On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

On the Island

Title: On the Island
Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves
Publisher:  Plume
Price: Unknown (read it in ebook format)
***


A heartwarming light read.

"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."

I love the story, I love the plot, I love the two main characters. Eventhough I kinda feel weird about the dialogs between the characters (the story's told from dual point of view from both Anna & TJ. Most of them are short, and a story with short-simple dialogs plus minimum internal monologues sometimes is just not for me) but I love how real the characters seems.

Anna is 30, while TJ is still 16 by the time they landed on the unknown Island. Clearly they have completely different way of thinking about life and... love and everything else. Interesting to read how the two of them taking on their new adventure of living together, only two of them, with a very little hope on being saved. Lots of things I discovered and I found fun on this book are mostly the tips of survival :p They started by collecting waters from the raindrops, eating coconut's meat, making fire from sticks, and then continuing to make a real living as the time goes by... and as they got older.

I like how it's not instant between both of them. Eventhough it's been years from the beginning, Anna's still struggling with her uneasiness about dating TJ who's 13 years younger than her. Understandable and realistic. This woman feels as if their relationship is somewhat inapoppriate, moreover when it comes to society's eyes. And I also love how TJ, in such a young age, has become so mature. The journey of living in the island did it to him.

And also, since the story's setting is located in an island somewhere near Maldives, I keep picturing the secluded island to be somewhat familiar like this...



White sands, crystal-blue waters, wide-unending skies... Ugh, I'm a sucker for beaches!

4 of 5 stars.

(This review is taken directly from my Goodreads page.)