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The Island | 
 enlarge | Author: Victoria Hislop
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $1.50
You Save: $13.45 (90%)
New (53) Used (43) from $1.50
Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 24482
Media: Paperback
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061340324
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780061340321
ASIN: 0061340324
Publication Date: July 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: MINOR COVER AND PAGE EDGE WEAR, MINOR SHELF WEAR, MINOR SCRATCHING ALONG COVER EDGES; IN GOOD READING CONDITION
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Product Description
The Petrakis family lives in the small Greek seaside village of Plaka. Just off the coast is the tiny island of Spinalonga, where the nation's leper colony once was located—a place that has haunted four generations of Petrakis women. There's Eleni, ripped from her husband and two young daughters and sent to Spinalonga in 1939, and her daughters Maria, finding joy in the everyday as she dutifully cares for her father, and Anna, a wild child hungry for passion and a life anywhere but Plaka. And finally there's Alexis, Eleni's great-granddaughter, visiting modern-day Greece to unlock her family's past. A richly enchanting novel of lives and loves unfolding against the backdrop of the Mediterranean during World War II, The Island is an enthralling story of dreams and desires, of secrets desperately hidden, and of leprosy's touch on an unforgettable family.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Loved This! June 1, 2006
Angela E. Proudfoot (london)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
My book club in London just picked this book. I took it with me on Holiday in Crete and could not put it down! You will laugh and cry and remember these characters long after the last page. At the start the Greek names are a bit confusing but they do get easier and will soon be rolling off your tongue. Get this book right away!
I agree with reviewers: a beach book with a heart August 21, 2006
B. Claypole White (Hillsborough, NC United States)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
25 years ago I visited the leper colony of Spinalonga. It's a haunting place. Impossible to forget. And from the moment Ms Hislop took her readers to Spinalonga I was back on the island. Her descriptions are so evocative that Spinalonga becomes a character.
If I refer to the novel as a family saga that sounds trite. It's so much more. But I loved the unveiling of the family history, especially the relationships between the female relatives. And whilst the subject matter--leprosy--is harrowing, this is an uplifting read, one filled with hope. I found it impossible to put down.
The Island - a must read for a visit to Crete July 9, 2006
T. Last (A Canadian Expat living in Surrey England)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
With a trip to Crete planned for this summer I chanced upon this book and bought it. Victoria Hislop has researched her subject very well and written a wonderful story. The life of the Cretans and the plight of the lepers was brought home with a tour to the Island of Spinalonga where the lepers lived. Having read the book and listened to our guide, you could get a keen sense of the small world the lepers lived in and even though they lived a very tough life they did find hope in the small things that made them a community. I was throughly touched by the story and my visit.
 A toilet book with no heart for the demanding reader May 2, 2008
Alexandra Manou (Athens, Greece)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I thought the subject was very interesting so I bought the book, but was terribly disappointed by the cheesy style of Hislop's writing. Her style is so ordinary, simplistic and in such poor English that it could be attributed only to a very young, romantic schoolgirl. Perhaps a course in writing before undertaking her project might have helped. Being greek, I see how she uses lengthy, stereotypical descriptions of local customs to fill pages. Still, it might make a good film, if the characters on screen are built with some depth (a quality they lack in the book).
Very disappointing March 5, 2008
Carol Reilly (san diego, CA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found "The Island" to be predictable, lacking in character development and passion, and trite. We are told that Maria is the good, dutiful daughter, while Anna is the rebel, but to me these characterizations were one dimensional and stereotypical. I thought it defied logic that Andreas for years didn't catch on to what was going on between his wife and Manolis, when even Maria, her sister banished to Spinalonga, knew. Also, I would imagine that in such a small area everyone would know when someone contracts leprosy and is sent to Spinalonga. Yet Andreas'parents didn't know. Wouldn't you think that they might ask how Anna's mother died before she married Andreas? Inconsistencies such as these irritated me.
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