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The Other Side of the Island

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 2,220 ratings · 389 reviews

From New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman comes a post apocalyptic novel about love, loss, and the power of human choice.

Honor and her parents have been reassigned to live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Life is peaceful there, the color of the sky is regulated by Earth Mother, a corporation that controls New Weather, and it almost never rains. Everyone f

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published September 4th 2008 by Razorbill

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Feb 02, 2011 Salma rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Chandra, Abigail, Ann, Kathryn

Shelves: favorites

What if society as we knew it ended through a series of natural disasters? And a woman (who resembles the classic cookie-baking grandmother) rose up to organize those left in the wake of a ruined world and created a new order? One where the skies and earth are regulated so that bad weather and catastrophe is nonexistent? Where there is no such thing as disorder?

This is the world the author creates for Honor Greenspoon- ten years old when the book starts, fourteen when it ends. We don't know the...more What if society as we knew it ended through a series of natural disasters? And a woman (who resembles the classic cookie-baking grandmother) rose up to organize those left in the wake of a ruined world and created a new order? One where the skies and earth are regulated so that bad weather and catastrophe is nonexistent? Where there is no such thing as disorder?

This is the world the author creates for Honor Greenspoon- ten years old when the book starts, fourteen when it ends. We don't know the precise year Honor occupies, it could be anywhere from 2050 to 4000. But the continents have practically dissolved because of a worldwide flood- the inhabitable spaces left are patches of land that stood the storm and flood tests. They're now called islands. The grandmother-lady, who everyone calls Earth Mother, keeps the islands, and everything else, numbered.

But like any paradise of fiction, all is not what it seems. Underneath the Earth Mother's rules and climate regulations is a sinister plan, which Honor, to her horror, realizes can mean the end of her life as she knows it.

The author has mastered most of the elements of story they teach you in creative writing classes: description, plot, pace, etc. Character...not as much. I found that Honor's parents and friends were a little wispy for me. Still, for anyone wanting to write, this book can provide a great model on how to write a well-crafted, thoughtful, page-turner.

Of course, I wondered if the new world was predominantly white- the only reference made to the existence of people of color were some 'tanned girls with smooth black hair.' I don't think this was intentional- I don't know the author's background, but I think the general tendency with writers is to reflect the backgrounds they know in their writing. And if most writers grow up around and befriend only people of their own races, well, there you go. But to get back to the story...

I think Goodman was probably influenced by Brave New World and 1984- in a lot of ways, it seems as if she decided to just merge those two plots. In addition to deriving from Twilight Zone and sci-fi movies. For an adult reader, this might take down its originality grade a notch, but of course a child reader won't care about such things. The best thing is, the book will make the reader, regardless of age, think about larger issues like environmental hazards, authority, politics, etc. And that's always a feat in itself. (less)

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Jan 24, 2009 Hayden rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalyptic, teen, sci-fi, children, fitting-in

I am a sucker for a good apocalypse, but this is the best one I've found in a while. Goodman's dystopic future world mostly builds on familiar ideas. The earth is flooded except for a few scattered islands, the oceans are the enemy, and the Earth Mother rules the remaining population with the weapons of fear, paranoia, and overwhelming pressure to conform. But this book is so beautifully written, and so gripping, I couldn't put it down. It's better than The Giver. For reals.

Other Side covers Ho...more

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Apr 07, 2009 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, ya, dystopian, read-in-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm harsher on this than other books, simply because these types of novels are my favorite, dystopian world building, coming of age, growing to realize that what you've been told your entire life is wrong...

This fell flat for me. I almost felt like I didn't know what story the author was telling. Is this the parent's story, or the child's story? I never felt invested in either. I kept feeling angry at the parents, recklessly putting their children's lives in danger, in most circumstances I admir...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip marked it as to-read

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews, kindle-can-buy, teen, library-interlibrary-loan, apocalyptic-dystopian

Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com

It's the eighteenth year of Enclosure and everything on the islands in the Tranquil Sea have become regulated. Earth Mother and her Corporation, who have a vision for a world with only happiness, control everything from jobs to the weather to children's names - and expect everyone to conform to this view of normality, no matter what the consequence. On Island 365 lives a girl named Honor and her family, who don't really fit into this society.

