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A review by starness
Nine Island by Jane Alison
4.0
“I’m not old yet, but my heart is sick with old desire,”
I'm hovering between a 3 and 4 star but I'll bump it up to a 4 due to its originality, this is narrative poetry, the words glide on the page and before you know it you've been swept up in it's lyrical beauty. Rich evocative descriptions that are also short, tight and snappy every sentence a treasure trove of gold. Introspective thoughtful observant nuggets. I could list so many sentences that sang to me and made my heart revel in this delightful internal monologue, a woman questioning her worth as an older redundant? woman. Her descriptions of her little slice of Miami make this book visually alive. Her descriptions of her surroundings are my favourite part as the plot is meandering more observations than anything, with the theme of loneliness, aging and her imaginations of fantasy, reminiscing of lost youth and sexual vigour.
She's obviously inspired heavily by Ovid as a lot of references are littered throughout and gives it a strong literary style, it's not an easy read and it's not a book that can be read with distractions. It's a book that warrants your undivided attention as there is so much there to absorb. Some passages I had to reread as it's not the style I'm accustomed to after awhile though I got a little fatigued with the narrative style and looked forward to reading a straight novel again, so I'm guessing this is a book that requires a certain type of reader who likes their books slightly off centre that's easy to read but demands some concentration.
I'm hovering between a 3 and 4 star but I'll bump it up to a 4 due to its originality, this is narrative poetry, the words glide on the page and before you know it you've been swept up in it's lyrical beauty. Rich evocative descriptions that are also short, tight and snappy every sentence a treasure trove of gold. Introspective thoughtful observant nuggets. I could list so many sentences that sang to me and made my heart revel in this delightful internal monologue, a woman questioning her worth as an older redundant? woman. Her descriptions of her little slice of Miami make this book visually alive. Her descriptions of her surroundings are my favourite part as the plot is meandering more observations than anything, with the theme of loneliness, aging and her imaginations of fantasy, reminiscing of lost youth and sexual vigour.
She's obviously inspired heavily by Ovid as a lot of references are littered throughout and gives it a strong literary style, it's not an easy read and it's not a book that can be read with distractions. It's a book that warrants your undivided attention as there is so much there to absorb. Some passages I had to reread as it's not the style I'm accustomed to after awhile though I got a little fatigued with the narrative style and looked forward to reading a straight novel again, so I'm guessing this is a book that requires a certain type of reader who likes their books slightly off centre that's easy to read but demands some concentration.