Review of The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

I have a penchant for reading summer novels set on beaches and islands... and Elin Hilderbrand's stories are easy to read and amusing-- although at times, they lack satisfying conclusions. The Island was among the better of her novels because the resolution of the central character's dilemmas is at least plausible. The setting of The Island is an old family home with no electricity or modern conveniences, set on Tuckernuck Island, a privately owned spot in the ocean just a short distance from Nantucket. The grey, weathered family house on Tuckernuck had not been used in 13 years, until the matriach of the family, Birdie Cousins, who had inherited the family home, asks her oldest daughter, Chess, to spend a month on Tuckernuck to "get away from it all." Earlier Chess had broken off her engagement to subsequently her ex-fiancee died in a rock climibing accident. Feeling terribly guilty and somewhat responsible, Chess falls into a deep depression and Birdie hopes that a month on Tuckernuck will help Chess to heal. Birdie's younger daughter, Tate, a corporate world computer whiz with somewhat awkward social skills, then asks to also join this mother-daughter bonding retreat from civilization. As soon as Birdie's younger sister, India, a widow of a well-known artist and successful administrator of an art program in Philadelphia, finds out about this trip she sees a month on Tuckernuck as an opportunity to seek some escape from an uncomfortable situation in which she has found herself. On Tuckernuck, life is simple. No television, phone, refrigerator, or electricity. There is no cell phone reception, until Birdie finds out that if she stands in the water at a remote point of the island facing a specific direction, she can get crystal clear reception. But this is her secret not shared with the rest of the women in the house. Groceries and ice for the ice box are delivered daily by their caretaker, the son of the man on whom both Birdie and India had crushes when they were young.

The story unfolds as each of the characters reveals herself and makes new discoveries that help to reach a decision or heal a wound. The characters are relate-able, although I found the daughters and the sister India to be the best developed characters. The daughters, both twenty-somethings, revealed the common insecurities and secrets associated with people who are being developed as adults. The sister, India, was easily understandable as a woman who had help together a man who was an artist and her husband, and after he dies she finds herself by becoming very successful in the world of art administration. However, the older woman's character of Birdie's was not quite as well developed. Hilderbrand worked to create a family matriarch but missed some of the nuances of mother-daughter relationship that could have added another layer of intimacy. This could be because Hildebrand herself is yet a young mother and hasn't experienced what it is like to be the mother of grown daughters. The most wonderful characters in the book were the old weathered house and the island itself. The descriptions created mental images and this place and this house became a character full of history, experience, and memories.