While Honor des...more Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com

It's the eighteenth year of Enclosure and everything on the islands in the Tranquil Sea have become regulated. Earth Mother and her Corporation, who have a vision for a world with only happiness, control everything from jobs to the weather to children's names - and expect everyone to conform to this view of normality, no matter what the consequence. On Island 365 lives a girl named Honor and her family, who don't really fit into this society.

While Honor desperately tries to fit in, her parents try even harder to not fit in. They break curfew, don't pray to Mother Earth, and biggest of all have a second child. When Honor meets Helix she soon finds out some dark secrets; those that don't conform soon disappear...forever.

Filled with fear that her parents might be taken, Honor tries to change even more, thinking that if she fits in, no attention will be brought to her parents. Will all her efforts be in vain? Will she and Helix uncover more secrets about the island?

From the very first paragraph I was drawn into the story and knew that it would be great. As it progressed, I was certainly not disappointed. Having only read a few post-apocalyptic or dystopian society books, I was a little unsure as to what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised with the ability of the book to hold my attention. I felt like most of the characters, especially Honor, were well-developed and real. Something that really stood out to me was Honor's ability to stay real, and very human-like, in a setting composed of conforming events and questions.

In this case it was easy to connect with Honor, because the author made the reader have some of the same questions as she did. Ms. Goodman also did a great job of creating suspense within the novel. There were many times where I was not able to pull myself away from the book at all. The questions that the book brings up keep you enthralled and wanting more. Overall, I was very much impressed with THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND, and am very much hoping that there will be a sequel.

Fans of THE CITY OF EMBER, THE UGLIES, and THE GIVER will really enjoy this book.

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Sep 14, 2008 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Goodman, Allegra. 2008. The Other Side of the Island.

First paragraph chapter one: All this happened many years ago, before the streets were air-conditioned. Children played outside then, and in many places the sky was naturally blue. A girl moved to a town house in the Colonies on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea.

Back cover: About this island, Honor knows this much is true: Enclosure means safe and secure. Different is dangerous. Disappear means no one here. And Earth Mother is always watching.

Jac...more Goodman, Allegra. 2008. The Other Side of the Island.

First paragraph chapter one: All this happened many years ago, before the streets were air-conditioned. Children played outside then, and in many places the sky was naturally blue. A girl moved to a town house in the Colonies on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea.

Back cover: About this island, Honor knows this much is true: Enclosure means safe and secure. Different is dangerous. Disappear means no one here. And Earth Mother is always watching.

Jacket flap: In the eighteenth glorious year of Enclosure, long after The Flood, a young girl named Honor moves with her parents to Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Life on the tropical island is peaceful--there is no sadness and no visible violence in this world. Earth Mother and her Corporation have created New Weather. Sky color is regulated and it almost never rains. Every family fits into its rightful, orderly, and predictable place...
Except Honor's. Her family does not follow the rules. They ignore curfew, sing songs, and do not pray to Earth Mother. Honor doesn't fit in with the other children at the Old Colony School. Then she meets Helix, a boy who slowly helps her uncover a terrible secret about the Island: Sooner or later, those who do not fit disappear, and don't ever come back.

The Other Side of The Island is dystopian fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction. At some point in the future, Earth is devastated by a terrible, tremendous Flood. An event that wipes out 90% of human life. The survivors band together--and Earth Mother along with seven council members who become the Corporation--seek to restore Earth and protect humanity forever and ever. The enclosure. Wanting to "protect" humanity by enclosing the islands--creating ceilings for Earth Mother's colonies. This is the basic premise for the novel.

The novel is interesting. It did hold my attention throughout. While I felt it was perhaps a bit more premise-driven than character-driven, a handful of characters are fully developed. I've read reviews that mention they (as readers) had no attachment to the characters, to Honor and her family, but I can't say that I agree with them. At least not completely. While Honor isn't perhaps as compelling a narrator as Jonas is from The Giver or Lina and Doon from The City of Ember, her story has its moments. And judging it just on the 2008 competition, I would say it's more than able to hold its own. (I've read The Resistance (sequel to The Declaration), The Inferior, Gem X, Shift, In the Company of Whispers, Neptune's Children, Fearless, and The Sky Inside. And I've also read The Diamond of Darkhold, the fourth in the Ember series.)

