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A review by wanderingbean
Island Time by Georgia Clark
2.0
Island time is very different from Georgia Clark's other books and is a bit mismarketed. The cover and breezy description make it seem like a fun rom-com, when really it's a story of a bunch of awful people trapped on an island together for six week (think HBO's White Lotus).
The main character (Amelia) is so profoundly unlikable. She finds herself on the island with her family waiting for her boyfriend who seems like he might propose at any minute to show up. When a natural disaster happens, the boyfriend cannot come and Amelia learns there's more to her perfect boyfriend than she ever imagined. In the wake of their break up she throws herself at the island's caretaker (Lisse), sure that they are meant to be together forever. Amelia's behavior is unhinged throughout the book. She's meant to be lovable and trusting but so many of her actions come across as creepy (proposing after a few days, begging to have babies, etc.).
The more alarming aspect to me was the treatment of the indigenous character. I think there should be an agreement among white writers and editors that they need people from indigenous culture to read the book before it hits the market. There's all this stereotypical description of the one indigenous character that verges on a fetish. Jarrah has "burnished skin", he smells "earthy", he's associated with mysticism and tells the other characters folk tales from his culture 'round the camp fire. Even his back story is the stereotypical backstory everyone has heard a million times. It's really disappointing to see writers still treating indigenous characters in such a flat way.
The real heroes of the book are Glen, Randall and Lisse. The rest of the characters were just so darn unlikable.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
The main character (Amelia) is so profoundly unlikable. She finds herself on the island with her family waiting for her boyfriend who seems like he might propose at any minute to show up. When a natural disaster happens, the boyfriend cannot come and Amelia learns there's more to her perfect boyfriend than she ever imagined. In the wake of their break up she throws herself at the island's caretaker (Lisse), sure that they are meant to be together forever. Amelia's behavior is unhinged throughout the book. She's meant to be lovable and trusting but so many of her actions come across as creepy (proposing after a few days, begging to have babies, etc.).
The more alarming aspect to me was the treatment of the indigenous character. I think there should be an agreement among white writers and editors that they need people from indigenous culture to read the book before it hits the market. There's all this stereotypical description of the one indigenous character that verges on a fetish. Jarrah has "burnished skin", he smells "earthy", he's associated with mysticism and tells the other characters folk tales from his culture 'round the camp fire. Even his back story is the stereotypical backstory everyone has heard a million times. It's really disappointing to see writers still treating indigenous characters in such a flat way.
The real heroes of the book are Glen, Randall and Lisse. The rest of the characters were just so darn unlikable.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.