An old, troubled man named Samuel forms an equilibrium and ecological bond with the island on which he is a lighthouse keeper. Dead immigrant bodies wash onto the shore constantly. But when he discovers a man alive and nurtures him back from the brink of death, the delicate balance he’s forged for himself is thrown askew.

Over four days we learn Samuel’s past as the breaks move backwards and forwards in his life. A political prisoner under an unspecified dictatorship for 25 years due to being at a dissenting rally, it makes some sense that he should be attracted to a solitary existence on an island.

It’s surprisingly nuanced and moving how that foundation becomes pertinent though. His past is dredges up a kind of cyclical history. Immigrants being othered. The demands a society has of its populace. The casual cruelties of being not queer, but unwilling to perform what is expected of the codified notion of a ‘man’. Tying everything together as an ecology on an island and the internal machinations a man like Samuel goes through was really well done.

Craft wise, this has excellent prose and is a notch about commercial fiction. It’s accessible and has strong themes. A conventional structure, pretty much, aside from flashbacks. And is a simple yet effective straight-forward narrative. It took maybe 2.5 hours to read the whole thing. Prose range from evocative to invisible, meaning good, not getting in the way at all, which is a success for me. I’m fairly critical of voice and style. There was a plot thread never answered and seemed to only partly function well before being completely abandoned. It feels out of place in an otherwise tight text.

Lastly, the ending I am mixed on, as it again produces subjective elements that are less interesting than being answered. It leads you to a point where it feels like it has something to say and then denies catharsis and allows you to make of it what you will. That’s fine. But it’s not telegraphed that way and plot beats are contradictory as to feel intentionally sitting on the fence on such a central theme. Still, very enjoyable and worth reading.

I’ve got to do a better job of picking titles outside of my go to genres.

Tight in scope, this book incisively explored issues like whose life has a purpose

Samuel is the lighthouse keeper on an island that is part of an unnamed African country. He has taken this desolate, hostile to human life place and created a home, where the invasive weeds are kept down, one cracked plate is enough, the red chicken requires protection from all the bully chickens and a supply boat comes every two weeks. His father lost his legs during the fight to overthrow a corrupt and repressive government and the President who stepped in as the savior is no better. A coup d'etat took care of him. We know early on that Samuel spent over 23 years in jail for a political crime, crossing the dictator who followed the President. We know that everything that happens on his island reflects a standard of living and rules and ways of being that he has developed over his twenty or more years there. He is old and achy and his wheelbarrow is falling apart and now, another body is down by the water and will have to be buried in the vegetable garden wall.

Except this one is a man who survived when the refugee boat went under. They don't speak the same language and Samuel's mind spins wildly, resentfully, at times with compassion, then angry/almost murderous, but there- for a moment with friendship- all the while shifting his perceptions about the man, his intentions, his needs. What we learn from An Island is that the popular trope that "no man is an island" is untrue. Samuel is an island. With his own idiosyncrasies and sensibilities about what is important and what is right and what is wrong. With his desolate, hostile to human life brain. This beautifully told tale makes us understand this man, forged from poverty, from the influences of amoral, ultimately dangerous friends and later from the influences of still more dangerous friends who seek political change, Then on to brutal prison conditions, betrayal, loss of family ties and of any ties at all: Trauma wrapped up in a bow: That is Samuel.

We care about Samuel and how he has made a life for himself that satisfies him and meets his needs. We care that he's scared of dying. We care that he is proud to have created a recipe for bread that is just right and that he tries hard to protect the red hen. We worry with him about the man who has floated into his life, moved into his cottage and is a bit too free with Samuel's stuff. This story of a few days takes us through a hardscrabble lifetime and makes us understand this damaged man. And ultimately, he figures out what to do to make his life work and it is inherently what we would expect-- and we understand. And we care about him still.