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80th out of 177 books
—
1,158 voters
The Black Isle
by
Sandi Tan (Goodreads Author)
There are ghosts on the Black Isle.
Ghosts that no one can see.
No one...except Cassandra.
Uprooted from Shanghai with her father and twin brother, young Cassandra finds the Black Isle's bustling, immigrant-filled seaport, swampy jungle, and grand rubber plantations a sharp contrast to the city of her childhood. And she soon makes another discovery: the Black Isle is swarmin...more
Ghosts that no one can see.
No one...except Cassandra.
Uprooted from Shanghai with her father and twin brother, young Cassandra finds the Black Isle's bustling, immigrant-filled seaport, swampy jungle, and grand rubber plantations a sharp contrast to the city of her childhood. And she soon makes another discovery: the Black Isle is swarmin...more
Hardcover, 480 pages
Published
August 7th 2012
by Grand Central Publishing
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#note: i'm quite surprised that people actually read my midnight review that was riddled with grammatical errors.. lol. Even I can't make sense of what I wrote.
Truth to be told. This 90th book of my reading challenge that made the most lasting impact in all my days of 2012's reading. First of all, because the story is set in a place and in a time settings that I was (naturally) familiar with. Second, I was familiar with the characterizations and understand the ravages that plague the characters...more
Truth to be told. This 90th book of my reading challenge that made the most lasting impact in all my days of 2012's reading. First of all, because the story is set in a place and in a time settings that I was (naturally) familiar with. Second, I was familiar with the characterizations and understand the ravages that plague the characters...more
Well. I really hate calling it quits but this is just not grabbing me at all. I had full intentions of setting it aside for now and coming it back to it at a later date but I happened to stumble upon someone's conversation about the book and 'octopus sex' came up. And they weren't talking about two octopodes (Yes. That's octopus plural. I looked that shit up. See?) going at it. Humans were involved. And all interest flew out the window.
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While The Black Isle is absolutely beautifully written, some of the content is just not for me.
The story is intriguing, it's a dark and dramatic tale of a woman haunted by the dead. The pacing is great, it moves gracefully. The characters are all interesting and well written.
My problem is the sexual situations. I am not a prude, by any means, and have read some rather racy books in the past. However, some of the situations in this book were just so not appealing in any way to me and they were r...more
The story is intriguing, it's a dark and dramatic tale of a woman haunted by the dead. The pacing is great, it moves gracefully. The characters are all interesting and well written.
My problem is the sexual situations. I am not a prude, by any means, and have read some rather racy books in the past. However, some of the situations in this book were just so not appealing in any way to me and they were r...more
I am an eclectic reader. I also love *well-written* paranormal stories of which there are maybe five - ever. This is in that list. I bought it at Kobo for the $4.99 offer, the same as a previous reviewer. I thought it would be mediocre at best. Wow - what a very pleasant surprise. I bought it last night and am now 1/3 through (according to my Kobo app).
Can't wait to finish it.... but I suspect I will miss it incredibly when I am done.
Great job Sandi Tan! Looking forward to more intriguing novels...more
Can't wait to finish it.... but I suspect I will miss it incredibly when I am done.
Great job Sandi Tan! Looking forward to more intriguing novels...more
A ghost story that loses touch with its own ghosts - The Black Isle starts out strong, but fizzles out badly.
The Black Isle tracks the story of Cassandra, a Chinese girl who learns at early age that unlike most people, she can see ghosts. This gift, along with some family drama and historical events, takes her to the Black Isle (an approximation of historical Singapore) and ties her into the fate of the island and its inhabitants. It's a powerful foundation and helps to build a captivating first...more
The Black Isle tracks the story of Cassandra, a Chinese girl who learns at early age that unlike most people, she can see ghosts. This gift, along with some family drama and historical events, takes her to the Black Isle (an approximation of historical Singapore) and ties her into the fate of the island and its inhabitants. It's a powerful foundation and helps to build a captivating first...more
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Let's just call a spade a spade. The Black Isle is pretty much Singapore transmogrified into something unrecognizable, but still familiar. it is unfortunate but thic book comes across as a mish-mash of historic, fantasy and magic realism, with altered realism winning out in the end.
As a resident of the 'Black Isle', as Sandi once was, I have to say this is a mess of what could have been a really interesting book. She could not decide if she was going for an alternate history or ghost story or d...more
I wish I had a way with words because my reviews never fully convey my awe. THE BLACK ISLES, a novel by Sandi Tan has left my wordless. I honestly can't describe how thoroughly it drew me in; I felt like I was living in turn of the century Asia -- on a small island trying to decide who it was -- trying to decide who I was. I was completely engrossed by the Asian culture.
BLACK ISLES, was told in two point of views, an old woman recording her life story and the young woman herself. While the story...more
BLACK ISLES, was told in two point of views, an old woman recording her life story and the young woman herself. While the story...more
I don't usually read books with supernatural or horror themes, but the historical aspect of this book drew my interest. It had a fairly strong start, and the writing seemed pretty good at first, with great attention to detail and vivid imagery. However, that strong start and writing style didn't continue, and it soon started to lack something.
