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Justin Pickett's Reviews > Island: The Complete Stories
Island: The Complete Stories
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Most of the stories in this collection are middle-of-the-road, but a few are pretty good. The stories are mostly about blue-collar workers (e.g., coal miners, fishermen), their children, and/or generational change (e.g., miners with children who become lawyers and doctors):
“We have to see beyond ourselves and our own families. We have to live in the twentieth century � What is the twentieth century to me if I cannot have my own?� (p. 88).
The first story in the collection is, by far, the best, and the quality of the stories declines, in general, the further into the book you get. Trigger warning: there is violence against animals (e.g., farm animals, pp. 223-224; kittens, p. 325). The four stories I liked best are below, with illustrative quotes.
The Boat (Five Stars)
The best story in the collection. It is about a lobster fisherman’s sacrifice for his family.
“And then there came into my heart a very great love for my father and I thought it was very much braver to spend a life doing what you really do not want rather than selfishly following forever your own dreams and inclinations.� (p. 21)
The Golden Gift of Grey (Four Stars)
A teenager has a “night of realization,� staying out late playing pool and gambling, without telling his parents.
“Always before, he had been home by eleven-thirty. Always, Always. But now he was here with the music and the odor in his ears and in his nose, with the cue-stick in his hand and with the green table beneath the tarnished yellow light flat before him. He could see the quarters of the challengers and hear the voices of the men quietly placing side bets behind him and he knew somehow that no matter what the cost, and almost against this soul, he would not, could not go. For it had taken him a long time to reach this night and it could never be again.� (p. 65)
The Vastness of the Dark (Four Stars)
A story about trying to live after being a miner or after growing up in a mining family.
“They had been so long in the darkness of the mine that their eyes did not know the light, and the darkness of their labor had become that of their lives.� (p. 34)
“For I had somehow thought that ‘going away� was but a physical thing.� (p. 55)
In the Fall (Four Stars)
A poor family must make a difficult decision about what to do with a loyal, old horse they are emotionally attached to and have had for a long time.
“Before that night he [the father] had never been waited for by any living thing and he had buried his face in the hoar-frost mane and stood there quietly for a long, long time, his face in the heavy black hair and the ice beading on his cheeks.� (p. 103)
“We have to see beyond ourselves and our own families. We have to live in the twentieth century � What is the twentieth century to me if I cannot have my own?� (p. 88).
The first story in the collection is, by far, the best, and the quality of the stories declines, in general, the further into the book you get. Trigger warning: there is violence against animals (e.g., farm animals, pp. 223-224; kittens, p. 325). The four stories I liked best are below, with illustrative quotes.
The Boat (Five Stars)
The best story in the collection. It is about a lobster fisherman’s sacrifice for his family.
“And then there came into my heart a very great love for my father and I thought it was very much braver to spend a life doing what you really do not want rather than selfishly following forever your own dreams and inclinations.� (p. 21)
The Golden Gift of Grey (Four Stars)
A teenager has a “night of realization,� staying out late playing pool and gambling, without telling his parents.
“Always before, he had been home by eleven-thirty. Always, Always. But now he was here with the music and the odor in his ears and in his nose, with the cue-stick in his hand and with the green table beneath the tarnished yellow light flat before him. He could see the quarters of the challengers and hear the voices of the men quietly placing side bets behind him and he knew somehow that no matter what the cost, and almost against this soul, he would not, could not go. For it had taken him a long time to reach this night and it could never be again.� (p. 65)
The Vastness of the Dark (Four Stars)
A story about trying to live after being a miner or after growing up in a mining family.
“They had been so long in the darkness of the mine that their eyes did not know the light, and the darkness of their labor had become that of their lives.� (p. 34)
“For I had somehow thought that ‘going away� was but a physical thing.� (p. 55)
In the Fall (Four Stars)
A poor family must make a difficult decision about what to do with a loyal, old horse they are emotionally attached to and have had for a long time.
“Before that night he [the father] had never been waited for by any living thing and he had buried his face in the hoar-frost mane and stood there quietly for a long, long time, his face in the heavy black hair and the ice beading on his cheeks.� (p. 103)
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Reading Progress
January 13, 2023
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Started Reading
January 13, 2023
– Shelved
January 11, 2024
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Finished Reading
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Ian wrote: "Nice review Justin. I'd probably agree with your view that The Boat was the best of the stories.I once went to a talk given by the author, when he visited my home area in Scotland. He commented ..."
Thanks, Ian! It is cool that you had a chance to hear the author give a talk. I can see why people would assume that the story is autobiographical (e.g., it includes a discussion of loving books/literature, which kind of stands out from the other stories and in the fisherman context).
I once went to a talk given by the author, when he visited my home area in Scotland. He commented that many people thought The Boat was an autobiographical story, but it wasn't. I confess I had thought it was autobiographical. I suppose that's a sign of how well-written it is.