Reviews

The Island by Victoria Hislop

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_annamitchell_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

luminousnox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

lillistillinlondon's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gorgeous shifts in focus of characters that added to the natural rhythm of the story and the culture it captured. Strong themes of love and perseverance and strong willed characters.
The main story was told in retrospect, and I don’t think that much was added by framing it with the present family.
Overall really enjoyed it, got through it super quickly and felt attached to the characters. Just wanted the present framing to be woven in more rather than bookended at the beginning and end. Seemed almost a disservice to the story and values of the middle.

vaylinn_levore's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Parts of this book I absolutely loved, the parts on Spinalonga were really interesting and similarly life in Crete during WW2.
The rest was middling at best and annoying at worst
. HATED. Maria, she was almost cartoonish in that there was nothing likeable or redeemable about her, even as a child. I so badly wanted to see her get her comeuppance but her storyline was so completely unsatisfying

like yeah she dies so she pays for it but she was laughing like a comic book villain and not paying attention so didn’t even see it coming. I didn’t want her to die, I wanted her to get kicked out and lose all the money she loved so dearly but no she gets a fate that was too much for her crime which takes away any pleasure in it

I also really didn’t like the Sophia mystery storyline. Sophia also wasn’t really likeable but it still would have been better if the story was just her finding out her parents story. The plot following Alex finding out about it is a step too removed from it and the secrecy with which Sophia had treated her families past and going to extremes to hide it when it wasn’t related to anything she had done seemed over the top. I understand Sophia not reacting well to finding out her family history especially it being dropped on her the way it did. But never getting over it was so stupid, there was nothing for her to be so ashamed of like her daughter tells her at the end.
Also the tiny plot line with Alex’s boyfriend was unnecessary and he like Maria was a two dimensional cartoon villain like what was the need to have him in the book? the At least he was only briefly there at the start and the end of the book unlike Maria who had too much page time. Did I mention that I really hated Maria?

gabytriess's review against another edition

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2.0

I liked learning about the leper colony Spinalonga and I enjoyed the main story to some extend but I thought the characters were flat and unrealistic. One sister an absolute saint, the other one portrayed as a complete a*hole. No character development really.
A lot of outdated thinking about sex (Maria being celebrated for being a virgin) and a ridiculous amount of victim blaming (It was Anna’s fault she got killed because she cheated on her husband). I know it’s set many decades ago and supposed to reflect how people thought at the time but it still didn’t feel right.
The frame story was pretty poor too and it really bothered me that the author had the elderly Greek lady Fotini who I’m sure doesn’t speak very good English retell Alexia’s life story (and Alexis doesn’t speak a lot of Greek) so not sure how that would have been possible!

ejthomas's review against another edition

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2.0

I selected this book from the in-house bookshelf while on holiday as it seemed one of the lesser of the dreary modern fictional reads.
It was vaguely entertaining but it seemed inadequate after reading a classically elegant book beforehand. Admittedly, generic modern fiction is not to my liking anyway so I doubt it would ever score highly with me but I found the ending predictable, unrealistic and abrupt. Daughter gives mother a very obvious differing perspective of her family history... Oh please!