REVIEW: MARROW ISLAND by Alexis M. Smith ~ P.S. I love that book!

Title: Marrow Island
Author: Alexis M. Smith
Series: -
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Released: 7th June, 2016
Source: ebook
Pages: 256

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SYNOPSIS: Twenty years ago Lucie Bowen left Marrow Island; along with her mother, she fled the aftermath of an earthquake that compromised the local refinery, killing her father and ravaging the island’s environment. Now, Lucie’s childhood friend Kate is living within a mysterious group called Marrow Colony—a community that claims to be “ministering to the Earth.” There have been remarkable changes to the land at the colony’s homestead. Lucie’s experience as a journalist tells her there’s more to the Colony—and their charismatic leader-- than they want her to know, and that the astonishing success of their environmental remediation has come at great cost to the Colonists themselves. As she uncovers their secrets and methods, will Lucie endanger more than their mission? What price will she pay for the truth?

In the company of Station Eleven and California, Marrow Island uses two tense natural disasters to ask tough questions about our choices—large and small. A second novel from a bookseller whose sleeper-hit debut was praised by Karen Russell as “haunted, joyful, beautiful….” it promises to capture and captivate new readers even as it thrills her many existing fans.

I think I saw this book on booktube, somebody was planning to read and I liked the synopsis so I was really into reading it. I got the copy of it together with The Leaving but while The Leaving I read in one sitting this book I have been reading for months now...and finally I forced myself to finish it.

THE WORLD: Maybe the only thing that was dead boring even tho I would not say it was exactly interesting either. So we have this island which other small islands around it I think, something like that frankly I don't remember the beginning anymore. But anyways the concentration of this book is on this small well actually even tiny island called Marrow Island. Once there was a factory here which during the earthquake exploded and all island was contaminated with toxic stuff. However, now we are more than ten years past the accident and in this island there is this cult of thirty something people who try to clean it using special mudrooms and all that. Well it doesn't take a biologist to know that these people are full of themselves so when the big secret is revealed that they all have tumors growing in them, cannot carry babies to the term because of the cancer all over their bodies...year kinda if you consume carcinogens on daily basis for years what do you expect? I mean come on. They literary explain that oh it's not that bad, you are risking your life everyday driving a car or drinking alcohol. Well sorry, but you are an idiot if you think that. No really, I know I spoiled stuff here but seriously this book is so bad that I am preventing you from even wanting to read it.

CHARACTERS: Kill me now. So our main character is Lucie. Her father worked in the factory when it exploded so her mom and she left the place and went to live in big city. Now she is an unemployed reported back to get rid of their old house. But really she is annoying self absorbed pathetic whiner. I mean seriously, I have never saw a character that repels me so much. I hate Lucie, I hate her so so much. And there is also Kate who is in this cult and she was once Lucie's friend and basically Lucie comes to visit Kate and see the island. Blah. Kate is married to a dude who is wanted for arson and murder and when Lucie finds out and tell her Kate knows...aaaaaand it's okay it's not really what happened. Yeah up my ass not what happened, you are hosting a criminal for ten years wanted by FBI. No really I just don't get this book and its characters. The Sister Janet...what was that? Especially her dying part? Ewwww why do I need to read this stuff?

LOVE: This Lucie character gets her heard wrapped around a ranger. They have sex a lot. But not hot sex. The type of sex where the author talked about Lucie's two weeks unshaven armpits and all that shit. Frankly everything in this book was very dirty. Also, he is so handsome all sweaty and dirty hair....whaaaaaat? Or when she takes his T-shirt for sleeping when she goes away the T-shirt from laundry after he wore it for two days in really hot weather working hard. Cuz it smells like him. More like dirty sweat sunken stinky T-shirt. Reality check, hello?

PLUS: At least they all get cancer from eating carcinogens. Also the shit they collected as medicine in the island, turns out it was most hallucinogens and toxic stuff. Lucie had to go on dialysis after she was fed some of it. That's about right. Tho the dying of old women that had cancer? Yeah you don't get old if your whole body is full of tumors. This whole time line was a bit fantasy, if you have tumors all over the body you last really short time. Especially without ANY treatment. So yeah moral of the book? Don't go off living in a cult without contact to the modern world. There is a reason in middle ages average lifespan was 25-30 years old and today is 75-80 years old.

MINUS: The whole book. I kept expecting that maybe there is gonna be something Boom and it is all gonna be worth it. Well nope, did not happen.

OVERALL: Hate this book so much. Total nonsense. It feels to me like author just wanted to write an environmental book but it would be classified as non fiction and not read by many so she added a bit of shit to it to make it fall under fiction mystery/thriller. But really, ain't worth it!