The Other Side of the Island [Versión Kindle]

Ever since Honor moved to Island 365 with her parents from the wild Northern Islands, she's been noticing that her parents don't quite fit in. Island life is peaceful and orderly since Earth Mother enclosed what land was still inhabitable after catastrophic weather terrorized the Earth. But her parents don't worship Earth Mother like everyone else does, and they don't follow the rules. And that scares Honor, because she learns that those who are unpredictable disappear - and they don't come back.

I really liked the premise of this dystopia because the societal ills stem not from your usual far right nightmares, but from a militant form of tree hugging. Not that I'm not all for preserving our environment, but this novel asks at what cost? And the answers are chilling.

Author Allegra Goodman spends a large part of the narrative on world creation and does it fantastically well. I loved how she took well known speeches from our world such as The Lord's Prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance and twisted them into Earth Mother propaganda. Even classic literature like the Wizard of Oz has been edited to fit Earth Mother's agenda of predictability. The resulting society is scary and powerful enough that its' agents are pretty much everyone - individual villains are quite beside the point.

Against this background Honor is realistically conflicted - she wants badly to fit in and for her parents to fit in, but she doesn't want them to be taken or harmed. When the inevitable happens though, Honor wakes from her Earth Mother induced coma and comes out kicking for an edge of your seat climax and resolution not to be missed.

I was completely impressed with Allegra Goodman's newest book, The Other Side of the Island. Great writing, great characters, excellent plot...what more could a teen (or adult like me) ask for?!

Honor lives in a dystopian world, years in the future. Her parents move the family to Island 365, one of only a few habitable lands left after The Flood. An ethereal figure by the name of Earth Mother and her new Corporation, lead the governmental system on Island 365 and control the New Weather system, meaning they create their own sun, moon, sky patterns, etc. There are very specific rules families must follow and for the most part, everyone on the island follows them perfectly, making for a pretty happy society.

Unfortunately, once Honor's family gets settled in, she learns her parents are Unpredictable. They do not like to follow the rules and violate laws constantly. They won't pray to the Earth Mother and do not believe in her principals. Due to their indiscretions, Honor does not fit in with all the other children at school and feels she will do anything to change her outcast status. She begins to be the model Island 365 citizen and contemplates reporting her parents for not following rules. After an unspeakable tragedy falls on Honor, her only friend, Helix, lets her in on a secret he discovered and Honor begins a quest to make things right in her new world.

Most of us bloggers have a small place in our hearts for books on dystopian societies and believe me, with this one, you will not be disappointed in the least. It's fast paced, the characters are realistic and likable, and by the end you will be cheering Honor on wholeheartedly! A very impressive work!

Plot: Honor, a young girl who has had a rather unorthodox and nomadic upbringing, moves with her parents, to a new home, where everything from their jobs to how many children they can have, is not under their control. In this dystopian society, many of the main elements will sound familiar. Books are censored or banned. There is a wide gap in wealth between classes. Both public and private behavior is strictly monitored by unseen forces. Adults, who do not conform, are at risk of disappearing unexpectedly, while their children are taken into custody. Climate is under the control of a mysterious deity called "Earth Mother" at least that's what the citizens are supposed to think. In reality, of course, things are more complicated and there is an underground rebellion brewing, of which Honor's parents turn out to be an integral part.

I found Honor and her family appealing, though I wish there had been more character development of the others. (One was so spunky, that I expected her to play a role in the rebellion, but she disappears after a chapter or two.) However, I couldn't help but want a more plausible explanation for why this future society was no longer "wired," or if it was, most people were not permitted to use TVs, phones, etc. And if this is true, how the heck do they communicate? How did the government manage to seize control of all the electronic gadgets that weren't around in 1984 but are very much a part of our lives today? In this century, I think that can't be sidestepped or dismissed. After all, books are just a small part of all the info that might need censoring.