An Island
by Karen Jennings
Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021
Date Read: December 10, 2022
A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.
Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Samuel was born into poverty and in poverty he remained. The only power he ever exerted was at a protest, defying the new dictator after the British rule. Samuel was arrested and imprisoned for 25 years. His parents and his son died while he was incarcerated and when he was released, his sister looked on him as a burden, rather than family.
Samuel’s tranquil existence is sent into a tailspin with the arrival of a stranger. At first Samuel believed him to be dead. He arrived in a plastic barrel and wasn’t moving. But after time, he began to show signs of life. Samuel drags him up to his cottage and hopes he dies while he is out finishing his chores. When he realizes the stranger is going to live, Samuel is horrified to think he will need to share his existence with this person.
They don’t speak the same language and communicating is nearly impossible. Samuel believes the stranger is a murderer, rather than a refugee who’s boat had capsized, killing almost everyone on board, as told to him by his Samuel’s supply boat crew. He doesn’t know if the stranger means him harm or simply wants to co-exist. Although Samuel has never resorted to extreme violence, now it’s all he can think about. The tension builds as to whether Samuel can accept this new intruder on his version of paradise.
Jennings, in only 185 pages, manages to present Samuel and all the challenges he faces through his life, almost none of which is ever joyful. Her prose is descriptive, engaging and her message is thoroughly clear. A definite win here.
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