Karen Jennings (1) (1982–)

I'm maybe a little bit surprised (?) not to see much criticism applied to the case of a white South African writing an explicitly generalized attack on the post-colonial states of Africa and their societies. You know, arguments about "is that your place, or your story to tell?" But then again this is a "pox on all their houses" kind of novel in which everyone with any power at all, both Western and non-Western, pretty much behaves badly at all times. Why should we be surprised, the book asks, if barbarity follows barbarity, oppression follows oppression, paranoia follows paranoia. As it was, so it will be.

So thus the victims of ethnic violence willingly become the perpetrators of ethnic violence, as embodied in the character of Samuel. His family violently chased off their land by Europeans, he picked up a weapon as a young man after independence and chased off families himself, who are "nice people" but "other". Lest we think things may improve over time, as an old man on the titular island he again commits violence against the "other" to claim power and possession. In case the point isn't fully made, even his chickens are always ganging up to attack another chicken that they view as "other". See, it's part of nature.

In many cases this may be depressingly accurate I know but yet the generalization does kind of disturb me. Makes for a bleak outlook that's for certain. I do allow that it is well told and deserving of its Booker longlisting though, so not all bad here!… (mais)

"No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main."

John Dunne

Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021, this book is set just off an unnamed African country. Samuel is a septarian lighthouse keeper who has lived alone on 'An Island' for many years, with only the crew of a supply boat his only visitors, when a man is washed up alive on the shore along with the wreckage of a boat.

The novel unfolds in two time frames and settings, the present on the 'island' where Samuel has created a fragile sense of home and via his flashbacks to his childhood and rebellious youth on the mainland, a newly postcolonial nation whose dreams of freedom have been crushed by a homegrown dictator. Samuel, lives alone in a self-imposed exile after spending many years as a political prisoner in the country of his birth.

However, this novel isn't just a story about a specific place or time in history, but looks at a world defined by totalitarian politics, conflict, social isolation, and displacement. In particular, the story asks: what can a person who has lost everything – country, family, child, and identity – offer another in the same situation?

While some readers may question whether 'An Island' is a “refugee novel,” given that none of the characters is explicitly identified as such, the book points to the various forms that displacement can take. Samuel had early on in his own life been displaced by colonialism so when the man washes up alive on the sands we see the dread, suspicion, and fear that this new arrival may adversely affect his ordered way of life. Although Samuel is only one man, it's possible to see these sentiments reflected in many of the 'receiving' countries of the world, where residents fear that migrants will take up limited local resources and become a burden on their communities. Meanwhile using familiar xenophobic rhetoric 'the Dictator' “blamed foreigners for their suffering, vowed to end their troubles”.

Through the depiction of Samuel’s numerous losses, poverty, and multiple displacements since childhood, Jennings forces us to consider whether first-hand experience should make us more compassionate to a refugee.

Despite Samuel's gradually failing health, his isolation during the twenty-three years that he has lived alone on the island, Samuel regards “the man” with suspicion rather than an additional pair of hands that Samuel desperately needs to keep the island habitable. Yet, it is “the man's' foreignness that appears to threaten Samuel's way of life. Samuel comes to represent the choices that many nations and communities across the world are forced to make today, making readers reflect on their own responses to people from different unknown backgrounds and speaking different languages who arrive in their community/country. Will they be a burden or an asset? What are you willing to provide a stranger in distress? Is our basic instinct one of hospitality or suspicion and self-preservation?

The ending is quite shocking and unexpected although perhaps inevitable leaving us with the uneasy feeling that we, like Samuel, are loyal only to ourselves.' An Island' is a simple yet deeply unsettling story that leaves the reader wondering if, in a world increasingly defined by porous borders, xenophobia, anti-refugee/migrant sentiments, and racism, we, too, are becoming one-person islands.… (mais)

Rating: 3.5/5

An Island is a short thriller-ish novel by Karen Jennings that details the solitary life of Samuel on an island as a light-house keeper. Samuel does everything for himself except for the regular supplies of left-over and unclaimed raw materials that are brought to him.

The book is divided into four days corresponding to four chapters where the author describes how Samuel reacts to a stranger being washed up to the shore. Now, Samuel is used to dead bodies but this man is alive and breathing but unconscious.

What does a person used to being alone go through when they suddenly face the idea of maybe having company?

The book then describes what goes on in Samuel's mind as he tries to comprehend another human being around him while giving us regular flashbacks into his life before coming to the island.

The writing is absolutely striking. At under 200 pages and just 4 chapters, the book ensures to give you atleast something to keep reading. I couldn't find a connection to the past and the present in a few instances and found that the flow of the book was disrupted at times but whenever it did make sense, it made it worth the read.

With bollywood-esque scenes in the ending of chapter 2 and 3 and a surprising turn of events in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Sure, it had stronger competition to make to the shortlist but very well deserved to be on the longlist.… (mais)

[An Island] is an excellent short novel about an older man, Samuel, living in solitude on a tiny island off the coast of Africa (the exact location is unnamed), minding a lighthouse. One day a body washes up on the shore and he realizes the man is still alive. He pulls him out of the water and the man survives. They don't speak the same language, so there is a lot of confusion throughout the novel. This event seems to spur Samuel to revisit his life on the mainland, where he lived through the end of colonialism and a violent dictatorship, including spending time in prison.

I thought this was an effective book, and I was very drawn to Samuel's life on the island and his back story. I wouldn't say that I found this book particularly memorable, though. For some reason, I couldn't quite get invested in Samuel himself.… (mais)