The Black Isle

Siyah Ada #1

by Sandi Tan

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 the Black Isle is swarming with ghosts.

Haunted and lonely, Cassandra at first tries to ignore her ability to see the restless apparitions that drift down the street and crouch in cold corners at school. Yet despite her struggles with these spirits, Cassandra comes to love her troubled new home. And soon, she attracts the notice of a dangerously charismatic man.

Even as she becomes a fearless young woman, the Isle's dark forces won't let her go. War is looming, and Cassandra wonders if her unique gift might be her beloved island's only chance for salvation . . .

Taking readers from the 1920s, through the Japanese occupation during WWII, to the Isle's radical transformation into a gleaming cosmopolitan city, The Black Isle is a sweeping epic--a deeply imagined, fiercely original tale from a vibrant new voice in fiction.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Ghosts, Historical

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Sandi Tan is a filmmaker (SHIRKERS) and novelist. And hasn't used goodreads in YEARS! Her novel LURKERS is forthcoming from Soho Press in Spring 2021.

Please visit: https://instagram.com/_sanditan_/

or find her on Facebook
facebook.com/sanditan


About THE BLACK ISLE:
A PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY *PICK OF THE WEEK*

LOS ANGELES TIMES: “An ambitious, supernatural coming-of-age story… With its paranormal-meets-goth sensibility and angsty, flawed-but-fierce heroine, The Black Isle is a natural fit for the Twilight crowd… But the book is decidedly darker than the vampire series and not without social commentary.”

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Ambitious...Gripping...Gothic... Mesmerizing."
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0...

LA WEEKLY: "The Black Isle is an elegant, disturbing and satisfying read, both epic and intimate."
http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2012/0...

VOGUE: "Destined to be among summer’s sleeper hits is Sandi Tan’s gulpable first novel, THE BLACK ISLE... A juicy psychosexual odyssey."

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: "An engaging and engrossing novel that will absolutely captivate you and should not be missed."
http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-04...

Reviews

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 through an out-of-print book at the library. When she find that "her" book has been desecrated, her world gets rocked. And infiltrated, by a less-than-welcome guest that wants Cassandra's story. The plot flips back to the present a few times throughout the book, reminding the reader that Cassandra is narrating the story to someone, that there's a reason for this recounting.

When the greater story begins, Cassandra is Ling, twin of Li, the latter the more favored child because of his male status and the fact that Cassandra hogged the goods in the womb. So while she came out nice and healthy Li was a bit starved. To see the dynamic between brother and sister based on the parents' behavior was, at times, horrifying to watch. They're twins so they share the same birthday except Cassandra didn't get gifts. Those were reserved for the favored son. It's a cultural aspect that I had a hard time getting over and it really bothered me to read.

I'll admit, Chinese culture isn't something I'm crazy about but the ghost story aspect of THE BLACK ISLE drew me in and I actually learned quite a few things about the culture. And it even answered a few of my questions about the people in general. I'd like to believe that a story so rich in Chinese culture would, in the same breath, be accurate as well. I believed everything I read without a blink but you'll have to ask someone better versed in Chinese culture just how close it all is. Right now I have no reason to doubt any of it.

It's not too long into the story that things take a turn for the strange and Cassandra starts being able to see ghosts. It actually coincides with an incident in the park involving Li and their subsequent distancing. That incident, though, I don't think is very realized. It serves as a catalyst to get the twins apart (they were pretty much inseparable until that point) and then it comes back in at the end. But it doesn't do much for character-building. I thought it was going to have some greater impact on Li other than just a personality shift but there wasn't much. He got cranky for a little while but that was about it.

When they up and moved to the Isle you get the full realization of just how incompetent Cassandra's father is and how reliant he is on his children to do his job. I was flabbergasted by this and how long both of them actually put up with his ineptitude. And it wasn't he just didn't have the smarts for it. He just had better things to do with his time and it really angered his kids, especially when it was entirely their doing that got the plantation they moved to up and running and the workers in order. Of course their job was thankless.

There was a tryst between Cassandra and Li that really bothered me and it's another aspect of the story that I'm not sure how relevant it is to the greater plot. Like I said I'm unfamiliar with Chinese culture but the ease with which the siblings entered into a sexual relationship really took me aback. Was this okay because they're twins? They hid it from their father so there was some level of shame there; just not a lot. I was bothered by it, by its casual attitude and then it's relevance was gone. It served its purpose for the plot at the moment but, like the incident in the park, I don't think it served it's purpose to the greater story.

Cassandra is a character trying desperately to be her own person. She breaks off from her father and brother and gets a job on her own after finishing her schooling. That job brings her to her fiancee, the son of her school's proprietor, and she's elevated into a social strata that she wouldn't otherwise be in. Of course the male members of her family resent her for it. She's supposed to be subservient to her father and brother, not rise above them. But she was determined to make her own way, albeit on the backs of wealthier others. It's because of this that she officially changes her name from Ling to Cassandra.

As time progressed in the story itself it does come across, a bit, as Cassandra effectively whoring her way into the best possible scenarios for herself. She does appear to have feelings for two of the three suitors in the story but their positions in society sway my feelings about her a bit and make her look a bit like a gold digger. These were opportune matches. She just happened to have feelings for them as well. But I don't believe she would have entered into those relationships simply for the status. I do believe she loved two of the three. I just think the author wrote it in such a way as to make the reader see, just slightly, what other people might see in Cassandra. She is not a woman that actually worked her way up from the dredges. She was well-placed, well-timed and well-suited. Not her fault but it is convenient.

The second suitor? Well he's not really a suitor. He was one of the occupying soldiers when Japan invaded and kept Cassandra locked in her fiance's house and raped her repeatedly and referred to her as his wife. It was a very weird situation and Taro absolutely took advantage of everything he could about her. He kept her compliant to his whims by dangling her would-be family and friends in front of her. It was a horrible situation and throughout, since it's in first person, you know that she's doing it for other people, for Daniel and her brother although I don't doubt some level of self-preservation. No one wants to die, not really. So I don't begrudge her that.

