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jouljet's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Ableism, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Violence
kirstym25's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty
mmccombs's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
An interesting story and beautiful writing, but it didn’t really do much for me. I think part of the issue is that I just finished last year’s Booker prize island book, The Colony, right before this one, and the former is simply so much stronger. I found myself (perhaps unfairly) comparing the two, and I didn’t think This Other Eden had anything new to say, lacking the finesse and layered nuance I loved in The Colony. Maybe this book could have been structured differently? I enjoyed the paragraphs where we’d explore “an artifact” or piece of art with 50-100 years distance from the action of the novels, I feel like the author could have used that more. I leave this feeling underwhelmed, I understand why this made it onto the Booker longlist but don’t think it has that “edge” or groundbreaking vision that most nominated books have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Incest, and Racism
Minor: Animal death
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This Other Eden tells the story of a community on Apple Island and its eventual destruction. It is inspired by actual events. In 1792 a formerly enslaved man and his Irish born wife set up home on a small island just off the coast of Maine, and begin to establish an apple orchard. Over a hundred years later their descendants remain, along with some newer arrivals, ekeing out a subsistence living. They are poor but seemingly happy. Eventually their community attracts attention from the mainland, initially a well-meaning missionary with a white saviour complex. Racism combines with the eugenics movement and self-interest, and the state evicts the residents from the island committing some of them to insane asylums.
I expected to like this book a lot more than I did. The author focuses on the community as a whole so we meet a lot of characters, but don’t necessarily spend much time with any of them. This and the fact that the story is told from a third-person perspective meant I didn’t form an emotional connection with any of the characters, and I missed that. The book is structured in three parts. The first part is the story of the island and its inhabitants. Next we follow Ethan, a young boy who can pass for white and has a talent for art, who has been selected for an opportunity on the mainland. Then we return to the island to witness the destruction of the community. I felt Ethan’s section wasn’t well integrated. I would have loved to have seen more of Ethan and to have heard from him directly. And then there is the lack of resolution. Since Harding is focussed on the community once it is disestablished the novel essentially ends. But I was craving more and would have loved to know what happened to at least some of the residents, to have followed them on their post-island life.
I did like the fact that this novel shines a light on a little known event in American history. I appreciated the empathetic way the characters and their lives were sketched. I also liked the balance. Harding highlighted the wrongness of eugenics and of the state’s actions but didn’t neglect problematic aspects of life on Apple Island, such as incest and its impacts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Ableism and Incest
tarajoy90's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
haileyspencer's review against another edition
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Animal cruelty
Minor: Incest
carrieclothwright's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A tragic story told with resonant echoing prose.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Deportation, Incest, Rape, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Racism
cassandrahcooke's review
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I was fortunate to receive an audiobook ARC on NetGalley for this novel.
This book was atmospheric in its contents, creating the world using heavily descriptive sentences. While reading the first half of the novel, the descriptive devices truly made you feel the oppression of poverty faces with the main characters and the families residing on the island. We learn later throughout the novel what it means to not be "purely white" and the way they viewed, despite the islanders residing on Apple Island for multiple generations while somehow surviving tragedy, storms, starvation, and lack of supplies.
What made this novel stand out was the journaled references to art and documents to that time prior to relocation of settlers, and how these references hardly captured the truth behind their stories.
Although the story and characters are fictional, the events that take place are non fictional, so this provides insight to lives and experiences through a new lens.
This was a slower read, not so heavily plot-based or character driven, but more so written to experience what life could have been like for the families living on Apple Island. The descriptiveness both helped and hindered the novel at times, making a certain scene feel drawn out, but overall set the tone of the environment
This book was atmospheric in its contents, creating the world using heavily descriptive sentences. While reading the first half of the novel, the descriptive devices truly made you feel the oppression of poverty faces with the main characters and the families residing on the island. We learn later throughout the novel what it means to not be "purely white" and the way they viewed, despite the islanders residing on Apple Island for multiple generations while somehow surviving tragedy, storms, starvation, and lack of supplies.
What made this novel stand out was the journaled references to art and documents to that time prior to relocation of settlers, and how these references hardly captured the truth behind their stories.
Although the story and characters are fictional, the events that take place are non fictional, so this provides insight to lives and experiences through a new lens.
