BOOK REVIEW: FIVE STARS
Island of the Lost by Joan Druett
Island of the Lost is a Robinson Crusoe knockoff well-done with the added story of personality conflicts that made a bad situation even worse.
Fast moving with never a dull moment. It was a joy to read and gave a wonderful insight into evolving history.
EXCERPTS:
Understanding that they had endured an extraordinary ordeal, the crowd helped them out of the boat, and tenderly assisted them to the European man’s house.
“an immense joy, a profound gratitude, filled my heart.” The European’s house seemed a haven indeed, with a garden, an orchard, and a vegetable patch. “The simple sight of so much comfort was enough to console and reinvigorate us.”
However, like the tearing down of primeval rain forest to make way for roads, the sealing trade was ultimately doomed, because it squandered natural resources without any thought for the future. No one seemed to take into account the fact that if all the cows and bulls were killed off in the southern summer, there would be no pups the following autumn. Initially, the catch was enormous, with just one ship reporting a take of thirty-eight thousand pelts in the first four-month season alone—at the cost of many more than thirty-eight thousand seals, because a lot of the skins were damaged during the attack, or spoiled by mold and vermin. Within just a dozen years, unsurprisingly, the seal population had been reduced to the extent that it was not worth dropping a gang at the Aucklands anymore.
Understanding that they had endured an extraordinary ordeal, the crowd helped them out of the boat, and tenderly assisted them to the European man’s house.
“an immense joy, a profound gratitude, filled my heart.” The European’s house seemed a haven indeed, with a garden, an orchard, and a vegetable patch. “The simple sight of so much comfort was enough to console and reinvigorate us.”
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