Jul 24

Jul 24 An Island

Author: Karen Jennings
Publisher: Hogarth
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - A "powerful" (The Guardian) novel about a lighthouse keeper with a mysterious past, and the stranger who washes up on his shores--the American debut of a major voice in world literature.

Samuel has lived alone on a small island off the coast of an unnamed African country for more than two decades. He tends to his garden, his lighthouse, and his chickens, content with a solitary life. Routinely, the nameless bodies of refugees wash ashore, but Samuel--who understands that the government only values certain lives, certain deaths—always buries them himself.

One day, though, he finds that one of these bodies is still breathing. As he nurses the stranger back to life, Samuel—feeling strangely threatened—is soon swept up in memories of his former life as a political prisoner on the mainland. This was a life that saw his country exploited under colonial rule, followed by a period of revolution and a brief, hard-won independence--only for the cycle of suffering to continue under a cruel dictator. And he can't help but recall his own shameful role in that history. In this stranger's presence, he begins to consider, as he did in his youth: What does it mean to own land, or to belong to it? And what does it cost to have, and lose, a home?

A timeless and gripping portrait of regret, terror, and the extraordinary stakes of companionship, An Island is a story as page-turning as it is profound.

TL;DR Review

An Island is a tense, layered story about trauma, agency, and loneliness during political upheaval. I appreciated it more than enjoyed it, but it’s a quick and impactful read.

For you if: You like stories that flash backward and forward in time to paint a more complete picture.

Full Review

An Island was the darkhorse of the 2021 Booker Prize longlist, publishing in the US almost a whole year after the prize put it on people’s radar. I appreciated it more than enjoyed it, but it’s a quick, impactful read that will probably stay with me longer than I think.

The story is about an old man named Samuel who lives alone on an island off the coast of an unnamed African country, caring for the lighthouse and subsisting off the land. He spent 25 years in jail for his role in a violent protest to overthrow the (corrupt) government before moving to the Island. Sometimes, bodies of drowned refugees wash ashore, but this time the man is alive. As Samuel brings him back to health, flashbacks to his past mix and mingle with his present circumstance to blur the line between fact and fantasy, companionship and violence.

Some parts were slower than others, but the thing I liked best about this book was the form: how it alternated so smoothly between past and present to really show how Samuel’s current reality was informed by the trauma and circumstances of his past. Also, I sympathized with Samuel even though he’s not really a good person; it does a good job of exploring the fact that there are no winners in colonization or coups. And the ending shocked me, but also felt true and earned, which was impressive.