Reviews

The Day I Fell Off My Island by Yvonne Bailey-Smith

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sophiekingo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

lucyisaname's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I had NO idea that Zadie Smith’s mother wrote this coming of age immigrant story. How immensely proud she must be of her mother. I don’t know if everyone will appreciate this book the way I did but this book deeply moved me. It made me think of all the experiences of my mother and grandmother who migrated to the states and how hard that must have been , leaving a beautiful island beautiful people and beautiful simplicity to the coldness of a new world. I saw my family in every one of the characters in the book. Smith’s descriptions of simple country life in Jamaica from the smells to the color of the soil transported me back to my own childhood summers there , playing between my grandfather’s mango and ackee trees. There is a lot of heartbreaking parts to this novel , but you walk away giving ALMOST everyone grace , even the main character’s biological father.

gungopeas's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

saintlybernard's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Day I Fell off my Island is a beautifully written book. I found it to be fast paced & it really draws you in once you get to chapter 3/4. In part one it might seem like some of the harder themes are glossed over but this does fit with Erna being younger. As you move through the book and she gets older they're looked at in more depth, as we tend to in real life. The characters are vivid and 3 dimensional.

Content Warnings