Island, by Richard Laymon **5/8

This is a page-turner, but of the good variety - that is to say one that's unpredictable. In my experience, most page-turners eventually turn into "the chase" - during which the author finds artificial means of wasting time (worthless plot twists) until the characters reach the ultimate conclusion. We may not know the particulars of this conclusion, but the general concepts are usually obvious to us and are thus usually devoid of anything new and interesting for a major section (the last third or half of the book in some cases - I'm thinking of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, John Grisham's The Firm, etc). "The chase" is usually fine enough in movies, but it can be especially tedious in novels over hundreds of pages.

Laymon completely avoids "the chase" while still creating a serious page-turner. It's really impossible to predict where this novel is going at any point in the book, and when I started to try, I was always wrong. A relatively simple concept grows and changes with each new chapter. I think Laymon is able to do this for a couple of reasons - first, because he's got a demented and unique mind, and secondly because he has real, three-dimensional characters who are placed in a crazy situation and left to react. Laymon gives us these reactions in full-force, and it's the actions and reactions of the characters that propel the story along. His characters are so richly detailed that I started imagining experiences that don't even take place in the book, based on back-story that's merely hinted at. I imagine Laymon had a lot more information in his mind about these characters and only had time and space to tell so much, given the format of the book (it's presented as a first-person journal of one of the characters). But it's because these characters are such fully-realized people that the story works, even when it goes into extremely disturbing terrain by the end of the book [note - extremely disturbing].

My wife, Ellie, dislikes this book quite a bit, despite the fact that she raced through it, because she has a problem with the places that it goes by the end of the book. I felt the material all worked, given the characters as we get to know them and the experiences they go through in the book, but I can certainly understand where she's coming from. This is certainly not recommended for anyone except people who are ready for disturbing imagery and behavior.

So why not a higher rating given my positive review? It's just that for me these kinds of books occupy a specific and relatively unimportant place in my life. It's a fun way to pass the time, like watching a pretty good movie, but ultimately not something that stirs my imagination or excites my mind. I chose to read it when I did because I wanted something I could take on a trip, and I wasn't in the mood to read more short stories (I often try to read short stories when traveling, because if I skip a day or two it doesn't matter, unlike when reading a novel which requires momentum). But I thought this would work well, and it did. I'll likely read another Laymon at some point when I need a quick read while traveling.
(spring 2006)

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