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A review by sidneyellwood
A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor
4.0
Tales of survival never fail to be fascinating to me, and this was no exception. A Map for Wrecked Girls explores the relationship of two sisters through a shipwreck, flashing back to their life beforehand and what led up to a split between the girls. I really loved the exploration of sisterhood and femininity. Taylor makes girlhood into this sharp, dangerous, thing, and I adored reading about it.
The two main characters, Emma and Henri, were great to read about--fully fleshed out teenage girls that had secrets and communication issues and fears that were irrational but made sense in the context of the story. While the book could have done without the romance, I found I didn’t mind it too much and Alex was an interesting character as well, and it was so fascinating to watch the dynamic between the three main characters grow and see how much they all came to rely on each other while keeping secrets as well. I liked the flashback sequences too--the book alternates--and though I didn’t find them quite as interesting as the scenes on the island they provided really good context for the relationship of the sisters back home and how they fell apart.
One thing I have to say is that it does seem a tad unrealistic that they got to surviving for so long and knew how to do so many things (especially as Henri and Emma in their flashbacks were fully immersed in a completely metropolitan life - heck, a brief mention of watching reality TV would have sufficed), but I can suspend my disbelief, since the main focus was on the characters and the two sisters. This was a character exploration as much as it was a survival story, and I think it succeeded fairly well in both aspects.
This review and more can be found on my blog!
The two main characters, Emma and Henri, were great to read about--fully fleshed out teenage girls that had secrets and communication issues and fears that were irrational but made sense in the context of the story. While the book could have done without the romance, I found I didn’t mind it too much and Alex was an interesting character as well, and it was so fascinating to watch the dynamic between the three main characters grow and see how much they all came to rely on each other while keeping secrets as well. I liked the flashback sequences too--the book alternates--and though I didn’t find them quite as interesting as the scenes on the island they provided really good context for the relationship of the sisters back home and how they fell apart.
One thing I have to say is that it does seem a tad unrealistic that they got to surviving for so long and knew how to do so many things (especially as Henri and Emma in their flashbacks were fully immersed in a completely metropolitan life - heck, a brief mention of watching reality TV would have sufficed), but I can suspend my disbelief, since the main focus was on the characters and the two sisters. This was a character exploration as much as it was a survival story, and I think it succeeded fairly well in both aspects.
This review and more can be found on my blog!