Customer Reviews

The Other Side of the Island

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since Honor moved to Island 365 with her parents from the wild Northern Islands, she's been noticing that her parents don't quite fit in. Island life is peaceful and orderly since Earth Mother enclosed what land was still inhabitable after catastrophic weather terrorized the Earth. But her parents don't worship Earth Mother like everyone else does, and they don't follow the rules. And that scares Honor, because she learns that those who are unpredictable disappear - and they don't come back.

I really liked the premise of this dystopia because the societal ills stem not from your usual far right nightmares, but from a militant form of tree hugging. Not that I'm not all for preserving our environment, but this novel asks at what cost? And the answers are chilling.

Author Allegra Goodman spends a large part of the narrative on world creation and does it fantastically well. I loved how she took well known speeches from our world such as The Lord's Prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance and twisted them into Earth Mother propaganda. Even classic literature like the Wizard of Oz has been edited to fit Earth Mother's agenda of predictability. The resulting society is scary and powerful enough that its' agents are pretty much everyone - individual villains are quite beside the point.

Against this background Honor is realistically conflicted - she wants badly to fit in and for her parents to fit in, but she doesn't want them to be taken or harmed. When the inevitable happens though, Honor wakes from her Earth Mother induced coma and comes out kicking for an edge of your seat climax and resolution not to be missed.

I was completely impressed with Allegra Goodman's newest book, The Other Side of the Island. Great writing, great characters, excellent plot...what more could a teen (or adult like me) ask for?!

Honor lives in a dystopian world, years in the future. Her parents move the family to Island 365, one of only a few habitable lands left after The Flood. An ethereal figure by the name of Earth Mother and her new Corporation, lead the governmental system on Island 365 and control the New Weather system, meaning they create their own sun, moon, sky patterns, etc. There are very specific rules families must follow and for the most part, everyone on the island follows them perfectly, making for a pretty happy society.

Unfortunately, once Honor's family gets settled in, she learns her parents are Unpredictable. They do not like to follow the rules and violate laws constantly. They won't pray to the Earth Mother and do not believe in her principals. Due to their indiscretions, Honor does not fit in with all the other children at school and feels she will do anything to change her outcast status. She begins to be the model Island 365 citizen and contemplates reporting her parents for not following rules. After an unspeakable tragedy falls on Honor, her only friend, Helix, lets her in on a secret he discovered and Honor begins a quest to make things right in her new world.

Most of us bloggers have a small place in our hearts for books on dystopian societies and believe me, with this one, you will not be disappointed in the least. It's fast paced, the characters are realistic and likable, and by the end you will be cheering Honor on wholeheartedly! A very impressive work!

Plot: Honor, a young girl who has had a rather unorthodox and nomadic upbringing, moves with her parents, to a new home, where everything from their jobs to how many children they can have, is not under their control. In this dystopian society, many of the main elements will sound familiar. Books are censored or banned. There is a wide gap in wealth between classes. Both public and private behavior is strictly monitored by unseen forces. Adults, who do not conform, are at risk of disappearing unexpectedly, while their children are taken into custody. Climate is under the control of a mysterious deity called "Earth Mother" at least that's what the citizens are supposed to think. In reality, of course, things are more complicated and there is an underground rebellion brewing, of which Honor's parents turn out to be an integral part.

I found Honor and her family appealing, though I wish there had been more character development of the others. (One was so spunky, that I expected her to play a role in the rebellion, but she disappears after a chapter or two.) However, I couldn't help but want a more plausible explanation for why this future society was no longer "wired," or if it was, most people were not permitted to use TVs, phones, etc. And if this is true, how the heck do they communicate? How did the government manage to seize control of all the electronic gadgets that weren't around in 1984 but are very much a part of our lives today? In this century, I think that can't be sidestepped or dismissed. After all, books are just a small part of all the info that might need censoring.

*sigh* I SOOO wanted to like or love this book but I just do not, I felt more let down.
Fundamentally It has the right structure and bones to make it strong. But the whole written package just does not deliver any strength or even much of a punch at all. I would lable this Dystopian lite.

My first impression is that this is not a teen level book at all, I found everything about this story to be simple and easy. Too simple and easy to reccomend it for my YA adult dystopian friends or the true Teen fantasy fans I know. I am the mother of a 8 1\2 year old and a relunctant almost 11 year old reader, this falls right into both of their reading range. In fact I would say this is the perfect introduction to dystopian reads for my 8 1\2 year old.

There is no meat in this story, the emotion does not come across in the writing at all. Even when Honor is scared for her parents I do not feel it. You can not just write Honor was scared for her parents, and expect that to be enough to build an emotional connection. I found this entire book to be truely devoid of any emotional pull, making it come across more like reading a history textbook. Some characters are only mildly developed and do not lend themselves to feeling invested to thier lives or drawn to their story, the rest are robotic. And not robotic in a good way for a dystopian coldness and ambivilance. Robotic in how they were written and developed, or lack of being developed as real humans.

*
I also have mention that the whole Octopus story just does not work for me, it only comes across as a Gimmick and does not flow. First it gets lost during the first storm, then all of a sudden Honor is feeding it in the classroom aquarium (And it attaches itself to her?!?) with not mention of it being back.

