Title : On The Island
Author : Tracey Garvis Graves
Publication date : 16th August 2012
Publisher : Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Source : Sent by publisher, thanks!
When thirty-year-old
English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at
his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without
hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library
any day.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.
Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.
Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
This book was recommended to me by Angela Smith, of Chicklit Club. I wasn't sure if this would be an ideal chick lit, summery kind of book I wanted, but when I read the book blurb and the wonderful reviews on Goodreads, I knew I had to have it. I contacted Catherine Duncan on Twitter and got myself a copy. Thanks, Catherine!
When the book arrived, I was still debating whether to read it straight away, but I couldn't. So I had to put it aside, sadly. Finally, I managed to clear off my to-R&R pile, I started on this amazing book and finished it in 2 days! It was unputdownable, if there's such a term.
On The Island is about Anna Emerson, a thirty-year-old English tutor, who accepted a summer job, teaching T.J. Callahan, a recovered cancer victim. She jumped at the chance of an all-expenses paid trip to Maldives and getting paid while at it. But the plot thickens as the plane crashes, which leaves the pair stranded in an uninhabited island, without food and shelter. Slowly and gradually, relying on each other, they managed to survive and fought day after day to get back to their lives in Chicago, but the hope of returning to their loved ones slowly and painfully seeping away.
It was a really beautiful book - I loved it. I finished it after two days and I was aching for more. It was wonderful and the plot was beyond beautifully written. The story was written from Anna and TJ's point of view, alternating between chapters, which gave more insight on all the situations they had to endure whilst on the island. It was so compelling and utterly heartbreaking to be left on an island, living day by day, missing your family and home. Really, my heart went out to both of them, as they worked together and fought for survival.
To me, the book was a bit of an adventure for me - action, disasters and of course, romance. I was a fan of Sims and years ago, they released Sims 2 : Castaway, a game with the storyline similar to the book, but different in many ways. Upon reading this moving tale, the message was very clear to me, love everyone as they are and live life to the fullest, as if tomorrow's your last day. The plot was very well crafted with ups and downs throughout the book - which seems to amaze me, page after page.
Since each chapter was alternating both characters' perspective, Tracey did an astonishing job, voicing out both characters perfectly. Anna had a very collected, cool and calm personality which carried her very well in the book while TJ was the average teenage boy, with a raw mindset on life. I couldn't love it more, especially with their budding romance. Man alive, it was such a pleasure reading the way the bonded on the island, I was just expecting their first kiss and ta-da! Sparks fly!
All in all, I loved it. I've recommended it to my mother and soon, she'll be cooing over how beautiful this book is, albeit the average looking cover, sigh. Sorry to say, I had better ideas for the cover though, given I'm such a book cover connoisseur. Cover aside, it's the content that is important, right? As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover, and true to it, I did judge it at first, however embarrassed I am for doubting it because of the mediocre cover.
I loved it, I appreciated every word of the book and beware - "You will fall in love with the story" as note on the review copy said, and I'm glad, because I am more than happy I did! Follow the lovely author on Twitter (@tgarvisgraves).
Rating : 5/5
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