This was a slower read, not so heavily plot-based or character driven, but more so written to experience what life could have been like for the families living on Apple Island. The descriptiveness both helped and hindered the novel at times, making a certain scene feel drawn out, but overall set the tone of the environment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Incest
definitelynotreading's review
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It is difficult to know what to say about this one. The lyrical, beautiful writing tells a heartbreaking story that leaves the reader wrestling with important topics. Harding has taken the true story of Malaga Island and given us an imagining of what could be it's history. He has developed a diverse cast of characters and portrayed an honest and difficult picture of what life might have looked like on that island. The story of Apple Island is a story of family, freedom and the tragedies that occur when an outsider believes they know better what life should look like. My thoughts are not as coherent as I would like them to be, so I may return to edit this review once I sort them out a bit.
The story of Apple Island begins in 1792 with Benjamin and Patience Honey. A century later, 6 generations of Honeys have been born on the island and the islanders are content to live and survive the way they have for the last 100 years. Harding does not shy away from the realities of poverty in this era - describing the lice and bedbugs, the extreme weather, and the inbreeding in appropriate detail. He also does not shy away from the realities of the injustice done to these people or the prejudice shown by even the supposedly "upright" and "well meaning".
The juxtaposition of the poverty of the islanders and affluence and education of Matthew Diamond forces the reader the question the meaning of charity and to examine acts of supposed charity, especially those with disastrous outcomes, even if those involved were as well intended as they claimed. I wanted to fight with and for these people. I wanted them to have their home and be accepted without having to change. I also found myself wanting to offer them some of the same aid offered by others in the story and thinking in the back of my head that I could've found a way to help with a better outcome, which is an instinct I think the author intends for readers to question.
I kept expecting someone to be an exception to the atrocious racism described in this story. No one ever was. I expected some sort of heartwarming moment of acceptance from a white character, it never came. It's heartbreaking to realize this was the reality for so many lives. It broke my heart to experience, from Bridget's POV, her realization that Ethan was "colored". I wanted so desperately for it not to matter to her, and by the end, maybe it didn't, but not soon enough.
This is a story I will ponder for a long time to come.
The audiobook was well narrated and a fascinating listen, I do wish that there was a way to view the images included in the story as there seemed to be photo descriptions.
Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded books for the advanced listener copy.
The story of Apple Island begins in 1792 with Benjamin and Patience Honey. A century later, 6 generations of Honeys have been born on the island and the islanders are content to live and survive the way they have for the last 100 years. Harding does not shy away from the realities of poverty in this era - describing the lice and bedbugs, the extreme weather, and the inbreeding in appropriate detail. He also does not shy away from the realities of the injustice done to these people or the prejudice shown by even the supposedly "upright" and "well meaning".
The juxtaposition of the poverty of the islanders and affluence and education of Matthew Diamond forces the reader the question the meaning of charity and to examine acts of supposed charity, especially those with disastrous outcomes, even if those involved were as well intended as they claimed. I wanted to fight with and for these people. I wanted them to have their home and be accepted without having to change. I also found myself wanting to offer them some of the same aid offered by others in the story and thinking in the back of my head that I could've found a way to help with a better outcome, which is an instinct I think the author intends for readers to question.
I kept expecting someone to be an exception to the atrocious racism described in this story. No one ever was. I expected some sort of heartwarming moment of acceptance from a white character, it never came. It's heartbreaking to realize this was the reality for so many lives. It broke my heart to experience, from Bridget's POV, her realization that Ethan was "colored". I wanted so desperately for it not to matter to her, and by the end, maybe it didn't, but not soon enough.
This is a story I will ponder for a long time to come.
The audiobook was well narrated and a fascinating listen, I do wish that there was a way to view the images included in the story as there seemed to be photo descriptions.
Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded books for the advanced listener copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
gretel7's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-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? N/A
2.5
I received this from Netgalley.com.
Dense with historical data, and "inspired by the true story of the once racially integrated Malaga Island off the coast of Maine.
Such a conundrum because it was the characters that made the history. Although I found the history interesting, I was never truly vested in the characters.
Dense with historical data, and "inspired by the true story of the once racially integrated Malaga Island off the coast of Maine.
Such a conundrum because it was the characters that made the history. Although I found the history interesting, I was never truly vested in the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
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