It takes Cassandra a while to come into accepting her abilities. Issa, a shaman of sorts, tries to teach her but she bails, afraid of what she's getting into. Years later she realizes that there is a benefit to working with the damned, at a heavy price, of course. The ghosts of the Isle become tools for everyone to use, from Cassandra to prove a point, to suitor number three to get the island where he wants it to be. It's not until she's much older that she fully realizes the total repercussions of what she can do, what she can see and how it affects not just her but everyone.

THE BLACK ISLE is a story about growth fueled by ghosts. Ling/Cassandra denies her true self for a long time but slowly she comes into her own, taking hold of who she really is and embracing it, at times not fully understanding what it is she's undertaking. The ghosts are a prominent aspect of the story but I wouldn't necessarily call THE BLACK ISLE a ghost story. It's a coming-of-age and moving past it. It's accepting your past and knowing when revenge has already been paid. I can't say enough good things about it. The voice is PHENOMENAL, balancing an elegant prose with a relatable one resulting in a story that anyone can love and get drawn into. I'm so glad I opted to read this. It called out to me from the NetGalley list and for good reason. There are some books in your life that will leave a lasting impression for any number of reasons. THE BLACK ISLE is one of mine.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 skillfulness in liberating a history which is regularly silenced. The experience of reading this book was both enjoyable and educational – a balance that is cherished for its infrequency.

The Black Isle tells a story brought to life by dimensional characters, a vivid setting, and the author’s honed craft of careful and deliberate writing. The metaphors that are delicately weaved throughout the novel work to enhance the reality of Cassandra’s burdensome endeavors as she struggles to accept who she becomes during evolving situations. Tan’s characters are unquestionably complex; absolutely every character she introduces is not who they initially appear to be. The author carefully introduces taboo subjects without relieving the reader’s comfort.

What concerned me throughout the book was the resigned attitude of the main character; during circumstances which permitted, even invited her retaliation, Cassandra stood resolute and passive. In her past she has amply proven that she takes pleasure in speaking her mind, but as she grows old and submits to her age she represses her own ability to be heard and readily ceases to exercise her opinion to those who are in dire need of a wake up call. Rather than her ability to see and speak to ghosts, it becomes apparent that she is actually cursed by her reserved silence. Nonetheless, Cassandra is a strong character. She may not flaunt an unfettered courage or brute strength, but her ability to endure in the most hopeless situations is unparalleled.

In The Black Isle, the reader will quickly become entranced by Cassandra’s somber and sagacious tale as they too gradually fail to resist the ghosts that haunt them.

Rating: ★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 drama so everything is thrown at the wall and fingers crossed, something will stick. Nope. It all slides down and there is a putrid mess of a plot left on the floor.

There are nudges/winks to aspect/life of Singapore history and locale but the problem is for 'islanders' such as myself, it deters from the flow of whatever plot ere might be. For non-islander, it is hard to anchor onto any semblance of coherence in the plot.

Someone at Grand Central have been drinking too much Cool-Aid and thinking of passing this off as some new-age exoticism.

This is not haunting. It is a nightmare.

[Ali]

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 really hard to read through. There are few things that will make me set a book down and one was in this book. I'm greatly saddened by it, again because the writing and story outside of these strange sexual things is so beautiful.

I would say if you can handle some incest and beastiality then this would be a great read. It just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

Huge thanks to Grand Central Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read this!

[Noa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dit begon als een prima driesterrenboek helemaal in oktober; niet veeleisend, lekker meeslepend, fijne fantasy-achtige, niet-al-te-hard-nadenken-lectuur. Oh boy, was I wrong.

Allereerst is het kwalitatief gewoon niet goed. Er was helemaal geen verhaal, alleen momenten van extreem leed, alleen maar met elkaar verbonden doordat ze voorkwamen in het leven van dezelfde persoon. Het plot, als dat er al was, vloog van hot naar her en zaken die aan het einde ontzettend belangrijk leken werden pas halverwege geïntroduceerd - en zaken die aan het begin belangrijk leken werden halverwege aan de kant geveegd, als haastig opgeloste losse eindjes. De personages hadden allemaal een identieke stem behalve toen iemands tong werd doorgeknipt, toen ging hij ineens met een humoristisch Asterix-esk slisje praten (totdat hij dat afleerde natuurlijk want wat zijn consequenties). Er was geen duidelijkheid over de regels van de geestenwereld - Cassandra kon de geesten het hele boek horen, behalve toen het ineens belangrijk was. Op bepaalde momenten in het boek verdween het belang van de geestenwereld ook ineens.

De enige rode draad in het boek was het feit dat Cassandra door heel veel verschillende personages gedwongen werd iets te doen, waartegen ze luidkeels protesteerde, om er vervolgens achter te komen dat ze het toch wel fijn vond. Ik heb het over letterlijk alles van meegenomen worden naar een plek waar ze trauma's op had gelopen tot gechanteerd worden zodat ze een baan kreeg die ze niet wilde tot verkracht worden (door like iedereen) tot zwanger raken van een man die niets anders deed dan haar verraden (waarbij ze zijn verraad al snel over het hoofd zag, en het had over 'mijn verradelijke lichaam' en de 'indringer', totdat ze ineens besloot dat ze eigenlijk toch graag zwanger wilde zijn. En dat ze dat alleen ging doen. Totdat de man zei dat hij ging helpen, ook al wilde ze het niet, want toen was dat toch eigenlijk wel fijn). Je kunt niet de hele tijd schreeuwen dat je personage zo'n sterke, koppige vrouw is door personages dit constant tegen haar te laten zeggen als het enige wat je in het boek doet is dat je hoofdpersoon eigenlijk alles wel prima vindt.

De verkrachtingen waren een ding. Het waren er veel, zowel bij de hoofdpersoon als bij andere personages. De hoofdpersoon werd aangerand door iedere man van wie ze zei te houden, van haar broer (over de incest werd verder niet heel veel gepraat in het boek, oeps), tot haar verloofde, tot de man van wie ze hoopte dat hij met haar zou trouwen vlak voordat hij trouwde met iemand anders, tot een oorlogsmisdadiger die haar gevangen hield en haar in een kamer vol generaals nam, tot een random personage op een plantage. Dit was niet iets wat aangestipt werd, Cassandra vergaf iedereen en vond het de helft van de tijd achteraf best prima. Dit is een belangrijk thema, een zwaar thema, en er werd mee omgegaan als puur choquerende plottwists (dit geldt ook voor de twee keer dat vrouwen die helemaal niets met het verhaal te maken hadden werden verkracht door of met zeedieren. Het was echt heel naar).

