story). The story is told from varying characters’ points of view (in the third person) and includes the fisherman, his wife, their grown daughter, and his wife’s lover. They each consider their life, especially in the light of the fisherman’s growing sickness, and attempt to orient their guilt, or innocence, as well as the blame, in their sad past. The fisherman reflects back on his failed relationship and his hopes for his remaining days. The exploration of each character was thorough, and Warren’s suffering was real and intense. My only thought was that it would have been much more powerful as a short story, because the characters’ thoughts only went so far before they stopped revealing things to themselves and the reader; I began to find them a bit repetitive. The end, while not surprising, was a sickening thud, and somehow took away from all of the characters’ impact.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this little book because of its setting along the Maine coast. Weesner tells the sad story of Warren Hudson, a lobsterman diagnosed with a quickly growing cancer and given a short time to live. Although he and his wife Beatrice still occupy the same house, Beatrice has had a 30-year affair with Senator Virgil Pound, and everyone knows it. Their daughter Marian, who works in the gift shop her mother owns, is unhappy in her marriage but newly pregnant, so there are problems all around. Library Journal says, “This is a powerful novel about agonizing choices and heartbreaking truths that vividly dramatizes the consequences of not courageously and honestly facing those truths."

[Kevin Revolinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to give it a 3, but decided that that was merely because I hated two of the four characters. 3.5 if there was such a thing here. The author shifts among the four very well-developed characters. A lobsterman dying of cancer looks back on his life with regrets and tries to come to terms with his failures and the failure of his marriage. His daughter, his wife and her lover give us the wider view. Some strong emotional moments in here and an intense finale. Not a happy book, surely, and while events have impact, there is no mystery or grand revelations, but the grim outcomes are believable given how well we know the characters.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Southern Maine, Warren Hudson is dying of a quick growing cancer. For the past several years, lobster fisherman Warren has lived a reclusive life, barely holding on to his loveless marriage of convenience and questioning the life he has chosen. As Warren reaches out to heal relationships and is rebuffed, he comes to terms with personal demons that have haunted him since his marriage went awry. Thought provoking and insightful.