The book is built around a few too many coincidences for me. Slight spoiler: (The mother just *happens* to teach her daughter to count in base two so that four or five years later when the mother is captured, she can--while supposedly in a semi-permanent drug-induced trance--communicate a secret message to her daughter while decorating a cake. The daughter just happened to be there on a field trip to the bakery when she notices that one of the workers is in fact her *disappeared* mother.) End of spoiler. But when it comes down to it, you can let those things bug you to the point where they drive you crazy, or you can get over it and try to enjoy it for what it is.

One of the more interesting aspects of the novel was how it transformed texts to match this new society's needs. The Lord's Prayer, for example, became the Corporate Creed:

Our Councilors who are seven. Corporation is your name. Your plan to come, Enclosure done--on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And correct all our trespasses. As you correct those who trespass against us. And lead us not into Inaccuracy, but deliver us from lies. For ours is the planet and the power and the glory. Amen.

Reading is subjective. And some books it takes time to really evaluate. For example, a book can leave you with an impression--a genuine impression, a strong one--yet sometimes a few weeks or a few months later, you could have forgotten all about it. Or your impression has weakened or lessened. It doesn't stay with you like you thought it might. And with dystopias, it is often the lasting impression that matters. I can read a dozen dystopias a year...but when it comes down to it...The Giver is the only one that is able to hold onto the top spot year after year after year. It's that rare and spectacular book that from the moment it was published became a classic. It's too soon for me to know if Honor's story will "stick" with me now that I've finished the book.

I would certainly recommend the book to those readers (like me) who can't get enough of either dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic fiction. The book isn't perfect, isn't even practically perfect, but I found it entertaining and interesting. And I think it was worth my time.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews(less)

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Jan 09, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s, fiction, climate, change, dystopia, science

Global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt and sea levels to rise; consequently, much of the Earth’s land has disappeared, leaving only high-lying islands. A corporation run by a woman known as Earth Mother now rules all of the islands. Honor and her family have moved to Island 365, and from the outset it looks like they’ll have a hard time fitting in. First of all, Honor’s name is all wrong. Everyone born in her year has a name that begins with H, but Honor’s name has a silent H and i...more

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Oct 25, 2011 El Templo de las Mil Puertas added it

Shelves: 16-eltemplo, que-no-leerás-en-español

"Honor y su familia acaban de mudarse a la plácida Isla 365 en el mar Tranquil. Allí todo parece perfecto: el cielo está controlado digitalmente para que siempre tenga un agradable color azul y nunca llueva, en las calles siempre hace la temperatura ideal, las personas jamás se pelean, nunca hay nadie triste y todo está envuelto por una angustiosa calma que la joven es incapaz de comprender. Todos los habitantes de la isla rezan día y noche a la Madre Tierra y le dan gracias porque les permitier...more

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Dec 31, 2008 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: disaster, dystopia, environment, family, post-apocalyptic, schools, young-adult, science-fiction

The alt-text for two stars here on Goodreads says that a ranking of two stars means "it was ok," and that sums up my feelings about The Other Side of the Island. It's certainly not a bad book, not even a bad contribution to environmental-disaster-dystopian fiction for young adults, but "okay" is about the most enthusiasm I can muster, considering the questions I was left with and overall lack of excitement throughout the book.

There are some good subtle touches in the book - I like how references...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Clement Leveau rated it 4 of 5 stars

Clement Leveau
The Other Side of the Island
This book is about this girl named Honor. She lives in a post-apocalyptic world where there was a massive flood that submerged the world with only the mountain tops remaining. Now because of that flood a dystopian society called the corporation rules the world and is trying to establish something called new weather which corrects floods and storms. In this book Honor is made fun of and picked on because she is not ordinary. Her parents also behave like...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Liam Bury rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 12/20/2011 - 2 hours -
This book was great. I read it during all of yesterday's study hall. I liked the book because it shows the main character's ability to remain herself while the whole world is pushing against her. In the book, everyone lives on small islands which were the only land left ater the ice caps melted. The islands are surrounded b domes which have projected images of the sky and sun which protect them from the toxic air, ravaging storms, and floods. Everyone is afraid of the ocea...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Jenna rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you like to read books about how the world might look in the future, this is a great one.