Verder stikte het boek nog van de saaie, clichématige schrijftrucjes; de haat tussen vrouwen van dezelfde leeftijd, een zwak perspectief uit de toekomst om het geheel te omlijsten, enz. Oh, en de enige moslim die in een positief licht werd neergezet werd vlak voor het einde ineens en volledig zonder reden een terrorist. Fijn.

Ik wilde dit boek graag leuk vinden, ik lees te weinig over deze cultuur en geschiedenis, maar dit boek was een problematisch snooze-fest dat me veel te vaak met mijn ogen deed rollen. Ik heb het alleen maar uitgelezen omdat ik er zo lang in bezig was dat het een uitdaging was geworden, maar ik had het eigenlijk moeten wegleggen na de eerste keer dat ik er misselijk van werd.

[Bonnie]

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.

[Syahira · Rating 3 out of 5]

#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. Third, although Asian history was not on of my favourable subject but the book made it intriguing enough to make me continue reading from past midnight till dawn (it was around 6am now and last night, before my kitchen class, I had drunk a potent concoction of caffeine and chocolate that kept me awake even after my usual nightly babysitting of my fussy baby nephew) that instead of continuing sleeping on this very bed, amidst being surrounded by the warmth that I had left after sitting in avid trance at a length of time, I went on to review the book while it's still fresh.

Why suddenly I'm filled with flowery words now? I blame the book. Really.

The descriptive writing style is linear and easy to comprehend. It flows with occasional setbacks from the futures and the timeline converging itself into a memoir told by an old woman about her past. Personally, I can hardly find fault in the author's writing style and I rarely read descriptive novels. I do enjoy reading her prose despite it being too infectiously flowery. The story was written in the woman's point of views with careful fluidity of a structured storylines and it does contrast to the dark world of the darkest part of the century.

The story is narrated in several time frames from the introduction of the narrator, an old woman in the future, to the narrator's past when she was called Ying with her family in Shanghai. As a child, she had led a rather privilege life despite her growing up to an absent father, a shrewd mother, an attention-hungry twin brother, a finicky sets of sisters and the watchful eyes of her maids. Then one day, an incident tore at the relationship between her and her brother made her became sensitive enough that she began to see ghastly things in her room. As the world at the brink of the first war and as the inevitable events that surround the 20th century era finally led her father, her twin brother and herself being spirited away to a curious isle called Black Isle or Pulau Hitam, leaving her mother and twin sisters to their old house in Shanghai.

Her relationships with her two family member were strained heavily and she began to find herself occupied by a mysterious man called Mr Odell whom she eventually carry a flame for and whom she looked up to. When they arrived to the island, she immediately found herself repelled by the astral beings and divide of the caste in the new world where she have to call home. She eventually being schooled in a catholic school that was filled with haunted beings that plagued her every move and with every little things she try to do, not everything had happen as she expected.

Cassandra was a character that I was a bit curious about and had some of the traits that hated. She was a strong soul but had a hunger need to be seen but not seen. With every mistake she made, her character grew with every year and events that scarred her. She reminded me a bit of Cersei Lannister, which actually there are similarities at some moments in the middle of the story that made me stare in surprise. She sees the world in a really small frame and ambitious enough until she realized her mistake but then its too late. She was confusing and at some times can be extremely frustrating and can be idiotic. She's intriguing which made her somehow complicated and layered as a real person which made her a decent character to be read.

In the beginning of the book, I was a bit confused with the story until the end where I look up again to the beginning and saw the broken pictures that consisted of the map of the South East Asia and the curious island. Here's the deal, the Malay peninsula was severely cropped leaving anything below Perak and parts of Terengganu (Pahang, Malacca, parts of Selangor, and west of Johor) absent from the map leaving a very large dot of an island that was where the place was set in and exaggerating the island. I don't know about you, fresh water is an issue in the island, the issue that was absent in the novel. I was reading the book thinking that the Black Isle was the size of Singapore since obviously from reading the book that the whole story is a fictionalized Singapore but since the island is right on top of Johor, that was somehow a glaring historical bias especially with the portrayals of the locals in the book.

In case you're wondering, Singapore is a part of Malaya until 1965 so essentially from the map and at the end of the book, you get a feeling that most of the story does had the feeling of being sanitized. I really need to convince myself that it's just a fiction since the book does have several plot holes in its superbly superstitiously noir world.

Since the story was from the 20th century till the 21st, the story revolved around the issue of mass migrations, the social caste between the residents, the british empire, the locals superstitions, the conditions in the rubber plantation, the world war II with the Japanese occupying the Asia-Pacific, communism, the late 20th century's economy. To include a barrage of historical issue in one book is deary enough for the readers but for me, it was until the end of war (in the book) that was what made me sceptical and the plot holes became apparent enough that it left me with the feeling of half-glass empty the whole time.

Japanese war experiments was a major subplot in the book but curiously, so is the absence of British POW in the book which are prominent. Not everyone left. I actually know an English guy who told me that his father was in Malaya when the Japanese arrived. To date, his father was still mute about his experience. In history, the British soldiers were taken to concentration and prison camps. Some were killed, starved to death, made to work until they were just bags of bones. The Japanese reign in Asia pacific lasted only several years but it left a huge scar to old veterans and the locals. It is rare to find older people who are willing to tell the depravities of the Japanese in the time of war. If you look up Burmese Death Rail, you'll see that it was build by the blood of these POWs.

Even now, there are still unsolved issues in the current government especially with the higher people trying to shut down those who want to be seen such as "the comfort woman", pre-teen and teenage girls sent to various parts of the war-conquered parts to be a sexual release to the soldiers. Its also a way to control venereal diseases that plague the soldiers. So, in a way, the book doesn't give much to the readers in terms of the realities.

