There was something missing in this book and I'm not sure what it was. I never really became invested in either the Peacock family or the boys from The Rock who had been (literally) shipped in to help. This could have been an entirely absorbing read but I found myself disconnected from the people and the place much more than I anticipated.
There was a strong attempt to draw you in, particularly in the chapters narrated by Kalala as they were written in an almost pigeon style to reflect the communication style of native South Islanders. Initially this worried me as in the early chapters it feels very forced and unrealistic but once they've arrived on the island and the author has got used to her two main voices (Kalala and Lizzie) it does all settle down. My problem was there just wasn't enough there to really get a grasp of the characters.
This was a particular problem as the plot is pretty much character driven. There is the overarching tale of a family trying to cultivate a life from an uninhabited island whilst raising a family and all that entails. The tribulations of not having enough food and being more or less abandoned by the ship and it's crooked captain. Without an absorption in the characters you can't really become invested in their struggles to survive both the harshness of their supplanted life but also the changes in their characters as that harshness comes to bear.
It starts off quite promisingly with an introduction to the Peacock family and their spotting of the ship that will bring the kanakas to them to help clear the island vegetation for cultivation. We get to see Monday Island from both the perspective of the family and the boys imported from The Rock who bring their own hopes and fears to bear on the tale. Sadly the pace is excruciatingly slow and the myriad flashbacks explaining the background to their perspectives doesn't help move the tale along.
It's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination but it isn't an absorbing book and I do feel it could have been. When I got to the end and saw that there were Book Club Notes my heart sank. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books with such notes that I have actively enjoyed and become invested in. Most of them leave me, as this did, with a distinct sense of "meh" and I suspect this is because somewhere along the line a decision has been made that this is "an important/worthy book" so we need to really sit down and get to the gristle of the tale. Sometimes a story is just a story and the reader takes from it what they will.
What I took from it was that it was mediocre, at best, and the cover is quite likely the most intriguing and satisfying bit of the book.
I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
There was a strong attempt to draw you in, particularly in the chapters narrated by Kalala as they were written in an almost pigeon style to reflect the communication style of native South Islanders. Initially this worried me as in the early chapters it feels very forced and unrealistic but once they've arrived on the island and the author has got used to her two main voices (Kalala and Lizzie) it does all settle down. My problem was there just wasn't enough there to really get a grasp of the characters.
This was a particular problem as the plot is pretty much character driven. There is the overarching tale of a family trying to cultivate a life from an uninhabited island whilst raising a family and all that entails. The tribulations of not having enough food and being more or less abandoned by the ship and it's crooked captain. Without an absorption in the characters you can't really become invested in their struggles to survive both the harshness of their supplanted life but also the changes in their characters as that harshness comes to bear.
It starts off quite promisingly with an introduction to the Peacock family and their spotting of the ship that will bring the kanakas to them to help clear the island vegetation for cultivation. We get to see Monday Island from both the perspective of the family and the boys imported from The Rock who bring their own hopes and fears to bear on the tale. Sadly the pace is excruciatingly slow and the myriad flashbacks explaining the background to their perspectives doesn't help move the tale along.
It's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination but it isn't an absorbing book and I do feel it could have been. When I got to the end and saw that there were Book Club Notes my heart sank. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books with such notes that I have actively enjoyed and become invested in. Most of them leave me, as this did, with a distinct sense of "meh" and I suspect this is because somewhere along the line a decision has been made that this is "an important/worthy book" so we need to really sit down and get to the gristle of the tale. Sometimes a story is just a story and the reader takes from it what they will.
What I took from it was that it was mediocre, at best, and the cover is quite likely the most intriguing and satisfying bit of the book.
I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.