The writing seemed to drop a lot of the fine detail and quality, and the plot started jumping ahead very quickly, without explaining a lot of the jumps or...more
The writing seemed to drop a lot of the fine detail and quality, and the plot started jumping ahead very quickly, without explaining a lot of the jumps or...more
What first intrigued me about this book is its paranormal element. I don’t often read much historical fiction unless it either comes highly recommended or the defined plot is irresistibly alluring – choosing Sandi Tan’s debut novel presented the latter element.
I’m amazed by how deeply I was absorbed in a novel which considered such a range of topics I’ve never deliberately explored. To be engrossed by Cassandra’s haunting past and seized by events rooted in Asian culture verifies the author’s s...more
I’m amazed by how deeply I was absorbed in a novel which considered such a range of topics I’ve never deliberately explored. To be engrossed by Cassandra’s haunting past and seized by events rooted in Asian culture verifies the author’s s...more
Not 100% sure what I felt about this book. On one hand, it sort of reminds me of Shanghai Girls (something pungent and caustic about it). Well, first of all, the characters are a mixed bag. Cassandra seems like a strong character, but not too sympathetic for my taste. And then there are the sex scenes (why is it that most of the books I've read had plenty of sex, yet they are not bodice-ripping romance novels???). A reviewer mentioned something about bestiality which to me, wasn't really that cr...more
She's an old Asian woman who lives by routine - making weekly visits to the store, to the laundry, doing what old women do.
Most important, she goes to the archive section of the library every Saturday to visit the book - the book that contained her photograph, surrounded by a story filled with lies but that revealed one truth: She can communicate with ghosts.
Then, one Saturday she finds the book she's been quietly visiting for decades has been vandalized. Most of the pages have been torn out. In...more
Be warned: if you are looking for a conventional story about a young girl finding her way in a nascent country, you are going to be getting way more than that if you pick up this book. This is a strange but intriguing story, and it's not always a pretty one. Along the way, there are gruesome scenes, such as brushes of incest and one instance of bestiality. But for all its strange scenes, this is a complex, puzzling, and eloquent story of a hodgepodge of people coming together to form a nation, a...more
I have a mixed review on this book and I am not too sure whether it was the book for me or it just kind of felt flat. The first half of the book was interesting -- I liked how there was drama and I really felt the thrill of Cassandra's gift of seeing ghosts. I thought the first half was epic until she was held hostage and the story kind of just died from there. I thought it became draggy and random situations came up that didn't seem to fit in the story. I was pretty disappointed of the fact tha...more
Li and Cassandra are twins from Shanghai. When Cassandra is about 8, she starts being able to see ghosts everywhere. Her father takes the children and moves to the Black Isle. The first few years, they eke out an existence while Cassandra goes to school. Later he takes them out of the seaport city to run a rubber plantation but he is continually distracted and unable to focus, the children are the ones that end up running the plantation. As adults, Cassandra and Li go different ways and have ver...more
Review originally featured on Bookluvrs Haven
To say that this is one of the darkest novels I have ever read is not saying enough. This story IS DARK!! And though very intriguing and mystical, also incredibly depressing.
Though I try not to do this as a rule, I did browse some of the reviews on Goodreads for this title. There was a real mixture of reactions which made me even more curious to read this. Some readers were really turned off by some of the content, such as scenes of incest, and some...more
To say that this is one of the darkest novels I have ever read is not saying enough. This story IS DARK!! And though very intriguing and mystical, also incredibly depressing.
Though I try not to do this as a rule, I did browse some of the reviews on Goodreads for this title. There was a real mixture of reactions which made me even more curious to read this. Some readers were really turned off by some of the content, such as scenes of incest, and some...more
This novel is part spirit world/fantasy and part historical fiction, set in colonial pre-WWII Singapore (or "the Black Isle" as the author refers to it). The story centers on young Cassandra, a poverty-stricken immigrant from Shanghai, who must survive in a shantytown Singapore, while fending off ghosts in every corner. Against the backdrop of an island in transformation (war, Japanese occupation, independence, modernization), she gradually learns to use her spiritual powers, although others try...more
I was attracted to this title because it was described as a ghost story, and I LOVE ghost stories. The Kindle sample started with a lot of mystery revealed by an elderly woman who had apparently led an extraordinary life and now believes she is being erased from history. There have been undeniable "signs" that something significant is going to happen very soon, and then she starts getting the phone calls. Is she just paranoid? Is she hallucinating? She finally allows the mysterious caller who ha...more
I've been trying to decide, for about a week now, whether or not I wanted to set this book down. Usually if I make it past the halfway point I stubbornly push on to the end. It becomes a matter of stubbornness. While the writing is good, and I'm sure fans of historical fiction would appreciate the atmosphere, it hasn't been able to suck me in. I was craving a ghost story, which is what the book jacket claims this is, but really this reads more like gloomy historical fiction. And so I stayed on t...more
I appreciated how Cassandra had all the makings of a heroic character, yet failed to achieve heroism because of her combination of inaction, poor choices, and continual challenges with self-absorption - with readers sympathizing all the way. Tan created a main character who mirrors the failings and fears within all people who are honest with themselves - and put that very relate-able character through a series of heartbreaking and atrocious events. Each time Cassandra could face adversity with p...more
OK, I didn't actually finish this book. The best thing about is the clever publisher's promotion. It will be a movie no doubt.
