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    Marrow Island: A Novel
    Marrow Island: A Novel
    Marrow Island: A Novel
    Ebook274 pages3 hours

    Marrow Island: A Novel

    By Alexis M. Smith

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The award-winning novel that’s “a foreboding, compelling story of humanity’s uneasy relationship with nature and with each other . . . a gripping read” (St.Louis Post-Dispatch).
     
    It has been twenty years since Lucie Bowen left the islands—when the May Day Quake shattered thousands of lives; when Lucie’s father disappeared in an explosion at the Marrow Island oil refinery, a tragedy that destroyed the island’s ecosystem; and when Lucie and her best friend, Katie, were just Puget Sound children hoping to survive. Now, Katie writes with strange and miraculous news. Marrow Island is no longer uninhabitable and no longer abandoned. She is part of a community that has managed to conjure life again from Marrow’s soil. Lucie returns. Her journalist instincts tell her there’s more to this mysterious “Colony” and their charismatic leader—a former nun with an all-consuming plan—than its members want her to know. As she uncovers their secrets, will Lucie endanger more than their mission? And what price will she pay for the truth?
     
    “Eerie and intriguing . . . captivates in the first few pages and delivers a gripping, compelling story throughout.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
     
    “Smith’s excellent command of language gives life to arresting characters and their creepy surroundings, keeping the suspense in this dark environmental thriller running high.”—Elle
     
    “This alluring novel explores the darkness of love, how it can cajole you into danger or tip your actions toward cruelty. Clean but intoxicating writing . . . Ambitious.”—The New York Times Book Review
     
    “Transporting.”—Vanity Fair
     
    “Beautifully wrought.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
     
    “Engrossing and atmospheric, a thorny meditation on environmental responsibility with a big haunted heart.”—Miami Herald
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9780544373426
    Marrow Island: A Novel
    Author

    Alexis M. Smith

    Alexis Smith grew up in Soldotna, Alaska. She attended Mount Holyoke College, Portland State University, and Goddard College, where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in Tarpaulin Sky and on Powells.com. She currently lives in Portland.

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    Reviews for Marrow Island

