THE ISLAND

by Robert Merle ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Translated from the French, and chosen to be a Reader's Digestcondensed novel, this book is based on the tragic history of the Bounty mutineers after they settled on Pitcairn Island. In this version, the mutineers kill their sadistic captain and sail to Tahiti, where they pick up several Tahitian men and women before going on to settle on an uncharted island. There are not enough women to go around, and half the crew, led by power-hungry MacLeod, are anti-Tahitian anyway. By predictable stages, a racial war ensues, in which all the men except one Tahitian and the gentle hero, Purcell, are killed. The characters are types, and their conflicts are to be expected. Nevertheless, the book generates a good deal of story-telling excitement and exotic color, and even, toward the end, gets away from its dryly rational development into an unpredictable and moving climax. Full of conflict and dialogue, and highly readable; a book that should sell well.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: FICTION