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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
I was totally sucked into this story from the get go. It is your basic- stranded on a deserted island, fall in love, adventure story but somehow I found it non-stop reading fun. Great story.
Beautiful and touching. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day.
3.5/5
A modern desert island castaway tale. The story is narrated in a classic literary yet almost light hearted tone. The author is clearly inspired by classic literature and I appreciated his unique modern spin. This is a great book to get lost in. It's engaging and moves along at a good clip. Great beach read, but maybe not one you have to travel home from on a plane.
A modern desert island castaway tale. The story is narrated in a classic literary yet almost light hearted tone. The author is clearly inspired by classic literature and I appreciated his unique modern spin. This is a great book to get lost in. It's engaging and moves along at a good clip. Great beach read, but maybe not one you have to travel home from on a plane.
It took me a few chapters to get into this but once I did I really enjoyed it! Barry and Sophie are stranded on a Polynesian island after their plane crashes and the book follows as they try to make sense of their new world. The story itself was nothing new or original (it reminded me of the film Castaway or Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo) but overwhelmingly it was a story of love and what home really means. By the end I didn’t want it to finish, a lovely book!
Deep breaths. It’s going to take a lot of deep breaths to get over this book.
This book took me by surprised with how much I enjoyed its simple prose and minimalist love story. Two plane crash survivors are stranded on a deserted island. An unlikely romance blooms between them as they struggle to survive with dwindling resources and the uncertainty of rescue.
This was a quiet, heart-warming read that had me really rooting for their love (and them) to survive.
This was a quiet, heart-warming read that had me really rooting for their love (and them) to survive.
I really enjoyed and highly recommend this unique story! It's about survivors of a plane crash on an island. How they survive and what their life looks like on the island was interesting. But what I enjoyed most about this book was how chapters would randomly focus more on a backstory - of the survivors or of the island. I had to get the physical book from the library (vs. my usual e-book) and liked it so much I immediately gave it to my mom to read before returning it!
The book was HIGHLY recommended by a trusted source, so I went in with pretty lofty expectations. It totally met, and in ways exceeded them! I fell in love with the characters, in the same way I did the Guernsey characters. I loved them hard and wanted to be where they were. It will be one that I read over again.
This book. THIS BOOK. I really loved it. It's about Barry and Sophie, an American ex-bonds salesman from Cleveland with dreams of being a painter and a French architect on her honeymoon, who are the two survivors of a plane crash on their trip to a Polynesia. They end up stranded on a small island in the South Pacific and have to learn to survive. As the only two inhabitants of the island besides a menacing octopus they’ve dubbed Balthazar and some birds, Barry and Sophie must learn to work together if they want to live long enough to maybe someday make it home.
I saw a few reviews of this book where people said they were unsure how the felt about it until they got pretty far in the story. That was not how I felt at all. I enjoyed the writing the entire time. The omniscient narration was witty and quirky. That aspect reminded me of John Boyne in The Heart’s Invisible Furies, which I just recently finished, only this book is about a third of the length. I also loved that in this book, the author incorporated both playful foreshadowing a chapter or few paragraphs ahead of time in places along with longer glimpses into another time or life scattered throughout the book.
Another thing I really appreciated was that Barry is extremely nearsighted and has to make three pairs of contacts last, well, maybe forever? Or until he is rescued. As a nearsighted contact-wearer, I’ve semi-often wondered how I would fare in a zombie apocalypse or desert island situation if I didn’t have a spare pair. I also appreciated the realistic challenges Barry and Sophie faced, like having no access to modern medicine or a well balanced diet, weather issues, and lack of survival skills due to being normal people.
Yet another aspect of this book that I really liked were the parts that provided short bits of character development for people who were involved or reasons for why the situation unfolded the way it did, like why the pilot flew off course, who the only other two people on earth were who knew about the island (and why that meant Sophie and Barry were very much in a pickle), and why the island was populated with banana trees. As unbelievable as you would think survival on a desert island is, the author made it more reasonable by including these details.
And finally, the plot. Sophie and Barry, the island, two strangers forced to live and learn together… I don’t want to say too much here, as the gist is “stuck on a desert island and trying to survive”, but their relationship and experience on the island is a delight to read about.
The bits of humor and smart writing mixed with a captivating plot, well developed likable characters, and attention to detail really brought everything together into a five star read for me. It’s a shame that I hadn’t heard of this book until bookstagram brought it to my attention. Also, this was the only copy at Powell’s - why?! More people need to hear about this book. It’s deserving of love and attention and praise. Highly recommend!
I saw a few reviews of this book where people said they were unsure how the felt about it until they got pretty far in the story. That was not how I felt at all. I enjoyed the writing the entire time. The omniscient narration was witty and quirky. That aspect reminded me of John Boyne in The Heart’s Invisible Furies, which I just recently finished, only this book is about a third of the length. I also loved that in this book, the author incorporated both playful foreshadowing a chapter or few paragraphs ahead of time in places along with longer glimpses into another time or life scattered throughout the book.
Another thing I really appreciated was that Barry is extremely nearsighted and has to make three pairs of contacts last, well, maybe forever? Or until he is rescued. As a nearsighted contact-wearer, I’ve semi-often wondered how I would fare in a zombie apocalypse or desert island situation if I didn’t have a spare pair. I also appreciated the realistic challenges Barry and Sophie faced, like having no access to modern medicine or a well balanced diet, weather issues, and lack of survival skills due to being normal people.
Yet another aspect of this book that I really liked were the parts that provided short bits of character development for people who were involved or reasons for why the situation unfolded the way it did, like why the pilot flew off course, who the only other two people on earth were who knew about the island (and why that meant Sophie and Barry were very much in a pickle), and why the island was populated with banana trees. As unbelievable as you would think survival on a desert island is, the author made it more reasonable by including these details.
And finally, the plot. Sophie and Barry, the island, two strangers forced to live and learn together… I don’t want to say too much here, as the gist is “stuck on a desert island and trying to survive”, but their relationship and experience on the island is a delight to read about.
The bits of humor and smart writing mixed with a captivating plot, well developed likable characters, and attention to detail really brought everything together into a five star read for me. It’s a shame that I hadn’t heard of this book until bookstagram brought it to my attention. Also, this was the only copy at Powell’s - why?! More people need to hear about this book. It’s deserving of love and attention and praise. Highly recommend!
Phenomenal book. If you want to feel all the feelings you must read this book!