Review: On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

   
Review:

 ON THE ISLAND is one of the best books I have read this year.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

Actually, I think I’ll read it again after I’ve written this review.

On The Island blew me away because of how incredible it was. I love it when you go into a book feeling uncertain whether you’ll like it because the blurb is so unassuming and then stay up all night reading obsessively, devouring page after page.

The story opens when the plane on which TJ (a sixteen year old cancer survivor) and Anna (his thirty year old tutor) crashes into the Indian Ocean after the pilot suffers a heart attack. Through sheer fear and determination, the pair make it to an uninhabited island. Hoping for rescue, Anna and TJ must try their best to survive on the island with their limited resources. As the days turn into months, they try to survive in their unforgiving surroundings, deal with danger and understand their growing and complex relationship.

On The Island was a phenomenal book for a number of reasons. Graves wrote a well-researched and thus believable story about survival. I appreciated all the layers of detail. I sympathised with Anna and TJ from the outset. They were such great, realistic characters. I loved them. Their reactions to the different situations throughout the story rang true. I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I never felt annoyed by any decisions made by the characters in the story. They were well-rounded, loveable characters who thought through their choices before making them. I loved their maturity.

Most of all, I loved the relationship between Anna and TJ. Graves wrote it in such a sensitive, sophisticated and realistic way that it took my breath away. I won’t go into it for fear of spoiling it, but seriously, wow. I also loved the suspense. I felt like I was there with Anna and TJ on the island going through their many trials and tribulations with them. I asked the same questions that were going through their heads. What will they eat? What happens if one of them is seriously injured? Will they make it?

The fact that the story is embedded into reality just made it all the more perfect. On The Island is a sensational book, one that I will be reading time and again. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this book long before now, but I am so glad that I have read it now. On The Island is a definite must-read! Go and read it now!

Rating: 5/5
Author: Tracey Garvis Graves