The book starts as Honor is 10. The wording is simple, as a child would see things; however, the point of view is 3rd. Honor doesn't fit in because she's come from the wild northern islands, she's been homeschooled, and her name has a silent H. Classes are determined by the first letter of your names. Names come from approved lists. The teachers say people will be confused and hear an O in Honor, believi...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Nora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 6th-8th graders

Shelves: teen-fiction

My kind of book, once again dystopian fiction that I always enjoy. With a relatable teenage girl as the lead character, I know I'll be able to encourage 7th and 8th grade girls who don't think of themselves as sci-fi fans (or may not want to admit that they are) to read this book. The story takes place on a small island after most of the Earth has been covered by water. The island has a dome cover to protect it from severe weather. When it's necessary to overthrow the evil dictator and let the p...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Karen Ball rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another dystopia! This one reminds me a lot of The Giver, but with a clearer setting, more information about how this place has come to be, and actually more realistic options for the people in the story. Honor and her parents have been reassigned to live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Her parents don't quite fit in, and neither does she in this extremely regulated place. In their first apartment, the Neighborhood Watch arrives to tell them that they are not allowed to sing Honor to sleep to...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Yolanda Sfetsos rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-contemporary, ya-futuristic

When I started reading this book yesterday, I was concerned that some of the subject matter was similar to my own YA futuristic... but I didn't need to worry. Asides from a few minor similarities, it's completely different.

This book was great! I loved every minute of it. From start to finish, I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to Honor and her family. On an island where the colours of the sky are controlled and everyone is expected to be the same, Honor's family seems to stick out....more

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Dec 13, 2010 P.M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ten year old Honor and her mother and father have just been forcibly relocated to an island in the Tranquil Sea from their home in the Northern Islands. When Honor is being interviewed for her place in school, the headmistress stresses that her name is not Acceptable since the H is silent. Honor struggles to fit in while her parents secretly join the Forecasters, a group of rebels who want to displace Earth Mother who is bent on Enclosure - ceiling the islands against the onslaught of Weather. W...more

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May 05, 2010 Krystle rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Other Side of the Island gives up a stark picture of the future when evolving science and paranoia meld together to create a society ruled under utmost Totalitarianism.

Wow, some of the stuff the author thought up in here was pretty wicked. The concept of this book is fantastic and thoroughly developed. Some of the plot twists were predictable and others weren’t. The characters, especially Honor, were realistic with plenty of room for growth, and had their own vices and flaws.

The pacing of th...more

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Nov 26, 2009 Sarah Finley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have a weakness for dystopian novels, and this was a fine one. It's set sometime in the future where the world has flooded and all the land exposed land left is a dotting of islands. Someone is building domes to control the weather on the islands, though this doesn't always work perfectly. Children are taught to believe in this New Weather and to worship the Mother Earth who made it possible. Order is supreme - even down to pest control, names for your children, and how much "money" you are al...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Shaya rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: middle-schoolers who want more books like The Giver

Shelves: school-year-2009-2010, science-fiction

The Other Side of the Island is reasonably intersting but lacking a little in character development and surprises in the plot. It has some ideas to reflect on about what our values and what we see as problems in the world.

One thing that distinguishes The Other Side of the Island from other dystopian stories is that this is clearly set after the World suffers some of the effects of global warming. This aspect makes the story seem a bit more relevant and possible. Another distinguishing aspect is...more The Other Side of the Island is reasonably intersting but lacking a little in character development and surprises in the plot. It has some ideas to reflect on about what our values and what we see as problems in the world.

One thing that distinguishes The Other Side of the Island from other dystopian stories is that this is clearly set after the World suffers some of the effects of global warming. This aspect makes the story seem a bit more relevant and possible. Another distinguishing aspect is that words that are common in our world are used with a different shade of meaning. The controlling leader of the Colonies uses words like Accept, Mother Earth, Safe and Secure as descriptors of Her perfect society. Words like Rejector, Enemy of Nature, Hijacker, Trespasser, etc. are used to describe those against the controlling Corporation. But these were the "good guys" in the story. I thought it was interesting to think about what the words really mean and how they can be represent positive and negative ideas depending on who is using them and how.

And I did like the message that our human wish for safety can harm us.

I liked the development of the main character, Honor. She starts out willing to dissent like her parents do but then gets squashed into wanting to conform because there is so much pressure to. I never felt like I got to know any of the characters inside and out. They did change but they were a little too cardboard for my taste. The third person narration contributed to that.

