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The Island

By Victoria Hislop

(29)

| Paperback | 9780755309511

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Critics

At last - a beach book with a heart

The Island by Victoria Hislop Review £14.99, pp320 It takes a brave writer to set her first novel on a Greek island, to populate it with an assortment of eccentric characters and follow the turbulent love lives of the women. All this against a backdr ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

9 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

This is a great fiction with lovely scenary description of the Greek island and an unforgettable story line. The plot is marvellous.

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Seungyiiii said on May 19, 2007 | Add your feedback

I really enjoyed this book, it isn't just a summer reading. I found everything in this book: love (every kind of love), passion, sadness, history, nice places, rage, envy, friendship, strenght, death.
It's hard to put down this book. When I finished it I wanted to know more about Spinalonga and its ... (continue)

I really enjoyed this book, it isn't just a summer reading. I found everything in this book: love (every kind of love), passion, sadness, history, nice places, rage, envy, friendship, strenght, death.
It's hard to put down this book. When I finished it I wanted to know more about Spinalonga and its inhabitants, I find it very interesting and something that we all should know. I found out that this island is very nice and I hope to visit it soon.
The characters are all very realistic, it seems you had known them for a lifetime. Some scenes are really moving, it seems to really see this people, the lepers and their relatives, and the sea and the island with its houses and walls...
You cand find some nice pictures of Spinalonga here:
http://www.victorzorbas.com/eng_foto.html
PS: I'm sorry for my poor english...

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♪ La Spalmatrice ♫ said on Aug 18, 2011 | Add your feedback

Found it quite slow, albeit very descriptive. The end was more gripping it just took a little while to get there

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Jenholland17 said on Mar 4, 2011 | Add your feedback

I engulfed this story in one go, so easy to read! I was so attached to the story.

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Valentine said on Oct 6, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

this is one of the crappest books that i have come across - it reads like a boarding school girls O level essay, gushy, adolescent and self consciously written - a great shame really as the subject matter is not uninteresting, frankly i am amazed it was ever published in it's current form - makes da ... (continue)

this is one of the crappest books that i have come across - it reads like a boarding school girls O level essay, gushy, adolescent and self consciously written - a great shame really as the subject matter is not uninteresting, frankly i am amazed it was ever published in it's current form - makes dan brown look like dickens in comparison.

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Rubbad0g said on Feb 13, 2010 | Add your feedback

This is yet another novel that languished on my bookshelves waiting to be read for far too long. A fictional story of a families ties to a real life setting.
Sofia and her daughter Alexis are not the heroines of this book as the blurb on the cover might lead you to believe but the descendants of t ... (continue)

This is yet another novel that languished on my bookshelves waiting to be read for far too long. A fictional story of a families ties to a real life setting.
Sofia and her daughter Alexis are not the heroines of this book as the blurb on the cover might lead you to believe but the descendants of this mother and daughter most certainly are the real protagonists. Sofia had always felt humiliated by her past and kept it hidden from her husband and children for many years. It is only after Alexis expresses an interest in visiting Crete where her mother was born that Sofia has the chance to heal the wounds and perceive her ancestry in a totally different light.
The main bulk of the novel is the story of these ancestors as related by a friend from the past, Fotini. It is an absorbing story of a family torn apart by tragedy, the root of which is mainly caused by leprosy.
I now feel I understand a little more about the stigma of Leprosy which sadly is a continuing problem in the 21st Century in developing countries.
I thoroughly enjoyed this as it has much more depth to it than the average romantic novel. It has also made me interested in visiting Crete, especially, Plaka Elounda , Agios Nikolaos and the island of Spinalonga itself.

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Lindyloumac said on Dec 11, 2009 | Add your feedback