This was interesting because it kept me guessing and also hoping that my guesses were incorrect.Įven though the book boasts of an engaging storyline, it is extremely difficult to rate a book that is so horrifying and frightening at the same time. The story is narrated from the perspective of the four girls who already know the customs of the island while we, as readers, are ignorant of the same. The character sketches are extremely well done. The book takes your thumping heart on a roller coaster ride. Melamed puts her readers through a harrowing experience of acceptance and resistance and makes us question why the line that separates them is so blurred. I loved the underlying commentary that runs throughout the story about what is truth? Where does truth begin and blind dogma end? How do we know what is right and wrong? What is normal and what is not? The girls remained restless in my heart, gnawing at my conscience about what all we might have accepted in real life and whether we should have resisted. The tricky part being that the reader is a stranger to the strange customs that are a way of life for the islanders. It was heartening to see them feel doubtful about themselves and their society even though they are unsure about what is the right path. The group of girls start thinking and questioning everything. One summer, a girl sees something – rumours spread and the daughters gather. When the men and women are old and no longer useful to the society, they take a draught and die. The girls enjoy being wild and free until their ‘Summer of Fruition ‘after which they enter into their duties of womanhood and marriage. The islanders raise children who are set free every summer to enjoy a life of freedom, fighting for food and shelter, outside the comfort of their homes.
Only the Wanderers in the island are allowed to venture out of the boundaries. The people of the island do not know what exists outside it and call those areas as ‘wastelands’. They have strict religious beliefs and stringent societal rules. In an island, far away from the rest of the world, ten men and their families start a new life.
They break another rule of the island and gather around. One summer, a girl sees something forbidden which stirs the minds of all the other girls. An isolated island where children roam wild and free every summer.
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