Grace, Lia, and Sky live on a secluded island where they, along with their parents, are the only inhabitants. The girls believe there has been some sort of event that left the world unsafe, with men as the primary carriers of toxins and evil (unclear whether any sort of chemical event actually happened). We come to learn they are living in what seems to be an abandoned hotel where Mother and King (their father) have hosted women refugees from the toxic mainland, providing them with regular rituals and therapies. But women no longer visit from the mainland, leaving the daughters as the only ones to receive the barbaric therapies that include killing small animals and rationing out love. When King does not return from one of his monthly supply runs to the mainland, he is assumed dead. Mother continues with her therapies until three strangers – men – wash ashore, threatening to shift the perspectives of the sheltered daughters. King and Mother’s methods are damaging on so many levels, leaving us to watch the girls try to function with stunted emotional growth and rage once they’re confronted with the real world.
I enjoy the eerie, dystopian vibe of a book like this, but I have a few questions in regard to the motives of the men who come to the island. I’ve elaborated in my Goodreads review but want to avoid spoilers here.
3 out of 5 stars. I think I would have preferred this one if I got to talk about it with someone…like, did I fully get it? I dunno.
Pair with: Bloody mary with salty rim
Peaches to Apples 