Reviews - Gull Island | The StoryGraph

67 reviews for:

Gull Island

Anna Porter

2.28 AVERAGE

weirdow's review

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The writing was okay. The entire plot and ending was based around an unreliable narrator, which felt like an excuse for an inconsistent/poorly developed plot.

elfgram's review

3.0

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was interesting for me.

I could see the bones of the book and where it wanted to go, but it didn't execute as smoothly as it could of.

We follow one single character moving back and forth between the current day and her memories, and there's a few "mysteries" going on. Our lead, Jude, is trying to find out some important information about herself and her family, and comes across some interesting discoveries. We learn a lot about her family dynamic and how the family is not the "perfect" family.

There's lots of unresolved drama in the family, which is the most interesting part.

I think this book could have gotten a little more out of the author to make it really hit well. It's a bit too slow for me, and the ending just happens and I'm not even sure if it tied up the loose ends to make it feel like a rewarding read.

So I'm in between how I feel about it. I see a lot of potential and want to read more by Anna Porter, but I can also say this book wasn't for me and it was difficult to get through.

Bonus points for being set in Ontario.

Two out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

junkyardpink's review

DNF 17 pages in. I think this is the quickest I’ve ever given up on a book that I already own. With only those 17 pages I could tell that it was just going to be depressing and nothing else. After reading the reviews I am so glad I didn’t torture myself with more.

Content Warnings

farrahroz's review

I got about half way before It was DNFd. Overall the plot is really hard to follow, it sounded less like a story and more like ramblings put into a book out of order. I picked it up because of the mystery/thriller aspect it seemed to be. As I read, however, I kept trying to reach for that aspect I was promised but it never came the way I thought. Which lead to hate reading this book. For anyone wondering if this is a book worth reading, go ahead if that’s what you want but I personally do not recommend this book at all.

Content Warnings