And it's quite fascinating that for a tale set in Nusantara part of South East Asia that there are absolute no mention of the Malay royalties and the social caste of Malays in a predominantly Nusantara area - there are Bourgeois Malays in that era, not just slaves and coolies in rubber plantation. In fact, food rationing was severe in those times that a lot of people resort to using barleys or tapioca since rice were in short supply.

I would understand it being a subject that the author wasn't familiar with but in recent year's I've experience and seen weird mystical things by superstitious people when I visited down south and honestly there's a bunch of Indonesian-related mysticism that can be explored to make the portrayed supernatural to be a child's play.

I also found the Issa is an unconvincing character for a Malay witchdoctor (some things I just had to raise an eyebrow about) that the whole thing plot around him was kind of bland and seems like something that the author simplified so much that I feel the idea wasn't being fully researched properly. I guaranteed you this, any mention of 'Malay' mysticism in this book is just a pinky dip to a vast sea of the things that you could make a whole new fiction about. But again, it is not a major grievance since I do not expect it from the author.

This year, I have being exposed to the Australian sleuth series's Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and the story was set in between the world wars like this book and does included communism mentions in the series by struggling post-WWI veterans against the British capitalist. In this book, the communism sentiments was prevalent among some of the character due to the Japanese occupation and later the British. Frankly, it was way more complicated by that. I was sort of curious why that was also oversimplified. Unlike this book, the communists rebels post-Japanese occupation was obviously based on Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, a product of the Maoist idealism and an army of people hell-bent to kill those who survived the war that are suffering the least. This is the reality that a lot of innocent people were killed while these groups are rampaging through the states seeking Japanese sympathisers and unruly enough that the British migrate people from the entire state just to avoid these communists attacking the people for food and shelter. Most of this happen in gun points.

This effectively sanitize the whole era of terror, the whole world politics involved and although it make the supernatural story that was prevalent in the book seemed plausible but at history context, there's a lot of weakness in the book.

The main issue in the book was that it was the idea that the British left the island colony upon hearing the incoming Japanese invasion that the people of the island were helpless until the end of the invasion due to the atomic bombs and when the British came and expect things to be as it is until the people rise against them.

Here's the thing, the invasion happen only days before Pearl's Harbor. It happened so suddenly that the british, who had armed the sea outposts looking for incoming soldiers, haven't expected was that the Japanese infiltrated from the thickness of indochina jungles into the peninsular using just bikes and avoiding the heavily defended sea. There was hundred of thousands British soldiers that were caught and became Prisoners of war in a blink.

I was familiar with this since I was literally drowned by the reading materials and rereadings that all of these information had stuck like a glue in my long-term memory and I do occasionally watched the documentaries of the eras, read stories of the era and listening to my family's war stories and other people's war stories. In fact, could make a whole historical fiction book based on what I kept inside my head. So, naturally I caught the discrepancies in the storylines that it was apparent that the author was made unaware of a lot of these or the editors itself felt it was harmless enough.

Well, here's the thing about historical fiction. For someone, who may not familiar of what happened with the era in this side of the world can magically became facts.

To argue about the accuracies, you could always take it to an alternate dimension take. But AGAIN, it's a bloody fiction, I just leave it to that.

Frankly, I enjoy the book since the book is magnificently well written to the end despite some of the 'things' I've encountered along reading this that made me feel like it was a bit overzealous with its shock factor attempts (there's a lot of subplots in the book that can make a person blush or scratch their heads). And after I have analysed through my thoughts and feelings after the initial awesomeness subsides, I found that I had serious misgivings about the historical aspect of the story. I would have been more forgiving had not it bug me while writing this review which influence my re-rating for the book. Most of all, since I was VERY familiar with the era and I do live in the culture and the languages and familiar with the people issues and understand a HUGE chunk of what the book is portraying, the book made me very critical to it. In a good way.

So for average readers, I do not think my issues for this book may bother you since its still a quality fiction with a storyline that was unlike anything you've read in about Asian Literature section.

However, I do think its a good book that I would recommend if you like reading a combination of some genre with prominent adult horror storylines and adult historical setting but full of adult drama and contain serious 'romance' elements. The book might be hard on the stomach but the quality of the writing is refreshing and for most parts on local flavours of this part of Asia, the story does feel natural to be read. I do expect more to come by this author.

For easier comparison, its like True Singapore Ghost Stories meet Romance in the Rain (煙雨濛濛) meet The Haunted Changi meet Memoirs of a Geisha.

The ARC is supplied by the Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley.com and will be published on 7th August 2012.

I clue you in, do pre-order this book and I'm sorry that I do a too bloody long review but what to do, it was my turf.


My blogpost for this review.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please forgive the random flow of this review, I am supremely aggravated and all I can say is WHAT THE WHAT???....I want my 3 days of reading back. This gets 1 star and a DNF...really I want to give it .5 but alas. I didn't finish the book but 100 pages from the end of a 452 page book that hasn't shown a hint of what I signed up for. I feel like I gave it more than the good ole college try. I thought this was a story that was supernatural in nature and the ghost story would be an amazing part of the story and it isn't.

Well ok so the narrator at some point sees ghosts and she becomes like a demon so you are like ok ok well this is where this is going ok man fantastic....then it derails and then narrator interacts with a ghost to keep her from haunting another so you stop and go oh ok ok not the demon but still this isn't a bad premise putting ghosts to rest a la unfinished business etc I can get behind this. These 2 events happen at different plot points so you are hooked on the hope that they will lead somewhere but oh no it doesn't, it SUPER DOESN'T.

I looked past the random incest and the random bestiality thinking this has to get better, I mean the premise is SO FREAKING GOOD. I mean what is it with the freaking penetrating octopus thing with this culture....I mean why and really unnecessary to the story. The girl sees ghosts but it isn't anything much that has anything to do with anything other than she can see them but the way she interacts doesn't lead to any big storylines or plot points and that doesn't really do much for me. The narrator doesn't get in touch with the ghosts or learn how to use her gifts to figure out how or why even though throughout the story is given EVERY FREAKING OPPORTUNITY! This is billed as historical fiction with a supernatural edge and you might be led to believe that oh cool a ghost story set in wartime China and wow cool premise....do not be deluded. I think I am just pissed because the dust jacket leaves one to believe something totally different than what this book actually is. If it is all resolved in the last 100 pages then this book can doubly EFFF OFFF!!!!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting novel, but with many flaws.I cannot point out the flaws without giving away the novels basic story. The major shortcoming I think is the protagonist, how for a smart woman has a terrible time picking men to fall in love with.....it is a good first book.