I am also the mother to an almost 4 year old little boy, I found Quintillian to be so unrealisticly written in the 3 and 4 year old time frame that it was distracting. Even trying to pull myself back and say dystopian, different time and place, he did not feel like Will and Pamela's 3 and 4 year old. If he had been 5 or 6 it would have fit better IMO. But that is just my opinion.

With so many great dystopian reads out there today this one just does not measure up in the YA genre IMO. Fundamentally it has the right bones to build a great dystopian world, but we need so much more from it. We need more history, and not just the stucoco cold classroom lessons. The characters need to be stronger, more fleshed out, more developed, more relateable. I just feel that so much is vague about this book.

This is a terrific book, both thought provoking and fast paced at the same time. I know my 'tween daughter will enjoy it, too. I hope there will be a sequel.

Honor Greenspoon lives in a world where the polar ice caps have melted, destroying what we know as continents, leaving only islands dispersed across the earth. Earth Mother and the Corporation have numbered the Islands and moved all the survivors to ones deemed proper for colonization. At the age of ten, Honor and her parents are moved to Island 365 where she attends the Old Colony School. She doesn't fit in. All the other girls from year H have names from the list like Helena and Hester. Honor's H is silent. To make matters worse, she doesn't know as much about goegraphy, climatology, and New Weather as the other girls. When she has to recite, they all laugh at her. Honor's parents aren't helping. While everyone else dresses in plain, neutral colors, the Greenspoons wear colorful clothing, even black. And they are always staying out past curfew. When Honor's mother has a baby and doesn't give her second child back to the community, it's the last straw for Honor. At thirteen, when Honor's brother start's school, she decides she will do anything to fit in. She learns her recitations, studies all of Earth Mother's writings, and acts like the other girls who make fun of the orphans whose parents were Taken. But when an old friend is suddenly seen in orphan's overalls, Honor has to wonder what the fate of her nonconformist parents will be. How long will it be before she, too, is an orphan? And whose side will she choose if she is? The Other Side of the Island is a fresh take on conservationist dystopia, rife with plot twists and well-rounded characters. It is a science fiction that feels that it could be on the horizon, and a coming of age story that holds true in any generation. Compelling from page one, this is a novel that paints a terrifying, well-imagined portrait of the future and asks all the right questions.

This is a really good story - keeps moving and is thought provoking. Some details could have been flushed out, and the ending was sparse and felt rushed. I previewed this for my young teen and found nothing objectionable - no foul language or smut. For those especially particular, conditions in the story conjured up images of Nazi overlords (along the lines of brainwashing, controlling people by meds, dissidents disappearing).

Overall Review: This novel has taken a very different viewpoint. This is told from the point of view of the daughter of characters who are involved in the underground rebellion against a `dystopian' society. It was so interesting to see the thought processes of a young girl who is trying to protect her parents whom she thinks are being reckless. She goes to extremes to help her family `fit in' so nothing bad will happen. In her little girl mind, she feels she is helping. She goes from beaten down and trying to save her family to totally empowered. And yet, she's not a physical part of the rebellion. But it does bring to mind questions: Is it really bad to make everyone be the same and `feel safe'? Does that really take away our freedom? Or is it better to be honestly free to be ourselves and do what we choose? Are we really free when we do that? And, what happens to those we love when we choose to give ourselves to a cause? I was honestly surprised at the ending, but found it fitting. A very tame, and yet still chillingly scary novel! I loved it! Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars!


Content Review:

PROFANITY: None

SEXUAL CONTENT: None

VIOLENCE: few mild instances

MATURE THEMES: Mild

RECOMMENDED AGE GROUP: 14+

A wonderful lack of foul language! There is no sexual content. There are a few mild instances of violence where some characters attack another group of characters, but it's not gory or full of fierce fighting. They're just looking for someone and used the `attack' to divert attention. Many of the adult characters are harsh. As far as mature themes, there's always the intensity of the dystopian society itself. There are many instances of parents disappearing and the question of where they actually go. "The Other Side of the Island" is a Squeaky Clean read for ages 14+!

This review was written by Emily
A Squeaky Clean Reads Book Reviewer

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I couldn't put down this fantastic book! It's a great read for young adults because it raises a lot of complex issues, but it's done through the eyes of a child narrator which keeps it from being preachy in any way. The story wraps up well enough to be satisfying but it also leaves the reader with a lot of questions bouncing around. Sticks with you for a few days after you finish it- definitely the mark of a great book.

The other side of the island is a novel dystopian YA novel, with 3-dimensional characters, an interesting plotline, and suspenseful writing. I was very disappointed with the ending, and more disappointed with the authors post-novel condescending explanation of the ending. If you need to explain your ending with a post-note, likely because you knew or people told you that they didn't like the ending, that says something. The ending was premature and anti-climatic, and I felt very cheated. Also, I felt that we never got enough information on the Earth Mother, the Corporation, and their motives. I think this book would have been better fleshed out if this information were included. That said, I did like the book, but the ending took off two stars for me.