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A review by salicat
The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
4.0
What if society as we knew it ended through a series of natural disasters? And a woman (who resembles the classic cookie-baking grandmother) rose up to organize those left in the wake of a ruined world and created a new order? One where the skies and earth are regulated so that bad weather and catastrophe is nonexistent? Where there is no such thing as disorder?
This is the world the author creates for Honor Greenspoon- ten years old when the book starts, fourteen when it ends. We don't know the precise year Honor occupies, it could be anywhere from 2050 to 4000. But the continents have practically dissolved because of a worldwide flood- the inhabitable spaces left are patches of land that stood the storm and flood tests. They're now called islands. The grandmother-lady, who everyone calls Earth Mother, keeps the islands, and everything else, numbered.
But like any paradise of fiction, all is not what it seems. Underneath the Earth Mother's rules and climate regulations is a sinister plan, which Honor, to her horror, realizes can mean the end of her life as she knows it.
The author has mastered most of the elements of story they teach you in creative writing classes: description, plot, pace, etc. Character...not as much. I found that Honor's parents and friends were a little wispy for me. Still, for anyone wanting to write, this book can provide a great model on how to write a well-crafted, thoughtful, page-turner.
Of course, I wondered if the new world was predominantly white- the only reference made to the existence of people of color were some 'tanned girls with smooth black hair.' I don't think this was intentional- I don't know the author's background, but I think the general tendency with writers is to reflect the backgrounds they know in their writing. And if most writers grow up around and befriend only people of their own races, well, there you go. But to get back to the story...
I think Goodman was probably influenced by Brave New World and 1984- in a lot of ways, it seems as if she decided to just merge those two plots. In addition to deriving from Twilight Zone and sci-fi movies. For an adult reader, this might take down its originality grade a notch, but of course a child reader won't care about such things. The best thing is, the book will make the reader, regardless of age, think about larger issues like environmental hazards, authority, politics, etc. And that's always a feat in itself.
This is the world the author creates for Honor Greenspoon- ten years old when the book starts, fourteen when it ends. We don't know the precise year Honor occupies, it could be anywhere from 2050 to 4000. But the continents have practically dissolved because of a worldwide flood- the inhabitable spaces left are patches of land that stood the storm and flood tests. They're now called islands. The grandmother-lady, who everyone calls Earth Mother, keeps the islands, and everything else, numbered.
But like any paradise of fiction, all is not what it seems. Underneath the Earth Mother's rules and climate regulations is a sinister plan, which Honor, to her horror, realizes can mean the end of her life as she knows it.
The author has mastered most of the elements of story they teach you in creative writing classes: description, plot, pace, etc. Character...not as much. I found that Honor's parents and friends were a little wispy for me. Still, for anyone wanting to write, this book can provide a great model on how to write a well-crafted, thoughtful, page-turner.
Of course, I wondered if the new world was predominantly white- the only reference made to the existence of people of color were some 'tanned girls with smooth black hair.' I don't think this was intentional- I don't know the author's background, but I think the general tendency with writers is to reflect the backgrounds they know in their writing. And if most writers grow up around and befriend only people of their own races, well, there you go. But to get back to the story...
I think Goodman was probably influenced by Brave New World and 1984- in a lot of ways, it seems as if she decided to just merge those two plots. In addition to deriving from Twilight Zone and sci-fi movies. For an adult reader, this might take down its originality grade a notch, but of course a child reader won't care about such things. The best thing is, the book will make the reader, regardless of age, think about larger issues like environmental hazards, authority, politics, etc. And that's always a feat in itself.