[Karen Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 the photograph, her head has been blackened out with marker. A feeling of dread descends upon her - someone, she decides, is trying to erase her life.

As she slowly makes her way back to her apartment, she sees two crows collide and then plummet to the ground. That, she decides, can't be good.
Later that evening, she receives a telephone call from a woman who identifies herself as a university professor writing a book on "superstition in 20th-century Asia," and asking for an interview. The professor punctuates her request with an ominous statement: "Someone - and this person or persons must really be obsessed - has been cutting you out of history."

The old woman hangs up, deciding she will not let herself be wiped out. "I will not become a ghost."

The Black Isle, the debut novel of Sandi Tan, tells the story of Ling, born to a middle-class family in 1922 Shanghai. She has a twin brother, Li, and a set of younger twin sisters. Ling's mother is agoraphobic, and her father is a quiet, hen-pecked schoolteacher.

She sees her first ghost when she's 7 - one of her mother's former housemaids who killed herself when Ling was an infant. The uproar created when she lets the household know about her vision leads her to vow not to mention her spiritual abilities again.

Shortly afterward, the family's fortunes take a drastic turn for the worse. The Great Depression that followed the 1929 American stock market crash makes its way around the world, and Shanghai is not spared. The family's savings are erased and the family patriarch loses his job. The only thing to do, the parents decide, is for the father to travel to the Black Isle to work and send his salary back to support the homestead. It is also decided that Ling and Li will accompany their father.

And it is while living in the Black Isle - actually, a band of tropical islands in the South Seas - that Ling's spiritual powers seem to go wild. She sees ghosts everywhere and spends most of her time trying to ignore their questions regarding their deaths or the whereabouts of their loved ones.
At one point, her father becomes the caretaker of a rubber plantation that is not only filled with ghosts that Ling alone can see, but that is supposedly haunted by pontianaks - spirits of women who die in childbirth. When a pontianak attacks Ling's family, she decapitates the supposedly mythical creature after it kills a visitor.

Shortly after, Ling separates from her brother and father and finds employment as a companion for the rich Wee family. World II looms, and the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Black Isle forever changes Ling's life - and she becomes an important part of the Black Isle's history. Her contribution is so important the few who know about her role realize the Black Isle might never have made it into the 21st century without Ling's help. So why would someone want her removed from the history books?

Beautifully written, with a storyline that spans 70 years, The Black Isle is a historical novel that is both breathtaking and haunting. The characters are vivid - some simply charming, some horrifyingly scary - and the plot has so many twists and turns it seems as though you're reading a winding country road.

There are some plot points, however, that some might find a bit more than controversial, including a somewhat incestuous relationship and an incident of bestiality that, to be honest, is so mind boggling it's hard to believe. And because the episode did nothing to move the plot forward, it probably would have been best to simply excise it from the story.

Minor flaws notwithstanding, The Black Isle is an engaging and engrossing novel that will absolutely captivate you and should not be missed. It will take you on a journey you will not soon forget.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 certainly had supernatural elements it was Cassandra's life story as a whole that I found so fascinating. The story spans over 70 years, so the reader really feels like they know the characters, which seems impossible because they were so incredible complex. I constantly had to stop and question myself, because no character is who they first appear.

Sandi Tan has written a beautiful and haunting story and I'm sad to be done with it -- its almost like I've left a lover -- the story has been with me for days and even when I wasn't reading it was there in the back of my head.

I should note that there are some questionable scenes that might not be for everyone; a semi-incestuous relationship and a mind blogging incident with beastiality. Some of the other sexual moments might not be for the faint of heart -- but besides the animal loving I thought they were meaningful to Cassandra's story.

THE BLACK ISLES, is a stand out book and you won't want to miss this read.

