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A review by aliciagriggs
The Island by Victoria Hislop
5.0
This is an exceptional book, which though I completed a few days ago, still remains in my thoughts each day.
It tells of a woman looking to understand her heritage better, so goes on a journey to Crete to see what she can uncover.
What she discovers is a heritage of love, loss, heartbreak and leprosy.
This book did an amazing job at educating me on leprosy, as it is a subject I knew next to nothing about. However, the heart-rending portrayal of this disease led me to research it more (I feel most readers would, to try and understand it better) and it left me with a profound feeling of gratitude that I live in a time, in a country, where leprosy isn't a thing, and if it was to enter my sphere then it could be cured.
The stigma and fear created by this disease was illustrated throughout the book, as characters who endured leprosy were banished to an island, forbidden to return.
We read of the heartbreak and fear that came when the first strange patch of skin was noticed, to the telling it to loved ones, to having to leave all you love to live with other lepers...all this I read and found myself trying to put myself in the character's position. It made me very emotional, thinking of the physical, mental and emotional pain they would have gone through, because, although this is a fictional book, the place and circumstances are very real, and some people had to (and in some places still have to) go through this.
What really shook me up though was people's ability to be so cruel and heartless. There is stigma and coldness towards lepers throughout, bred by fear, and it made me so sad, to think we can forget the human behind the disease.
However , though this book does focus on leprosy and the tragedy this brings to people, it equally focuses on the ability people have to make the best of a terrible situation, of humanity at its best, of kindness and, above all, love.
This book produced a rollercoaster of emotions and I think it is a book that will remain with me for a while. I highly recommend.
It tells of a woman looking to understand her heritage better, so goes on a journey to Crete to see what she can uncover.
What she discovers is a heritage of love, loss, heartbreak and leprosy.
This book did an amazing job at educating me on leprosy, as it is a subject I knew next to nothing about. However, the heart-rending portrayal of this disease led me to research it more (I feel most readers would, to try and understand it better) and it left me with a profound feeling of gratitude that I live in a time, in a country, where leprosy isn't a thing, and if it was to enter my sphere then it could be cured.
The stigma and fear created by this disease was illustrated throughout the book, as characters who endured leprosy were banished to an island, forbidden to return.
We read of the heartbreak and fear that came when the first strange patch of skin was noticed, to the telling it to loved ones, to having to leave all you love to live with other lepers...all this I read and found myself trying to put myself in the character's position. It made me very emotional, thinking of the physical, mental and emotional pain they would have gone through, because, although this is a fictional book, the place and circumstances are very real, and some people had to (and in some places still have to) go through this.
What really shook me up though was people's ability to be so cruel and heartless. There is stigma and coldness towards lepers throughout, bred by fear, and it made me so sad, to think we can forget the human behind the disease.
However , though this book does focus on leprosy and the tragedy this brings to people, it equally focuses on the ability people have to make the best of a terrible situation, of humanity at its best, of kindness and, above all, love.
This book produced a rollercoaster of emotions and I think it is a book that will remain with me for a while. I highly recommend.