Insta Review: Orphan Island, by Laurel Snyder

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If you loved the broken utopia of The Giver and the mysterious setting of The Maze Runner, then add Orphan Island to your reading list. Each year, a little green boat floats to Orphan Island to takes away the oldest of the island’s nine occupants and deliver the newest, and youngest, addition. No one knows why. In fact, no one knows anything about the curious way that the island works – how things get their names, why the island behaves the way it does, or even how they got there. In the opening pages of Orphan Island, Jinny’s close friend Deen is taken away in the green boat, and as the newest “elder” of the island, new delivery Ess is dropped into her care. It’s Jinny’s responsibility to teach Ess everything she needs to know to survive and participate in their community, but teaching is much harder than Jinny anticipated. And as the day that the green boat will return looms ever closer, Jinny has to come to terms with her fears, her options, and what it could all mean for Orphan Island and the world beyond. This story felt so enigmatic and abstract to me, I never quite knew what I was reading or if I was understanding it correctly. The language is lovely and I was impressed with the gentle and poignant way that author Laurel Snyder approached the themes of change, fear, and leaving childhood behind. But as much as I enjoyed it, I’m still not sure that I 100% understood it. Somebody smarter than me needs to read this one and explain it to me, ASAP. #bookreview

A post shared by Ms. Fitz (she/her) (@fitzbetweentheshelves) on Jan 17, 2018 at 12:52pm PST