An Island
Author: Karen Jennings
Published by: Holland House
Pages: 185
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Published by: Holland House
Pages: 185
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Samuel has lived alone for a long time, with only the occasional visits from a boat bringing him supplies and, in the past, a government representative from the mainland. He maintains the lighthouse and his chickens and watches the waves.
Then one morning he finds the sea has bought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude…
Then one morning he finds the sea has bought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude…
My thoughts:
Samuel, an elderly lighthouse keeper just off the coast of Africa, considers his past when the calm of his current life comes under threat. Readers are gradually made aware of the circumstances that brought him to the island and the reasons he can never go back to the mainland.
I enjoyed the way Samuel’s single story was told through a series of flashbacks and memories, and I thought the structure of the book worked well.
These flashbacks offer some insight about the turbulent history of the unnamed African country where Samuel grew up. He is a citizen of a republic that has passed from colonial rule to independence and then to military dictatorship. It is now facing a refugee crisis as boatloads of strangers try to land on its shores in search of a better life.
Some of my favourite moments, however, were set in the present and take place on the island. This story begins one morning when Samuel comes across a half-drowned body with a still-beating pulse. The tension is slow building as Samuel tries to communicate with the castaway. His unexpected house guest speaks a language he cannot understand, and just as things begin to settle between them, Samuel discovers another body on the island, with a slit throat. The unknown man may or may not be a murderer. What follows is is a tense, focused drama as Samuel yearns for his solitude and contemplates what he should do about his unwelcome guest.
There are many layers to this short book as we weave between the present and Samuel’s past life. It’s a very short read, almost a novella, and yet in its short length it still managed to unsettle me and make me feel uncomfortable and a bit rattled. You will easily read this in one sitting. I'm giving this book a three star rating, as it didn't make a huge impression on me and I can't see myself revisiting it again. If anything, I felt the story could've taken an even darker direction more early on. However, An Island is certainly worth reading.
It very much feels as though Karen Jennings has deliberately written the prose to be unlikable, uncomfortable, and unsettling. The novel is a beautifully concise and insightful portrait of a man both consumed by and trapped by his island.
Overall reaction:
Samuel, an elderly lighthouse keeper just off the coast of Africa, considers his past when the calm of his current life comes under threat. Readers are gradually made aware of the circumstances that brought him to the island and the reasons he can never go back to the mainland.
I enjoyed the way Samuel’s single story was told through a series of flashbacks and memories, and I thought the structure of the book worked well.
These flashbacks offer some insight about the turbulent history of the unnamed African country where Samuel grew up. He is a citizen of a republic that has passed from colonial rule to independence and then to military dictatorship. It is now facing a refugee crisis as boatloads of strangers try to land on its shores in search of a better life.
Some of my favourite moments, however, were set in the present and take place on the island. This story begins one morning when Samuel comes across a half-drowned body with a still-beating pulse. The tension is slow building as Samuel tries to communicate with the castaway. His unexpected house guest speaks a language he cannot understand, and just as things begin to settle between them, Samuel discovers another body on the island, with a slit throat. The unknown man may or may not be a murderer. What follows is is a tense, focused drama as Samuel yearns for his solitude and contemplates what he should do about his unwelcome guest.
There are many layers to this short book as we weave between the present and Samuel’s past life. It’s a very short read, almost a novella, and yet in its short length it still managed to unsettle me and make me feel uncomfortable and a bit rattled. You will easily read this in one sitting. I'm giving this book a three star rating, as it didn't make a huge impression on me and I can't see myself revisiting it again. If anything, I felt the story could've taken an even darker direction more early on. However, An Island is certainly worth reading.
It very much feels as though Karen Jennings has deliberately written the prose to be unlikable, uncomfortable, and unsettling. The novel is a beautifully concise and insightful portrait of a man both consumed by and trapped by his island.
Overall reaction: