The Black Isle
Sandi Tan
Fiction
This is the most bizarre fiction book
I have ever read. A woman has sex with an octopus and the main character almost sleeps with her twin brother, for god’s sake!
The Black Isle is the story of
Ling/Cassandra (she changes her name halfway through the book) and it’s another
war book, only World War I this time. What is it with me and war books? As a
young child, Cassandra moves from Shanghai to the Black Isle with her brother
and father. But Cassandra has a secret—she can see ghosts and they can see her.
This is an epic tale that goes back and forth in time. In present, Cassandra’s
an old woman reflecting on her past as she becomes a pawn in the war and
politics. I wish I could give more details about what happens, but I really
can’t because there’s so much going on.
Ms. Tan is a great writer, I’ll give
her that, and there were so many jaw-dropping moments. Quite a
few involved blood and I had to skim. There’s a lot of torture, a lot of
unhappiness, a lot of weird effing stuff. I never wanted to put the book down,
though, despite it being a tomb at 469 pages.
If you enjoy historical fiction sagas,
this book’s for you. If you’re not into ghosts and corpses with dog heads
(don’t ask), I’d skip this one.
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