[Kina · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 from you.

~~~ Finished reading.

About halfway through the novel, I felt it dragged a bit. I didn't feel that anxious anticipation for the next page like I did for the first portion of the book. However, I feel the last 1/3 of the book redeemed itself somewhat. Having said that, it is still one of the best paranormal novels I've read in a few years, and am grateful Ms. Tan skipped the popular easy-sell genres of vampires, zombies and witches.

If you like historical fiction, the complex mix of various Asian cultures and the paranormal, I think you will enjoy this book.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Burned by the discount section once again. I should have stopped reading when a member of my book club posted a bad rating. A clearer sign there couldn't be.

I was drawn to this book by the premise - a girl who can see ghosts promises a story of the supernatural - and the setting was intriguing as well. I was curious too hear more of the cultural significance of ghosts in the Chinese setting - the superstitions, the belief system, etc. Unfortunately this was not to be.

I have no idea where the author was going here, she seemed to be all over the place. Is this a coming of age story in China during WWII? A supernatural ghost story with Chinese influences? Who knows? The only consistent thing I could find in this story was the prevalence of sexual acts involving sea creatures. Not only gross, but just plain weird.

I kept reading thinking maybe it would turn around and get good again like the first 20-30 pages or so. But I finally had to give up at about Chapter 12. I just lost patience and interest.

As my book club buddy says: "Life is too short to read bad books".

[Wen-yi Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 to be petty, because did we really need the incest and octopus sex? But otherwise a dark, sweeping epic of a novel in a Singapore that's both thinly veiled and slightly contorted, fittingly. A speculative history without naming all the names, that hits all the major touchstones.

[Stephanie (aka WW) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good piece of historical fiction. The Black Isle is a fictional island south of Singapore in Asia. It is populated by people of various Asian ethnicities – Chinese, Malays, Thais, etc. Ling and her twin brother and father came to the Black Isle to escape a critical situation in Shanghai. Ling is a little unusual. She can see ghosts and the Black Isle is full of them. Under British rule when they arrive, the island is captured by the Japanese in WWII. Brutalities occur and the ghost population multiplies. Ling attempts to use her gift to help see the island through the worst of times. 4 stars for an imaginative story well-written.

[Dawn Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandi Tan performed a miracle. She took characters I did not like and weaved a story around them worth reading.

WARNING: Thank you, Nenia. If you are triggered by animal pain, the kids run into an older man and a kitten within the first couple of chapters of the book. When you see the word "kitten", fast forward a couple of pages.

The book begins with an intriguing sentence:

“Anyone who has lived as long as I have, and who has done the things I have, knows there will come a reckoning.”

Karma tends to kick me in the ass quickly. There is not a lot in my life that I have not confronted.

The island itself became a character I fell in love with. It holds tight to its’ secrets and does not take transgressions lightly.



The main character sees ghosts. Most of the ghosts are not chatty. Some are more amusing than others. They tend to be prostitutes who have killed themselves, or people who have died brutally.

The main character also falls in love with the island after escaping wartime Japan.

There are problems. They boil down to the same problems we all have, people with money making decisions that are good for a few, devastating for most, including the island and the spirits that inhabit it.

The main character, Ling turned Cassandra, makes a few half-assed attempts to do some good.

(She does not like dogs. Dogs do not like her. It may be irrational, but I do not care for people who have an adversarial relationship with dogs. How can you not love dogs?)


Sentences like that echo forever through my mind. I was erased as a child. I left home at 15 years of age and proceeded to make spectacularly bad life choices that managed to draw people's attention. Usually, the wrong people. Like the FBI.

“For two weeks, they treated the cool, quiet, rational atmosphere of my reading room as both ashram and womb.”

That sentence gave me something sacred.

I became frustrated with the characters, but both the writing and the island were entrancing.

I still have nebulous, enchanting essences playing at the back of my mind.

I was stalking Nenia’s shelves. 🤣 I am glad I found this one.

[Clarice · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 has been requesting an interview in order to "fill in the missing pieces of history" into her apartment and begins telling her story. I was already completely hooked and downloaded the book.

Ling's story begins when she is 7-years-old. She is living a life of privilege in Shanghai in the 1920s. She is both sheltered and neglected by her upper middle class Chinese parents, but she is content until a mysterious occurrence in the park creates an emotional rift between her and her twin brother. This is the catalyst that causes her to start seeing ghosts. Then, the same year, her father loses his position as a professor at the university and is persuaded by his wife to seek employment on an equatorial island between the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait. At this point, the family splits - Ling and her twin brother Li go to the Black Isle with their incompetent father, and their toddler twin sisters stay in Shanghai with their agoraphobic mother.

Then begins Ling's epic odyssey of survival and self-discovery during which she eventually reinvents herself and renames herself Cassandra. Ling/Cassandra manages to survive and sometimes even thrive on an isolated island with an emotionally distant, functionally ineffective father and a very ill twin brother during British colonization when her family is limited by their ethnicity as to how they can make a living and where they can live; during the Japanese occupation of WWII when everyone is in constant danger; and through "independence" in the 1960s under a benevolent dictator who just may destroy the entire island.

"The Black Isle" is primarily a story of a young girl growing up and surviving during a volatile time under very challenging circumstances with her ability to see ghosts being just a minor part of her total story - a handicap that she tries to suppress, overcome and finally use to her advantage.

"The Black Isle" is beautifully written and very compelling. And, although I chose this title because I love ghost stories, I continued reading and became completely immersed in the world of the Black Isle because of the extraordinary NON-paranormal aspects of the story which brought this period of history for this small corner of the planet so vividly to life. The ghosts were a fabulous bonus.

[Mikko Karvonen · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 third of the book, with some delightfully ghost-induced scenes.

However, as the history takes over and the second world war pushes the ghosts to the side, the book loses its charm. The ghosts become a rote, lose their strong sense of character and become largely a faceless throng that has no proper role to play in the book. In their stead, the story puts a cast of utterly unlikable characters without giving the main character any clear motivation to do anything. The result is an increasingly uninteresting story where the only question remaining that has any interest to the reader is 'when will this end?'.

It's also worth noting that The Black Isle is a gruesome book, with scenes of violence, sex, death, and deviations that are bound to disturb at least some readers. Not that Sandi Tan dwells on anything too much. In fact, her punctual, matter-of-fact style makes the gruesome elements seem almost casual, rather than shocking.

The Black Isle feels very much like a missed opportunity. The writing is excellent and the beginning has the potential to be a creepy-in-a-good-way ghost story. Instead it attempts to wrap things into big, historical developments, generous helpings of family melodrama, and political schemes and ends up losing its way - along with the reader. In the end, I had no idea what really was the story that the author was trying to tell, or what was supposed to be the ultimate climax of the book. I just know that by the end I didn't care anymore.

