Scan barcode
staghunters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Honeys, Larks, and other residence of the island are a wild but loving bunch. A close-knit group that wants the best for each other through their simple ways. The book doesn't say this way of life is inherently better, but the people are happy enough despite the hardship they face in their daily life in the environment they have chosen as their home.
Ethan Honey's section clings as a tragedy that happens all too often in other historical novels or romances, yet here meets the end it has because of the exact time and place it is set in. The glimpses at a future exhibition give hope. But that is all that Apple Island leaves behind, save for small shards hidden deep in the dirt.
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Ableism
mahtzahgay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
seventhswan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don't know how to describe how affecting this story was, or how well-written. It doesn't rely on graphic descriptions of any of the horrors that befall the inhabitants of Apple Island, but the way they are alluded to and couched in figurative language is somehow worse. I can't not recommend this book, but it isn't one I expect to want to return to for a very long time.
Audrey Magee's The Colony on steroids, or perhaps tranquillisers.
Graphic: Ableism, Incest, and Racism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Rape, and Violence
lottie1803's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation
bessadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Rape, and Forced institutionalization
soswiin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Incest and Rape
thewickermage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Murder
kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
deedireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The book is a fully fictional story featuring fictional characters from a real place with a real history: Malaga Island off the coast of Maine, home of a mixed-race community that was evicted and partially institutionalized by the government. There are a lot of characters for a book, but not very many to serve as the sum total of all the island’s inhabitants; still, it’s easy to keep track of them (a testament to Harding’s skill) and even easier to love them.
My main complaint about this book was that it isn’t very researched at all; in an interview, Harding said that he heard about Malaga Island, got inspired, and then essentially stopped researching it (not even visiting), because he didn’t feel like those real people’s story was his to tell. That feels like a cop out to me.
Still, Harding succeeds in much of what he set out to do, at least: paint a devastating picture of eugenics, raise questions about the concept of paradise, and make his readers feel something deeply.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Incest, and Racism
Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Forced institutionalization
rei_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Incest, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Animal death