Title-The Island By- Jen Minkman
Expected Publication Date-June 1, 2013
*Novella* (80 pages)
Genre- YA Dystopian
Blurb:
'I walk toward the sea. The endless surface of the water extends to the horizon, whichever way I look.
Our world is small. We are on our own, and we only have ourselves to depend on. We rely on the Force deep within us, as taught to us by our forefathers.
If I were to walk westward from here, I would come across a barrier - the Wall. Behind it, there are Fools. At least, that's what everyone says. I have never seen one.'
Leia lives on the Island, a world in which children leave their parents to take care of themselves when they are ten years old. Across this Island runs a wall that no one has ever crossed. The Fools living behind it are not amenable to reason - they believe in illusions. That's what The Book says, the only thing left to the Eastern Islanders by their ancestors. But when a strange man washes ashore and Leia meets a Fool face to face, her life will never be the same. Is what she and her friends believe about the Island really true?
Or is everyone in their world, in fact, a Fool?
Character Bio: Leia:
Leia is the main character. She lives in a society where children are deemed adults at age ten, and although she misses her parents, she doesn't dare to question the way things are in her society on the island... until she meets someone from across the Wall (the barrier that divides the island in two).
My Review:
The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I was given a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Imagine living on an island where the children are considered adults at the age of 10. When they become adults they have to leave their parent's home and go live at the manor; the big house on the island. The children will never live with their parents again and will never be more to them than a mere strange that they have passed on the street. The children go to the manor and learn to take care of themselves without any help from anyone. They can only leave the manor when they marry and then can live in the village where the parents live.
The children live by The Book that has been passed down through the generations from their ancestors. The Book tells them that they can't cross over the wall where others live that is known as the fools. The fools believe different from the children and the leader doesn't want them to find out the truth. But Leia wants to know the truth and sets out to find it. She wonders if they have been living a lie.
I have read reviews where some liked the reference to Star Wars and some who did not. I actually loved the reference it made with Star Wars. And yes I am one of the few who has not seen the movie Star Wars or read the book and I don't know why when I love that genre. So therefore it took a while for me to make the connection but when I did I thought it was remarkable. Ok so I agree that The Island would have been a good read without it but I don't think the message in the book would have been the same or portrayed correctly. The reason that I love the Star Wars reference is because it is fantasy and the fact that the little boy to whom The Book originally belonged to was only trying to help the smaller children feel safe and not be afraid so he told them stories from it and he probably made up stories too. He being the only one who knew the truth or the truth as he remembered it and told his story to all the children and they believed it and they told it to their children and so on and so on. Until eventually that was the truth and no one knew the difference because there was no one else around to tell them any different. It just goes to show how gullible humans are to believe in a fantasy or something that came straight out of a book just because someone told them it was true.
Would I recommend The Island? Why yes of course I would it is a very outstanding eye-opening read and astonishingly written. In my opinion everyone should read The Island. Would I read more of Jen Minkman's work? Why of course I would if it was as amazing as The Island.
About the Author:
Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication. In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.
'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chicklit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!).
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2 comments:
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I think you are one of the few people who really got what I was trying to demonstrate with this story. :)
As I said in my review it is a remarkable story and I truly did love it. Thank you for stopping by to visit.
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