The plot was pretty predictable. It fit the template of dystopian novels.

It felt a lot like The Giver by Lois Lowry. And I've also read The Silenced by James DeVita in the same genre. Of the three The Giver is the best written. I thought The Silenced was very haunting. I still think of certain images from it today, a year after I read it. The Other Side of the Island has a world where it's easy to see how we got from where we are to there. But I'd recommend the other two over this book.

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Apr 23, 2009 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is another of those "scary future" worlds. Global warming has resulted in melted ice-cap, world-wide floods and destruction. As the book opens, one family has been "retrieved" from the north islands where they were basically hiding out, and assimilated into the current society of the southern islands. The government is under the control of Earth Mother who promises to protect and shield the planet from future destruction by use of weather control, and literal shields that stretch over the p...more

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Apr 05, 2009 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile-fiction

This was a pretty good book. It's about this new world led by Earth Mother who is a total freak. You don't ever meet her, but she's definitely a weird one.. enforcing the rules she enforced and coming up with that weather shit.

At the beginning of the book, I didn't know what to think about her parents. They seemed so irresponsible and they didn't seem to care what would happen to Honor, but as I got further and further in the book, I realized that maybe it was better that they did the things the...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Zooey Dahl rated it 4 of 5 stars

I spotted this book on my bookshelf, and was washed in the nostalgia of reading this story. I received the book as an arc book many years ago. That was before the blog, so naturally I wanted to share a review with my readers today.

I haven’t read a lot of dystopian novels at this point in my life, but I do love them. The Other Side of the Island has only increased my intrigue in this genre. What I loved about this novel is the idea of Mother Earth being something dangerous. The idea of Mother Ear...more I spotted this book on my bookshelf, and was washed in the nostalgia of reading this story. I received the book as an arc book many years ago. That was before the blog, so naturally I wanted to share a review with my readers today.

I haven’t read a lot of dystopian novels at this point in my life, but I do love them. The Other Side of the Island has only increased my intrigue in this genre. What I loved about this novel is the idea of Mother Earth being something dangerous. The idea of Mother Earth is, at least to me, a comforting one. Mother Earth is supposed to protect her people, but in The Other Side of the Island this beautiful ideal is corrupted by propaganda and distrust. The irony of a motherly figure collecting the chaos of a ruined world together only to become the persecutor of the new world is both disturbing and thought provoking. I think this aspect of the novel is what makes me want to return to it for another read. Also, in the years since I’ve read this, I have become more aware of the global concerns that threaten the world. I wish I had been more conscious of this in my first reading as I may have related to the terror of the dystopia better.

As for the main character, I really loved Honor. Referring back to a previous review I’d written for this novel (I’d share it with you, but it mostly just summarizes the novel) I was inspired by her fight against conformity. Honor was a good heroine, and I think that, even though she was a girl heroine, this book is appropriate for both boys and girls. Honor is relatable in her defiance of tyranny despite her young age. In fact, I would say this is a good read for all ages.

My only concern with the novel were Honor’s parents, I believe they could have done better at protecting their daughter, instead of drawing so much bad attention to themselves that they were taken away. I don’t know how to describe it; they just seemed, I don’t know, a bit remote. Again, it’s been a couple of years since I read this novel, so I’m not going to pretend like I could analyze its plot and characters without a fresher read. That said, the novel is still quite fresh in my mind; it was a good story, which has stuck with me. You know, like all the good ones do.
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Jun 12, 2012 Alyssa rated it 3 of 5 stars

If I wanted to rate this book on how good the actual story is, I'd give it a 5. But that's not the only thing I'm rating this book on.

Well, first of all, the writing wasn't great. It was quite simple (which can be fine) but the story didn't develop enough for me to get past that. It was not detail oriented. The book was too short, there were a lot of opportunities for things to be explored that didn't happen. The ending was abrupt.

