Date Released: June 7th 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 281 pages
Date Read:July 16, 2012
Format: Kindle Book
Source: Amazon
Summary:
When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.
Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.
Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
From Goodreads
My Review:
Anna is a thirty year old teacher, T.J. is sixteen and he'll be her student over the summer, but when their plane crashes all plans are forgotten and there's nothing to hold on to except for each other, and hope that someone will come looking for them.
I was expecting this book to be very stressing and I'm really happy to say it wasn't. I was amazed at the amount of time they spend on the island, I would change the page and months had passed and then more and more and I was simply blown away by the total of time they were stuck there. And when you're in a situation like that, in a place where there are really no rules and you have to make your own, boundaries become blurry, age becomes a number, you have to struggle to find a meal, and you pray you won't become the meal.
I really liked Anna and T.J.'s relationship, even though he was much younger it really didn't matter, not in the situation they were anyways. They both became equals in the island, and he definitely grew up much faster than a normal teenage boy, by the end there is absolutely nothing boyish in him. Another thing I really liked was that they had toothpaste. No kidding. Just like Jennifer @Some Like It Paranormal mentioned, in books about survival and such they never mention toothpaste! or shampoo! and they're kissing each other and the only thing I can wonder is how that tastes. Ew. So it was really refreshing to see that an author took the time to give her characters toothpaste and shampoo.
My only complain on this story would be Anna, she seemed a bit... flat. Just a little. But T.J. was amazing, the story had me on the edge, I was wondering when would this characters lose hope, what was going to happen when they did? would they ever get off the island? and what would happened if they did? How do you go from something like that back to a normal life?
On The Island is a book that is really worth reading, I am buying a copy to my mom and my friends. The story will keep you up all night reading it. Highly Recommend :)
“I love you, Anna.”
The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.
“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.
“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”
Epic
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