[Anahi Baca · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I started this book, I was immediately drawn in by the premise of an old woman who is being "erased from history books" by an unknown person, for some mysterious reason having to do with ghosts. Then suddenly, the story gets weird and ridiculous, and you have no idea what you signed yourself up for.

The plot turns into a long, rambling yarn with ghosts, demons, bizarre sex scenes, Malaysian history, and World War II stuff, all told by a completely unsympathetic character that you are in no way rooting for throughout the novel.

I am not sure where the author was going with this story. It seemed to be all over the place. It has some strong elements, but left me confused and asking, what is the point?

The part about calling forth spirits that could have ended World War II, but the main character being too scared to do so seems implausible and ridiculous. The incest part--totally unnecessary. I won't even get into the sex scene with the Japanese lady and the octopus. I guess this is some kind manga or hentai thing, but just not organic or necessary to the story. (Oh, did I also mention the undercurrent of racism against the Japanese?)

I question the editing of this story deeply. I am not even sure what demographic the book is supposed to appeal to. I guess it wasn't that bad because I finished it, but I would not pick up anything by this author again.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting tale, blending historical fiction with a hint of the paranormal, set against the backdrop of war and conflict. Tan managed to set the scene beautifully and there was a great sense of place throughout the novel that really contributed to the atmosphere.


Cassandra is a wonderful character. Clearly flawed, she still inspires sympathy and comes across as very real and believable. Her interaction with the other characters is well done and the dialogue is fluid and engaging.


There were a couple of points when the pacing slowed and I found my attention wavering, but I was soon snapped back into the story again and there were enough subtle twists towards the end to hold my interest and keep me keen to see how things would play out.


Sandi Tan has a unique voice and I would definitely be interested in reading more from her in the future. This is a great read for fans of both historical literary fiction and ghost stories.

I received this book as a free e-book ARC via NetGalley.

[Josilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

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, and a woman finding her way in the middle of it all. I'm not sure how much of it is accurate of Singapore's real history, but it's an interesting look at the journey the nation has had to take to become what it is today, and the costs that came with it. Sandi Tan has a very impressive writing style, and although this is not exactly a light, heartwarming read, it will definitely make you think after you finish the last page.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 that the story talked about a young woman who saw ghosts and, suddenly, it drove off to politics and too much secret affairs. Heck, I didn't know what was the climax of this book! But the ending was a good twist though -- I always felt suspicious of the professor and who she might've been.

So key points for me:

Beginning - Excellent
Middle - Draggy
End - Okay

[Jennifer Juo · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 to take advantage of her newly-found skill. THE BLACK ISLE is a fascinating and enjoyable read--full of magic, mystery, romance, and the real-life hardships of migration and war.
The Black Isle

[Jee Koh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sandi Tan's The Black Isle is a ripping read. A highly inventive, sexualized, gruesome take on Singapore history narrated by a protagonist who is part Katniss Everdeen, part Holly Golightly, and part Sansa Stark. It's a combination that should not work, but it does, grippingly, as Ling the Shanghainese innocent grows up in the course of the novel to become the troublemaking Pandora and then the seer and victim Cassandra. There are some cliches of expression, but the skillful storytelling carried me past those tired ghosts. The 610-page novel trucks promiscuously with all kinds of influences—Malay folklore (pontianak, anyone?), Baudelaire, Charles Dickens, Japanese woodcut prints, Chinese lyric poetry, the British gothic novel. It is a highly colored version of Singapore, but its version—that the country is full of ghosts which it has subsequently tried to eradicate to its own detriment—is highly resonant.

[Javene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the documentary Shirkers and immediately had to dive into Sandi Tan’s book. This world of ghosts superexposed onto Asian historical fiction is so engrossing and tragic and filled with very few instances of happiness. Never once did I get the feeling that I could endure what Cassandra has gone through, but she persevered past any human expectation with undaunted tenacity, all while remaining a deeply flawed person. A painful, event-filled life dissected.

[Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro]

Mount Everest < expectations for this book

[Paloma · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like a 2.5 rating.

This book has so many different and mixed reviews that I really don't want to write a long rant about it. It seems that you either love or hate the story and well... it just didn't work for me.

I recall the first pages completely caught my attention and was very thrilled to read the book -a story set in the early 1930s starting in a cosmopolitan China and moving in Asia, with a mysterious woman as a main character, who loves books and apparently has faced the desire of somebody to "erase her from history". Sounded promising, no?

But the truth is that the plot falls apart by the middle of the book and I have to wonder -I am not even sure it was the plot. I think it is that the main character, Cassandra/Ling, begins falling into many contradictions and becomes (at least to me) loathsome. She's a young girl, uprooted from her sort of wealthy life with her twin and her father and moving to an unknown island. And she sees ghosts. And she's strong and corageous but at the same time weak. And she's independent but then she enters some really weird relations with men who see her as a tool. And then she decides to break free at almost 90.

So WTF?

I think I kind of hate her. No. I actually hate her. It seems at points dull and stupid and naïve, but then thanks to her we go through the rise of a nation? No, no.

So there it is. I think what bother me the most is the contradiction within the story and with the main character. Because, besides the obvious with Cassandra/Ling, I found other some really unbelievable bits:
1. When both young Cassandra/Ling and her twin Li go to a rubber plantation and due to to fact their father is basically useless, they are the ones that run the place and make it profit... being only like 13 years old?! I mean... this just doesn't work for me.
2. The fact that basically all male characters -except perhaps her twin- want to take advantage of Cassandra by using "her gift" and she doesn't seem to notice! Being a story narrated on the first person, I think there was plenty of room for that. But no! She's either silly or... just not a BELIEVABLE CHARACTER! And there are plenty of examples:
- Her father uses her to literally feed her brother -as he has anemia, he makes Ling offer him her blood (again, WTF?)
- Daniel, her finacée just before the war. Ok Daniel was not a bad person but in my opinion, he used her to escape his father and just... Cassandra represented a different world from where he came and what was expected from him.
- Taro, the Japanese officer. He basically made Cassandra his sex slave and... she was happy as he gave her coganc, chocolate and good books. Really? I mean... at least I never did really felt Cassandra felt bad about this. She even seemed to think that despite everything (Taro killed or attacked almost everyone she loved and basically humilited her as a women and as a human beging) he was a brave man. Or some crazy stuff like that.
- Kenneth. I don't even want to get into this. But...this man also used her as a sexual thing plus used her ability to see ghosts to bring the country into order and Cassandra just never seemed to notice, feel bad or care. When Cassandra becomes pregnant and then has that accident...even I knew HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCIDENT AND FOR HER MISCARRIAGE!
God! I just wanted to slap her and yell. Is just like, it is just not believable that you have that "sensibility" of the dead, that you know someone for ten years and... you just don't see how people truly are. Sorry, this just doesn't work for me.

