by Jen Minkman
Paperback, 138 pages
Published June 1st 2013 by CreateSpace
ISBN 1483959813 (ISBN13: 9781483959818)


Blurb

‘I walk toward the sea. The endless surface of the water extends to the horizon, whichever way I look.

Our world is small. We are on our own, and we only have ourselves to depend on. We rely on the Force deep within us, as taught to us by our forefathers.

If I were to walk westward from here, I would come across a barrier – the Wall. Behind it, there are Fools. At least, that’s what everyone says.

I have never seen one.’

Leia lives on the Island, a world in which children leave their parents to take care of themselves when they are ten years old. Across this Island runs a wall that no one has ever crossed. The Fools living behind it are not amenable to reason – they believe in illusions. That’s what The Book says, the only thing left to the Eastern Islanders by their ancestors. But when a strange man washes ashore and Leia meets a Fool face to face, her life will never be the same. Is what she and her friends believe about the Island really true?

Or is everyone in their world, in fact, a Fool?

The Good

  1. The anthropological perspective. This book perfectly illustrates a situation that happens frequently in anthropology. An object is discovered by a group of people, and because they do not have any knowledge of its history, they inject their own significance. The book that is the basis for Leia’s entire culture and religion is a book that has been completely taken out of context and construed into something it is not.

  2. The belief systems. The island on which Leia lives is comprised of two groups: the Fools and the Unbelievers. The Fools believe that a ship will come from over the horizon and be their salvation. The Unbelievers think that this is nonsense, and that the only thing they can rely on is themselves. This created very interesting dynamics when the two groups interacted. I honestly would have expected slightly more strife between the two belief systems when they clashed, but their mingling was still interesting.

  3. The fear of the unknown. Minkman artfully addresses the age-old problem of people fearing things that are different or they do not understand. My only issue with the way this topic was addressed in the novella was, as I said before, the lack of conflict. When you have your entire belief system pulled right out from under you, there should be more than one crazy person to challenge this change with, at the very least, a multitude of questions and at the very most outright violence.

The Bad

  1. The cover. I really don’t care for the cover of this novella and I feel like it is very misleading. I wouldn’t have picked it up at all if I hadn’t read the summary.

  2. The lack of conflict. As I’ve already pointed out, one of my big issues with this book was the lack of conflict. You have multiple belief systems and cultures clashing, many of which directly contradict one another. There should be more arguments, fights, and general distrust of people who are not of the same mindset as you. I felt like the characters in the novella were too quick to accept or abandon things, which didn’t feel realistic.

Overall Rating

I loved the anthropological and cultural issues addressed in this book. Minkman is able to incorporate a lot of really great material into a very short book. My only issue is the lack of conflict between characters of differing belief systems. If you have based your culture, your religion, your values, your entire life on something and someone shows up one day and tells you it is all a lie, there should be a backlash.


Thank you to Netgalley.com and CreateSpace for allowing me to review this book! Advanced review copy was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.