    3.5/5

    47 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Alexis M. Smith's debut novel, Glaciers, was quirky and off-beat and it charmed me (and I am not easily charmed). Her new novel, Marrow Island, is more structured and focused, but still had that odd charm I remembered from her first book.Lucie was a child living on a small island off the coast of Portland, Oregon when the 1993 earthquake destroyed the oil refinery on the nearby Marrow island, killing her father. She survived the months after because of her close friend, Katie, but when Lucie and her mother move away, their paths diverge; Lucie working as a journalist and Katie joining a small, environmentally conscious commune that is working to restore Marrow Island's ecosystem. When Lucie loses her job and is given the title to her parents' house on the island, a letter from Katie brings her to Marrow Island, with the hope of writing an article about the commune, but events and Lucie's presence destabilize the commune and lay bare the flaws within. Marrow Island is a lot of fun to read. It's full of a sense of place, whether it's the San Juan Islands or the Malheur refuge, the other setting of this slender novel. The structure and plot remind me of the old school suspense novels I devoured in high school, although Lucie prefers to rescue herself. The environmental theme is thoughtfully done, and never comes across in a heavy-handed way; it's clear that Smith is not using the novel to send a message, but allows the environmental theme to serve the plot. I just really enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      I guess you would call this an eco-thriller... is that a thing? Anyway, this was a bit slow to get going but ultimately entertaining. I've been reading a lot of books lately with really strong senses of place and descriptions of the natural world, which is nicely immersive, and this was definitely one. The characters a little less so, but the plot was fun. I thought I had figured out the twist and it was way more gruesome than Smith's, but hers is probably better.
    • 4/5
      A story that floats on memory and water, on hallucinations and seismic waves. It will not satisfy all readers and might defy classification, yet what seems insubstantial will gently follow you into your dreams. Smith has become a confident writer from whom we can expect more hypnotizing books.
    • 4/5
      I loved Smith’s debut novel, Glaciers, and I liked this follow-up about a woman, traumatized by death and the devastation of one of Washington’s San Juan islands by earthquake and refinery fire, who returns to it as a journalist 20 years later when a childhood friend there claims to be part of a colony that has restored the island’s ecology.It’s been characterized as a page-turner literary thriller, and indeed Smith creates intrigue by assembling prickly, withholding characters and then revealing their story very slowly. But more than the narrative, what kept me turning the pages is Smith’s atmospheric writing, particularly about nature and so evocative of sense that it’s nearly super-nature-al. The style and sense of nature and secrets made me think a couple times of Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder; readers who liked it will like this too, and vice versa. (Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.)
    • 4/5
      Where do I start with this review? Marrow Island is a griping harrowing tale. I am not sure where to begin, so I will begin at the beginning!STORY LINE:The May Day quake destroyed Marrow Island, the oil refinery, and lives. The island was left uninhabitable. At least, that's what everyone thought, until Sister J, former nun, and her followers started a commune, Marrow Colony, with awesome and deviating results.Lucie Bowen and her best friend, Katie, survived the May Day quake and years later Katie is back on Marrow Island with Sister J. Lucie, an environmental journalist, receives an invitation from Kate to visit and see the wonder they have created from death and destruction.Come along and join the journey to the past and the present.CHARACTERS; PLOTTING, AND DEVELOPMENT:Author Alexis Smith has created a deep harrowing novel filled with emotion, mystery, destruction, and people willing to do anything for their ideals. This story has many depths and Ms. Smith masterly wove an intriguing tale of destruction past and present.Ms. Smith writing is very poetic and descriptive. I found I could visualize the scenes she created. Ms. Smith definitely has a way with words and her talent is evident in this novel.Written in first person, I found the beginning of book hard to follow as the story goes back and forth between the past and present. However, once the background of the story was laid by the Ms. Smith, the story rolled forward at a fast pace and did not stop until the last sentence. Ms. Smith story-line kept me glued to my E-reader.The mystery Ms. Smith wove was kept at a high peak throughout this novel. I could not put the book down, I had to know the secrets of Marrow Island and the Marrow Island Colony. Ms. Smith reveals just enough that you realize that something is strange on this island, but what?Her characters are intriguing, mysterious, willing to kill if necessary to protect their ideals, and each character was well-developed along with the plot and pacing of the story. The plot was first-rate as Ms. Smith wove all the many threads in this novel together and created a novel that will hold you interest and attention.I am still trying to decide how I felt about the ending of the novel. I found myself saying: wow, what just happened?RECOMMENDATION:This book is a roller coaster ride. This novel is very different from the usual mystery thriller novel, it will grip you and not let go. This novel is suitable for anyone that likes a sold well crafted story-line by a talented author who knows how to hook the reader and leave them wanting more.I received this book from Netgalley,com in return for an honest book review. Book reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion; book reviews on line under my name are my opinion.
    • 3/5
      Alexis Smith's imaginative MARROW ISLAND is the story of Lucie Bowen, who left her home on fictional Orwell Island (in the San Juan Islands between Washington and Canada) after a deadly earthquake in 1993 killed thousands, including her father, and caused colossal structural and environmental damage. Lucie and her mother permanently leave the islands for the mainland in the wake of the disaster. Fast-forward twenty years, and 30-something journalist Lucie returns to the family home on Orwell to research a story about Marrow Colony: a group of long-time squatters on a nearby island who are using experimental means to remediate the ecological damage -- both as a scientific experiment and to create an off-the-grid refuge for themselves. Lucie's childhood best friend Katie is a member of the colony, and Lucie hopes to reconnect with Katie after years in which they've been out of touch. But all is not as it seems in the colony and we're soon immersed in a thriller involving a missing benefactor of the colony and deadly secrets. There's a mounting sense of dread and creepiness, and Smith nicely ratchets up the tension, even as we can sense the ending the story is headed toward. (No spoilers from this reviewer.) The plot is good; the story suspenseful.Smith's sense of place is excellent. Her story shifts back and forth in time and place from the islands of two years ago to the Eastern Oregon high-desert present, where Lucie is trying to come to terms with her experience on Marrow Island. I'm very familiar with both locations, and her descriptions of the landscape are right on the mark. Her prose is especially evocative of the San Juans -- we can almost smell the water, hear the birds, and taste the oysters. Her description of the earthquake is harrowing stuff, and it rings very true to this lifelong resident of the West Coast and its fault zones. And there are many small descriptive gems throughout the book that I admired. There's also a fine complexity to the story of the colony and its methods. Are they excessive? Self-destructive? Criminal? How far is too far to go for the sake of the environment? How do we define "extremism"? The ethical issues in this piece of speculative eco-fiction are approached with nuance and sensitivity by Smith. There are no hard truths or easy answers here and, like Lucie, we have to explore for ourselves how we feel about what she sees and experiences on Marrow Island.Unfortunately, the weight of the book rests with Lucie and Katie, and neither character was particularly engaging. I didn't much like either of them. Good characters don't have to be likeable of course, but they do have to be honest and real, and Lucie and Katie didn't really deliver for me. Their soulmate relationship failed to convince, even allowing for the passage of time. None of the other characters seemed fully fleshed out either, and some of the dialogue is stilted. For all the strengths of the novel in its plot and imagery, and despite the imaginative world the author has created, the people who inhabit that world are a letdown. In addition, there's an underlying tone throughout that irritated me: a certain smugness and sense of moral superiority, as if we all share a certain set of assumptions about the world and our place in it. I was glad to have read this novel and there was a lot in it that I liked and admired. Some of its flaws frustrated me, but it was an entertaining and thought-provoking read. (Thanks to Houghton Mifflin for an advance e-galley. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.)
    • 4/5
      It is 1993 and Lucie lives with her parents on Orwell island, though her father works on the neighboring Marrow Island at an oil refinery. An earthquake hits the islands, destroying the refinery but the accelerant and other environmental pollutants cause a huge fire at the refinery. Lucie's father is presumed dead along with many others, the island declared environmentally destroyed, uninhabitable. twenty years pass, Lucie's mother deeds her the family house on Orwell, and Lucie hears from her childhood friend Katie, who is now living with others on Marrow Island, a group that claims to have once again made the island a safe place to live. Curious, Lucie decides to visit her old house and meet with Katie.Such an intriguing set up for this story, highlighting the dangers of our careless handling of our environment. What Lucie finds on the island seems miraculous at first, a group under the leadership of an ex sister, a group that seems passionate and caring. But once she gets a look under the surface she sees much to question. The novel goes back and forth, a year back, a year forward, Lucie's life now, and what happens to the people on the island, including her friend Katie. Much research done here, especially on the subject of mushrooms, which the group uses in many ways, some for renewal, some for healing, some for eating and some for other things.Fascinating reading, imaginative plot, a novel that makes the reader think of the constant harm being done to our earth and us humans who inhabit it. ARC from Netgalley.

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    Marrow Island - Alexis M. Smith

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