So characters fall apart and with them, so does the plot. Another great failure in my opinion was the language. For the first time I wasn't having major issues with the first person narration BUT then there was the language. I feel there were some major editing errors here -we are talking about the 1940's and 50's in Asia, about a story told by a women who's almost 90 years old. And then she speaks like a teenage American girl, so carelessy about sexual encounters, for instance? I had a grandmother. And that's not how it works. What made me lose my nerve was when I found the expression "Ditto" on Cassandra's voice. I am not an English native speaker but even this seemed so out of place based on the context.

In general, I guess this book was ambitious, with a good premise but with so many different topics (the paranormal, nationalism, human relations, immigration) that everything becomes mixed up and you end up thinking -what was the point of it all? And with all, I think it might have worked... except for the main character which was... annoyinly naïve? Don't know. I also felt disappointed -the expected mystery, the paranormal, the first glam insight of a long lost society just faded and not because of time but because of a logic, credible premise to keep it together.

Didn't want to write a long, hateful review but I guess I just did. And in doing so, I guess I'll also be changing my rating.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 bestiality. For that alone, some dropped the novel. And when they were talking of bestiality, we are talking about an octopus rising to the occasion (pun very much intended).

Seriously guys...

An octopus....



Started reading it the very next day... I just had to know for myself what everyone was talking about.

And so started my journey through 'The Black Isle'.

What struck me right off the bat is how well written this novel is. Immediately, I feel connected to Cassandra, and intrigued with her. She is presently an old woman, and through some mysterious circumstances, finds herself relunctantly telling her story to a professor that literally hounded her for it. As she begins, I felt like I was in Shanghai, experiencing the sights and culture through the character's eyes, and am intrigued by how dark the story already feels. And once the Cassandra and her twin, Li, were uprooted to the Black Isle with their father, the island came alive in my mind as well.

Yes, what other readers talked about was very much present within the book.

The twins, in their isolation in their plantation, did have some touchy-feely moments that made me wanna



Ya... Really gross. I am thankful that this didn't go on for too long in the book.

Oh... and the octopus scene?

Cassandra and her lover take a walk on the beach, and they see a woman that appears to be struggling with an octopus. Fearing she was being attacked by this animal, they approach her, but as they get closer they realize that the animal and this woman are carrying on sexually...

Ahhhhh... so relevant to the story!



Ya. No.

There was no relevance at all that I could see. Maybe I missed the vision on this one, but the plot truly would not have suffered with the complete deletion of this scene. I still scratch my head thinking about why it was even there in the first place. Shock value? Maybe. It was enough to have some people drop the book completely, so not sure it was worth its inclusion.

Without recounting a lot of the story with any more spoilers, the island is occupied by British troops, but the Japanese invade. So begins another extremely dark period in Cassandra's life. There are many atrocities in this novel, some that truly made my stomach turn. Cassandra can see and interact with ghosts, and some of them are quite disturbing or depressing. Many war atrocities, animal cruelty and dark sexual content are also very present in this novel.

That being said, the character and plot were extremely well developed, and the detail that went into the execution of this novel, though sometimes visually unwelcome on some scenes, was exceptional. There were many twists and turns. I never knew what was going to happen next, and I LIKE THAT!

This read is not for everyone. You need to be the type of reader that is open to read a really dark, and disturbing story. There are no happy endings. For anyone. What I can say is that regardless of this, I still enjoyed this novel. It was really well written and kept me on the edge of my seat.

*I received a eBook copy of this book for free to review from Netgalley; this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.*

[Holly P · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Black Isle caught my interest because of the setting of Asia during WWII and the promise of a good ghost story. The book is totally not what I was expecting. It begins with the introduction of an old woman who visits her library and checks out a certain book as a way to revisit her unusual past. On one such visit she realizes that her beloved book has been vandalized and upon receiving calls from a persistent professor intent on discovering the old woman's history, she learns that her book is not the only one which has been defaced. All books making mention of her have been suffering the same fate. After realizing someone is trying to erase her from existence the old woman decides to recount her history via tape recorder-and so begins the life story of the little girl Ling who would become Cassandra-the woman with the ability to see ghosts.

Ling's story begins as an eight year old girl who is constantly in the shadow of her twin brother Li. The two are inseparable until an odd incident in a park drives them apart. With the Shanghai economy worsening due to the war and occupation by the Japanese imminent the family splits in two with Ling and Li accompanying their scholar father to the Black Isle to look for work while their mother stays in China with the two younger twins. Before their departure Ling has an encounter with an apparition which she hopes is a one time deal but when they reach the Black Isle she discovers the place is crawling with ghosts and only she can see them.

The writing here is striking and it sucked me in immediately. The little synopsis given above is just the beginning for Ling. The book is the unlikely story of Ling who grows into womanhood as she starts to recognize the power in the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Some are malevolent, some are lost souls, almost all want something to be satisfied and Cassandra is the only person who can deliver that. Cassandra (a name Ling chooses for the Cassandra of Greek mythology who is gifted with prophecy but cursed because no one will ever believe her) grows up amidst the changing climate on the island-occupied by the British when she first arrived, then later invaded by the Japanese. She endures much through the changing political climate. I will not give away the rest of the story other than to say Cassandra is placed in a lot of interesting situations both because of her unique ability and because of the happenings on the island. The author has a way with words that kept me reading right along to the end no matter what happened- an ending which was quite unexpected.

I enjoyed the story overall but there were a lot of strange elements which put me off a bit and a some sexual elements that were almost a bit too much for me. There is also quite a bit of violence throughout the story but personally this did not bother me too much. Without giving too much away there is an incestuous relationship in the book as well as a bizarre encounter between a character and a sea creature. Cassandra uses her sexuality in the book quite a bit to achieve her means or as a means of survival. There are times when she is not given much choice in the matter. In general I am not one that is too fond of books with a paranormal bent but this one was quite different from anything else I've read in recent memory. If you like books that are a little bit on the strange side and are not bothered by questionable developments then I would recommend checking this out. I was really captivated by the writing and will be checking out Sandi Tan's works in the future even if some of the more aberrant parts of this story creeped me out a bit.

*review copy from NetGalley*

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I've read my share of strange books, so far none compares to this one. It has ghosts, history, sex, racism, Facism, incest, paranormal, mysticism, you name it and it's in this book. It covers the 1920's to the 1960's most of the story occurs on an Equatorial island between South China Sea and the Malacca Straights called Black Isle. It starts old China, and where superstition is a way of life. The author reels you with an innocent voice and before you realize it you are hooked, in a down roll spiral. Non of the characters are likeable and it's hard to find one to root for, but down and down you go.... Surprisingly, on the whole I liked it, and I'm glad I read the book, but hesitate to recommend, it's disturbing and not for the faint hearted. I will remember it for a long time. "Under cover of war, human beings are capable of greater monstrosities than any natural-or supernatural-force." Sandi Tan