I was confused about Honor's age most of the time. It says that s...more

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Aug 28, 2009 E. Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Honor Greenspoon lives in a world where the polar ice caps have melted, destroying what we know as continents, leaving only islands dispersed across the earth. Earth Mother and the Corporation have numbered the Islands and moved all the survivors to ones deemed proper for colonization. At the age of ten, Honor and her parents are moved to Island 365 where she attends the Old Colony School. She doesn't fit in. All the other girls from year H have names from the list like Helena and Hester. Honor'...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Stephany rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is about a girl living in the future after a great flood destroys all but a few islands on earth. A woman named Earth Mother has risen to power and, together with a powerful organization of engineers called the Corporation, is trying to "ceil" the islands that remain so that adverse weather will never be able to destroy again. In order for Earth Mother's goals to be reached, she must have total cooperation from everyone. Parents may only have one child, and are only allowed to name the...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Abby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s, dystopia, teen

3.5 stars. A satisfying, well-written addition to the ever-expanding category of YA dystopian fiction with an environmental twist. In this story, the earth's continents have been reduced to islands by the catastrophic effects of global warming, and Big Brother = Earth Mother, the seemingly benevolent leader who rules the "safe" and "secure" Colonies, where she's trying to establish New Weather and a new, authoritarian society "for the good of the planet." Ten-year-old Honor has recently moved to...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, sci-fi-fantasy, ya

I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The plot was really good but the character development just wasn’t there. It felt like all of the characters were the same person with different names and there was no character growth. Honor as a 10-year-old was the same as Honor as a 14-year-old.

One aspect of the book that I did find really interesting was the conundrum that Honor’s parents were in. They, being revolutionaries, were having difficulty coming to terms with letting their ch...more

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Jan 23, 2009 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, 2009, sci-fi-fantasy

This was okay. Not great, not horrible, but okay. Honor and her family move to an island where Mother Earth (a woman) controls everything - the weather, their lives, the school curriculum, etc. Honor's parents resist this brainwashing, but Honor tries to conform until one day her parents vanish and she's forced to live in an orphanage, trying to figure out what is going on and how to right everything again. Parts were interesting; I liked the bits about how and why kids believe the things they'r...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Sophie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, a-z-challenge, 2013

The Other Side of the Island is set in a world filled with only islands. After a series of natural disasters humanities numbers begin to dwindle people are left shaken and scared. In our time of need our savior Earth Mother and the Corporation come in and saves the day. Sheltering humanity one island at a time with New Weather. People believe that they are protecting them, or are they really just controlling them?

Honor and her family move to island 365 after they are caught living in the unmarke...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Clarabel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

C'est une lecture au ton monotone, et qui pourtant parvient à nous intéresser de bout en bout au sort des habitants de l'île, de Honor, ses parents et leurs amis. Le mystère qui plane laisse supposer des tas d'hypothèses, et franchement la fin n'était pas si évidente à trouver ! Le roman dénonce aussi la propagande, les régimes autoritaires, l'annihilation des esprits critiques, mais aussi les conséquences de nos actes sur la planète, les dérèglements climatiques etc. Enfin, et surtout, c'est au...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Corinne rated it 5 of 5 stars

A new age is upon the earth. After the Flood, the planet was reborn as a series of Islands, looked after by the glorious Earth Mother. She has created a calm and safe world, where anything inaccurate or unpredictable is a thing of the past.

For Honor, though, her life isn't as simple. The weather is much more predictable than her parents, who aren't as conscientious about following the rules as they should be. As Honor grows up, she has to decide to either fit in with everyone else or doubt the r...more

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About Allegra Goodman

Ms. Goodman's biography can be found on her website at: http://www.allegragoodman.com/goodman...

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“On breezy days when the wind was not too light and not too strong, Will and Pamela and the children flew their homemade kites in Peaceful Park until they were specks in the blue sky. When the wind was just right, the kites felt so strong and safe up there that Honor imagined nothing could budge them.

'Ho bum," boasted Will, 'I could stand here all day and this kite would hold. It's like fishing.'

'Fishing in reverse,' said Pamela. 'Sky fishing.'

'What do you fish for in the air?' asked Honor.

Pamela and Will started laughing. 'Oh, planets,' said Will. 'The occasional comet. An asteroid or two.'

Honor held one kite string, and Will held the other. Pamela held Quintilian. On those afternoons, four did not seem like the wrong number for a family. Four seemed just right.” — 1 person liked it

“I have a dark sense of humor,' Fanny explained.

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked Honor.

'It means I'm funny once you get to know me,' Fanny said.” — 1 person liked it

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The Other Side of the Island

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