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A review by gabytriess
The Island by Victoria Hislop
2.0
I liked learning about the leper colony Spinalonga and I enjoyed the main story to some extend but I thought the characters were flat and unrealistic. One sister an absolute saint, the other one portrayed as a complete a*hole. No character development really.
A lot of outdated thinking about sex (Maria being celebrated for being a virgin) and a ridiculous amount of victim blaming (It was Anna’s fault she got killed because she cheated on her husband). I know it’s set many decades ago and supposed to reflect how people thought at the time but it still didn’t feel right.
The frame story was pretty poor too and it really bothered me that the author had the elderly Greek lady Fotini who I’m sure doesn’t speak very good English retell Alexia’s life story (and Alexis doesn’t speak a lot of Greek) so not sure how that would have been possible!
A lot of outdated thinking about sex (Maria being celebrated for being a virgin) and a ridiculous amount of victim blaming (It was Anna’s fault she got killed because she cheated on her husband). I know it’s set many decades ago and supposed to reflect how people thought at the time but it still didn’t feel right.
The frame story was pretty poor too and it really bothered me that the author had the elderly Greek lady Fotini who I’m sure doesn’t speak very good English retell Alexia’s life story (and Alexis doesn’t speak a lot of Greek) so not sure how that would have been possible!