I read this as an ARC thanks to netgalley and Random House. My review is long overdue. This beautiful story is about an elderly man named Samuel who is a solitary lighthouse keeper on an unnamed island off the coast of Africa. Samuel currently leads a relatively simple life, caring for the upkeep of the island, raising chickens, and receiving supplies every few weeks from the mainland. The book alternates between the present with flashbacks of his previous complicated life. Raised in an also unnamed African country with decades of political strife, from colonization to military dictatorship, Samuel is plagued with memories of his past. From destroyed homes and begging on the streets to many years spent imprisoned, these memories of violence, humiliation, and distrust make up the complex solitary lighthouse keeper's character. When the body of a man washes ashore from a sunken refugee boat, Samuel rescues the starved and dehydrated refugee but not without a great inner struggle between distrust and empathy. Reviews are such gross oversimplifications of complex characters and beautiful stories. I find this one particularly daunting. A solid four stars for this short, quiet, yet propulsive novel.

This was a very gripping novel that was hard to put down. Would be a great book club book with all the discussions that would follow. Always loved this author.

What a wild story about being alone and then being faced with what you have missed. It is a tale about our thoughts and lives and people we surround ourselves with.

I’m aware I’m a little behind on this one, given it was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, but I’m very glad I finally got around to reading An Island.

Karen Jennings immediately creates a sense of unease, with our protagonist Samuel discovering a body washed ashore of the titular island within the first few paragraphs. The body is accompanied by an oil drum, and Samuel is immediately more concerned with the drum than the human.

Samuel is a lighthouse keeper on an unnamed African island. The narrative switches between the present, where it is quickly revealed that the body which washed ashore is still alive, and Samuel’s troubled past. Both narratives include themes of isolation, violence, and masculinity.

Despite his shortcomings and faults, I found Samuel to be an extremely appealing character. Samuel’s country was overthrown by a violent dictator, and Samuel was unfairly incarcerated, so it becomes clear that many of his past choices were taken away from him. So his choice to live a remote life is incredibly suitable. But when that isolation is compromised by his unexpected visitor, the real tension begins to build.

An Island is an incredibly gripping, interesting novel.

This is a unique book with a dark premise. The main character loves alone on an island and occasionally has to bury dead bodies that wash up. One body turns out to be someone who is still alive.
While dealing with this change to his daily life, the main character has lots and lots of flashbacks/reminiscings of when he was younger, including being a political prisoner. All of the countries are unnamed but he's from an African country that was colonized by Britain (from what I gathered). The writing is very good, but unfortunately I was not in the correct mood for this book when I read it. Sometimes I am ready for an esoteric, political, thought-provoking novel, but other times I just want some adventure. Thank you to Hogarth and netgalley for the eARC.

A stark novel, reminiscent in its grit and savagery of the recent film with Defoe and Pattison, but this is an African story, full of horror, shame, political corruption and suffering. It makes for a short and downbeat novel, shot through with hints of violence finally borne out. Ably pulled together, and strong on mood, but brief and not quite a landmark piece of writing.

This book is told in four parts, as Samuel deals with a refugee who has washed up on the shore of his island over four days. The story alternates between the past and the present. Samuel as a young man who takes part in a revolution in his unnamed African country and Samuel as a 70-something lighthouse keeper who lives in isolation.
This is a sad, tense novel about the things that threaten what we think we are entitled to, and what it takes to incite violence in the face of fear and paranoia. The story can be applied universally, and it gives a little glimpse of what it's like to grow up in a life of oppression and how that might shape you as a person.

While well written, such a sad story with an ending that I did not enjoy. I liked reading about island life, but not his earlier years. So depressing. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

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.

Samuel, a lighthouse caretaker, has lived alone on an island for over twenty years. Through political turmoil and dictatorships, Samuel is no stranger to bodies washing up on his shore. However, our story begins when one of those bodies is still alive. An Island takes us through a country's oscillating independence, Samuel’s troubling past and present day interactions with a refugee stranded on the island. Jennings uses a captivating lyrical prose, while simultaneously creating a sense of panic as the reader witnesses Samuel’s paranoia and deteriorating mind. This novel has The Yellow Wallpaper vibes and I’m here for it.

Deeply moving story. So much tragedy and yet so much hope for human kind. We must still have empathy to write fiction like this. I couldn't put this one down.

Reading this novel felt claustrophobic, and that would be ok if it felt like I was moving through a plot that was developing tension and/or a release of tension, but it felt a little one-note instead. It didn't help me love it that so much of the story is written as flashback. I admired the mastery of the prose. I would love to see Karen Jennings try a novel where she didn't keep quite as tight a stranglehold on the characters and action.

For over twenty years Samuel has worked and lived on the island as a lighthouse keeper. Every two weeks supplies are delivered, and slowly he has shaped and tamed the island. When a body washes ashore, he is astonished to discover that the man is still alive. The stranger is a young, strong man, who does not speak Samuel's language. Samuel quickly becomes paranoid, unsure who this man is, and what his intentions are.

