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taylormargaret's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Suicide attempt
kirstym25's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty
serendipitysbooks's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This Other Eden tells the story of a community on Apple Island and its eventual destruction. It is inspired by actual events. In 1792 a formerly enslaved man and his Irish born wife set up home on a small island just off the coast of Maine, and begin to establish an apple orchard. Over a hundred years later their descendants remain, along with some newer arrivals, ekeing out a subsistence living. They are poor but seemingly happy. Eventually their community attracts attention from the mainland, initially a well-meaning missionary with a white saviour complex. Racism combines with the eugenics movement and self-interest, and the state evicts the residents from the island committing some of them to insane asylums.
I expected to like this book a lot more than I did. The author focuses on the community as a whole so we meet a lot of characters, but don’t necessarily spend much time with any of them. This and the fact that the story is told from a third-person perspective meant I didn’t form an emotional connection with any of the characters, and I missed that. The book is structured in three parts. The first part is the story of the island and its inhabitants. Next we follow Ethan, a young boy who can pass for white and has a talent for art, who has been selected for an opportunity on the mainland. Then we return to the island to witness the destruction of the community. I felt Ethan’s section wasn’t well integrated. I would have loved to have seen more of Ethan and to have heard from him directly. And then there is the lack of resolution. Since Harding is focussed on the community once it is disestablished the novel essentially ends. But I was craving more and would have loved to know what happened to at least some of the residents, to have followed them on their post-island life.
I did like the fact that this novel shines a light on a little known event in American history. I appreciated the empathetic way the characters and their lives were sketched. I also liked the balance. Harding highlighted the wrongness of eugenics and of the state’s actions but didn’t neglect problematic aspects of life on Apple Island, such as incest and its impacts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Ableism and Incest
tarajoy90's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
carrieclothwright's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A tragic story told with resonant echoing prose.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation
cassandrahcooke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I was fortunate to receive an audiobook ARC on NetGalley for this novel.
This book was atmospheric in its contents, creating the world using heavily descriptive sentences. While reading the first half of the novel, the descriptive devices truly made you feel the oppression of poverty faces with the main characters and the families residing on the island. We learn later throughout the novel what it means to not be "purely white" and the way they viewed, despite the islanders residing on Apple Island for multiple generations while somehow surviving tragedy, storms, starvation, and lack of supplies.
What made this novel stand out was the journaled references to art and documents to that time prior to relocation of settlers, and how these references hardly captured the truth behind their stories.
Although the story and characters are fictional, the events that take place are non fictional, so this provides insight to lives and experiences through a new lens.
This was a slower read, not so heavily plot-based or character driven, but more so written to experience what life could have been like for the families living on Apple Island. The descriptiveness both helped and hindered the novel at times, making a certain scene feel drawn out, but overall set the tone of the environment
This book was atmospheric in its contents, creating the world using heavily descriptive sentences. While reading the first half of the novel, the descriptive devices truly made you feel the oppression of poverty faces with the main characters and the families residing on the island. We learn later throughout the novel what it means to not be "purely white" and the way they viewed, despite the islanders residing on Apple Island for multiple generations while somehow surviving tragedy, storms, starvation, and lack of supplies.
What made this novel stand out was the journaled references to art and documents to that time prior to relocation of settlers, and how these references hardly captured the truth behind their stories.
Although the story and characters are fictional, the events that take place are non fictional, so this provides insight to lives and experiences through a new lens.
This was a slower read, not so heavily plot-based or character driven, but more so written to experience what life could have been like for the families living on Apple Island. The descriptiveness both helped and hindered the novel at times, making a certain scene feel drawn out, but overall set the tone of the environment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Incest