The Island

I could not put this down and read it in one sitting of about 4 hours.

I can’t put into words what I read. I’m still trying to process everything but wow.

Here you have two immortals constantly at each others throats in quite a hilarious way. There were a few moments that had me roar out in laughter. The banter between the two and the ways they killed each other was pretty great. The way the Unwanted were described made me smile as it was quite visceral.

You have two immortals acting like Tom Hanks to his Wilson.
A never ending island.
Paranoia and acceptance
An intriguing authorial voice
And a shark (though it’s role was small, it stood out quite grand)

I still can’t wrap my head around the ending. Was everything a figment of Lucas’ imagination/coma? We’re Gerd and Atticus reborn? I have so many questions. I also can’t compare this mind destroying book to anything, because I haven’t read anything like it.

If you like a vivid world, constant internal battles, friends killing each other in varying ways, you’d like this book!

This book made me quite emotional, which I didn't suspect in the beginning. It reminded me a bit of the very lovely, but also gutwrenching book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.

To put it simply, the book surprised me. I would say it was delightfully sad and not at all what I expected from the description. With many underlying themes and great reveals at the end.

The plot revolves around Atticus and Gerd, two semi-god-like figures trapped on an island, endlessly tormenting each other and fulfilling meaningless tasks, until one day - something appears that wasn't there before. Or was it? The question the book raises is, do they deserve each other or their predicament, and is there perhaps a way out of it?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It filled an afternoon for me that I consider well-spent. Thanks NetGalley and the authors for the advance copy.