My description does not really give the book justice. Throughout the story we learn about Samuel's past, and how he was imprisoned for revolutionary activities. Ideas of futility, suffering, and cycles of life are brought up as Samuel reflects on his life and the stranger. Overall, this was a fascinating book. I had a hard time putting it down and read long into the night. 5 out of 5 stars.

This book, the main character really, drew me in immediately.
In flashbacks, you learn about his life prior to being on the island.
The flashbacks were not chronological, so you had to keep track of where he was.
In a way, it was a horrific story.
Throughout the book, the story became depressing. As an old man, he led a lonely, sad life.
That said, the author depicted Samuel so clearly that you felt like you understood him.
The way the author described the physical problems of old age made you feel like you were Samuel.
Not sure that I will recommend this book to book-loving friends.

An Island is a powerful—and dark—exploration of both the refugee crisis and the ramifications of political repression. Author Karen Jennings explores these topics through two characters. Samuel lives in an unnamed African country, and has worked for decades as a lighthouse keeper on an isolated island following twenty-five years spent as a political prisoner. Every so often, the bodies of drowned refugees wash up onto his island, where he buries them and continues his daily work. This novel opens when, for the first time, the refugee that washed up onto his island (and whose name we don't know) is not dead. The two men have no common language and Samuel swings between sympathy for the new arrival and paranoia regarding the man's intentions and potential for violence. I don't want to say more than that regarding the plot.

The book itself and the situations of the two characters are wrenching, and this isn't a title for those who prefer their fiction light. It will however productively challenge readers of decidedly not-light fiction and keep them thinking long after they've reading. If that's your kind of book, you'll want to get your hands on a copy of An Island.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A released convict secures a job on an island as a lighthouse keeper. He has very limited access to the world through a supply boat. A stranger shows up...

This book was a thoughtful, solemn meditation on connection and solitude and society as a whole. The prose was absolutely beautiful without being flowery, matching the stark setting of the lighthouse and its island. Another thing to recommend it is its length; although very short, it was fully developed and I didn’t think it was lacking for anything. I would readily recommend An Island to anyone, but especially to those who liked Camus’s The Stranger.


Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

An Island is a tension filled novel. All of the action occurs over the course of four days. Samuel, an old man, has tended a lighthouse on an island off an unnamed country in Africa for twenty-three years. He is used to the isolation, tending his chickens and garden, caring for the island, seeing only the two men who bring supplies by boat once a week. He also takes care of the debris that washes up onto the island and its rocks, including thirty-two bodies over the years. One morning he sees a body and upon going to lift it for burial, finds that the man is still alive. That's never happened once in all the decades he has tended the lighthouse.

Now Samuel is in a quandary - what should he do with the man? He doesn't want him on his island; he doesn't want to share his land, or his things. He didn't invite him here. No one cares about what happens to the bodies that wash up here, no one comes looking for them. Unsure whether he should finish killing him or send him back to the mainland when the weekly supply boat comes, he waits awhile, hoping time will make the decision for him. But when he checks on the man again, he is still alive.

After much effort, Samuel gets the hurt man into his cottage and tries to care for him. When the man wakes, they find that they are unable to communicate. Samuel feeds him, gives him clothing, and later shows him the island and the work he does. But then Samuel's mind goes back to the mainland and his life there. Raised as a boy under colonial rule, he remembers well the revolution, his twenty-three years imprisoned as a political prisoner, the short period of freedom his country enjoyed before being taken over by a cruel dictator. Things don't get better for people like him, that's been proven time after time.

Now there's this man here, in his space, breathing his air. Can he trust him? Is he going to try to kill Samuel and take over his island? Bitterness over past mistreatments, fear, paranoia, the mental changes brought on by isolation and aging all combine within his mind during these four days as Samuel tries to determine what is more important to him, the chance for companionship, or the fear that has lived inside him for so long.

Very well done!!

My thanks to Hogarth Books for allowing me to read an e-ARC of the book via NetGalley. All opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for gifting me an ARC of An Island by Karen Jennings. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

While this book has been published elsewhere and was long listed for the 2021 Booker Prize, An Island will first be released in the US on May 17, 2022. I was happy to have a chance to read this book that has been garnering solid praise. Set on an isolated island, off the coast of an unnamed African country, we are introduced to Samuel; the lighthouse keeper. It is clear that Samuel is harboring deep secrets and has chosen to live a life of isolation after he partook in a coup that ultimately failed. Samuel is accustomed to bodies washing up on his shores but he’s thrown into a tailspin when a washed up body of a refugee is still breathing. Set over the course of four days, Samuel will have to face his demons as he decides how to deal with this stranger on his island.

This book is written as an allegory for colonialism, xenophobia, and a look at trauma, violence and isolation.
This book is small in length but long in insight and observations.
A good choice for bookclub discussion.

This is a short but powerful novel about a 7o year old lighthouse keeper on an island off the coast of Africa who discovers a live man washed up on shore. Samuels's life has been filled with troubles and he questions whether this arrival is meant as an invasion or a gift. It's an allegory, a fable, a thought provoking look at refugees and refuge. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.