I suspended disbelief as one does often even in good fiction but I was finally blocked for good when the unlikely couple in flashback observes a corpse that turns out not to be a corpse but a live woman lying naked on her back who is seemingly washed up on the rocks of a coastline being eaten alive by a large octopus but is in fact having willing sex with said creature....more
I suspended disbelief as one does often even in good fiction but I was finally blocked for good when the unlikely couple in flashback observes a corpse that turns out not to be a corpse but a live woman lying naked on her back who is seemingly washed up on the rocks of a coastline being eaten alive by a large octopus but is in fact having willing sex with said creature....more
This is my third book review of a Singapore- based author and I was glad I took the time to explore its pages.
My first book Year of the Tiger penned by David Miller I felt was an exceptional piece of writing, well researched with a great plot, contemporary treatment and a lovely twist at the end. This spurred by interest into exploring the literary scene in Singapore. My second novel by Low Kay Hwa was however, a deep disappoint, coming off like a cheap supermart read that tries too hard to pass...more
My first book Year of the Tiger penned by David Miller I felt was an exceptional piece of writing, well researched with a great plot, contemporary treatment and a lovely twist at the end. This spurred by interest into exploring the literary scene in Singapore. My second novel by Low Kay Hwa was however, a deep disappoint, coming off like a cheap supermart read that tries too hard to pass...more
This book started out with amazing promise. I loved the author's style and her characters were interesting and fun to get to know - even the ones I loved to hate. The story of a family torn apart and Cassandra's ability to see ghosts is compelling. I loved the culture that I was being introduced to and had great expectations of writing a positive review of a remarkable book. So what happened? For reasons I don't understand (and I'm willing to consider that I might have come to understand had I c...more
Eh blerg. Picked this up hoping it would be something resembling an Isabel Allende novel...not even close. There were some interesting ideas that kept me reading (though finishing it was a bit like torture), but overall the book was a mess. The plots were all over the place, the characters were all over the place, and it had some of the weirdest sex scenes ever. Uncomfortable and weird to read. And more than one - more like eight of them. And one involves an octopus. I told you it was weird. The...more
It's starting to get old that I start out every review lamenting my inability to give half stars but here we go, this book is a 3.5 star book but not quite four for me. The good is that it is beautifully written throughout and it covers a very interesting culture and period in time. The less good (nothing was in fact, bad about this book)was at times the paranormal aspect was too fantastical and took me out of the vibe of the story. It wasn't the parts about Cassandra seeing the dead, that part...more
I'm not sure any of my friends would like this book. Too much sex, some graphic violence (as one would expect in a novel which includes the WWII Japanese invasion), and the ghosts turn out to be far more violent and dark than your average ghost story contains. On the other hand, the Asian setting is beautifully drawn, with a family that starts in China and ends in the (fictional, I suppose) Black Isle, with a plot that encompasses running a rubber plantation, living under British sovereignity, d...more
A very well written book but INCREDIBLY intense...Overall, the story is sweeping, dark, gothic, and gritty...It's largely set during the Japanese occupation of WWII..the main character can see the ghosts of those who are searching for closure and revenge in their deaths...she also becomes involved with the Japanese colonial that destroys her family...incidents of incest and beastiality that are VERY difficult to read... as the story covers approximately 80 years, it's difficult to summerize... T...more
I struggled with rating this book because I was immediately captivated by it but found the story began drag just shy of a quarter of the way in, I actually stopped reading it for about a week or so but then decided to finish it anyways. And truth be told I am so happy I did. It is an incredibly well written book, and felt that the author ended the characte's story beautifully. But although I enjoyed the book and found the writing itself to be beautiful and detailed I just wish I had been as capt...more
Overall I really enjoyed the writing in this book. It was very poetic at times and was told in a way that seemed almost like a verbal passing of a story, a style that fit well with the book content. While I liked the writing style and the story as a whole, I did feel like some of the scenes were more violently sexual or physically violent then they needed to be, at least for me. While I thought some violence necessary to illustrate the horrible effects of the war, I sometimes felt it was too muc...more
I was floored with THE BLACK ISLE from the second I started reading it. Written in a voice that's so incredibly engaging that you can't take your eyes from the page, it sucks you into an old world China where women are barely second class citizens and, depending on your status, superstition rules your life.
Cassandra goes through an epic transformation throughout the book. The story starts with Cassandra as an old woman both running from and to her past. She relives the world of her island throug...more
Cassandra goes through an epic transformation throughout the book. The story starts with Cassandra as an old woman both running from and to her past. She relives the world of her island throug...more
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Sandi Tan has an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University. Her short films have been shown around the world at the New York Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, MoMA and on European and Australian television. She lives in Pasadena, Calif., with her husband, the film critic John Powers, and their Siamese cat, Nico. THE BLACK ISLE is her debut novel.
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