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A review by kukkanaattori
The Island by M.A. Bennett
2.0
(This review is full of spoilers. I am angry)
I can’t believe M. A. Bennett wrote this book. Bennett, whose book STAGS delivered such a killer plot twist in the final chapter that I flung the book across the room and stormed angrily to yell at a parent. STAGS, a book that I wrote about in such length in a university paper that the marker was ‘concerned’.
The Island is a misogynistic, slow paced, tiring book that disappointed me. It took me about three weeks to read it, and I only ended up finishing it because I was waiting at a bus stop after work for an hour. The plot is so drawn out that I started to skip pages, and the characters are so disgusting.
Link, the main character, is an awful greedy boy, who thinks that being a nerd makes him oppressed. Oh no, girls don’t fancy him! He reads books! He plays video games! He is every entitled male fan that you hide from at a comic convention. His actions are so gross, making women dress in a slutty skirt for him, starving them, mocking people for their beliefs.
The other characters are stereotypes. While STAGS was so clever with its clichés, The Island is basic and tries to play it off as unique. There is the Asian forced to play an instrument, the closeted gay kid in love with the jock (who never comes out at the end), the drug dealer, the pretty sporty girl who dates the jock, and the jock himself, who is a vile bully. There is also Flora, the emo girl, who is a boring manic pixie dream girl.
This book goes on FOREVER. 40% through the story and we’re still going through the backstory of Link. Just tell the story in chronological order! That’s what made STAGS fun! Stop switching back and forth between the interesting past and the incredibly mundane present. I don’t want to read about Link going for a wander when I could read about disgusting private schools!
Also, the ending. Oh god, the ending. Everything is literally spelt out to us in minute detail, right down to names. I know what just happened Bennett. I read the fucking book. I KNOW WHAT I READ GOD DAMMIT.
And then. And then. AN EPILOGUE WHERE LINK IS PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES WHO MARRIED FLORA. FLORA WHO IS THE FIRST TATTOOED FIRST LADY. HOLY SHIT. I’M GOING TO SHOVE MY KINDLE DOWN MY THROAT AND CHOKE ON IT.
Also, desert island disks isn’t even that good. Suck it bitches.
(Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.)
I can’t believe M. A. Bennett wrote this book. Bennett, whose book STAGS delivered such a killer plot twist in the final chapter that I flung the book across the room and stormed angrily to yell at a parent. STAGS, a book that I wrote about in such length in a university paper that the marker was ‘concerned’.
The Island is a misogynistic, slow paced, tiring book that disappointed me. It took me about three weeks to read it, and I only ended up finishing it because I was waiting at a bus stop after work for an hour. The plot is so drawn out that I started to skip pages, and the characters are so disgusting.
Link, the main character, is an awful greedy boy, who thinks that being a nerd makes him oppressed. Oh no, girls don’t fancy him! He reads books! He plays video games! He is every entitled male fan that you hide from at a comic convention. His actions are so gross, making women dress in a slutty skirt for him, starving them, mocking people for their beliefs.
The other characters are stereotypes. While STAGS was so clever with its clichés, The Island is basic and tries to play it off as unique. There is the Asian forced to play an instrument, the closeted gay kid in love with the jock (who never comes out at the end), the drug dealer, the pretty sporty girl who dates the jock, and the jock himself, who is a vile bully. There is also Flora, the emo girl, who is a boring manic pixie dream girl.
This book goes on FOREVER. 40% through the story and we’re still going through the backstory of Link. Just tell the story in chronological order! That’s what made STAGS fun! Stop switching back and forth between the interesting past and the incredibly mundane present. I don’t want to read about Link going for a wander when I could read about disgusting private schools!
Also, the ending. Oh god, the ending. Everything is literally spelt out to us in minute detail, right down to names. I know what just happened Bennett. I read the fucking book. I KNOW WHAT I READ GOD DAMMIT.
And then. And then. AN EPILOGUE WHERE LINK IS PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES WHO MARRIED FLORA. FLORA WHO IS THE FIRST TATTOOED FIRST LADY. HOLY SHIT. I’M GOING TO SHOVE MY KINDLE DOWN MY THROAT AND CHOKE ON IT.
Also, desert island disks isn’t even that good. Suck it bitches.
(Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.)