Islands

Life in the low country fairly smokes off the pages of this one. Descriptions of the island and ocean, creeks and swamps are rich and detailed and speak of a very deep love for these endangered places. It made me want to go there and experience it myself.

However, this novel wasn’t perfect. Sure, it was full of the usual Siddons vocabulary – bone-deep, blood-warm, skinned, winesap, V-shaped kitten smile and days that flowed on. It had boats, love for community and the outdoors, great meals and even greater friends. Unfortunately I didn’t really buy it. Early on in the novel she creates an atmosphere of closeness and intimacy that I didn’t believe. Fantasy all of it. The nearly wordless communication between the older friends. The show more complete comfort in sharing and living in each other’s pockets. The benevolent acceptance of the newcomer. It was all too much to take. Siddons’s ability to stifle you in this fusty love-in is remarkable though. It was about as believable as the still drinkable, months old, open bottle of merlot she threw in at the beginning. Not.

Oh and Siddons’s perception of motorcyclists is laughable and antiquated no matter how enlightened she wanted to be. The same old macho stereotypes of men and the outlandish, headstrong women. Can’t anyone be normal and ride a bike? Can’t anyone ride anything except a Harley? Can’t anyone ride and not have tattoos or a huge beard or wear chaps? Oy vey. I guess when real motorcyclists start writing books, then we’ll have reality for a change.

The story itself follows a common theme Siddons employs – the viper in the midst. Someone in this fantastically wonderful group of bosom buddies is not what they seem. There will be shenanigans and betrayal, but from whom? I was so caught up in the group dynamic that I almost missed it. Almost. My love of thrillers saved me from looking the fool. Anny isn't as strong or clearly defined as some of the other central heroines of novels past (Smokey and Kate come to mind) and neither is the villain (Georgina anyone?) and I missed that sharpness of character

I did wish that she would stop killing people off though. Every few chapters someone dies and it got to be a real downer by the third one. It felt like a cheap device used just to keep my emotions engaged and my sensibilities off balance. As if she knew the mild and nearly-enviable calm of the everyday lives of the characters weren’t enough to keep people from putting it aside in favor of more exciting books. It seemed as if she were putting off her inevitable conclusion and stringing me along in a way that didn’t add suspense. Sure people were dying, but the lack of suspicious circumstances eked away a lot of the import those deaths could have had. Since there was no framework of suspicion and doubt, no focal suspect, no chain of events to follow the impact of, the ending was substantially diminished and seemed out of place; tacked on. A kinder, gentler “thriller” for those who need emotion, but no blood. show less

You spend the whole book thinking you're reading one story, and then in the last few pages discover you've been reading something else. I wasn't sure whether I was relieved or duped. But it was an interesting finish.

I loved the description of the Carolina Low Country. You can tell this is a place well-known and well-loved by the author. It may not have been particularly the right time, in the middle of a hot August, to read about heat, humidity and the smell of the marshes around Charleston, but even so Siddons made it appealing.

I also enjoyed how the place and the architecture of the homes shaped the relationships of the people who lived there. The "Islands" of the title each had a different atmosphere that came to bear on the lives show more of the characters.

On the negative side, I keep wondering why so many books are made up of people who don't have to work for a living. Must be nice to have "should I go to work today" be an optional question. I guess rich people have more time on their hands for other things. show less

Anny Butler has always been a caretaker, a nurturer, first for her own brothers and sisters, and then as the director of an agency devoted to the welfare of children. What she has never had is a family of her own to care for. That all changes when she meets and marries Lewis Aiken, an exuberant surgeon fifteen years Anny's senior.

When they marry, Anny finds her family - not a traditional one, but a group of childhood friends from Charleston who are inseparable; who are one another's surrogate family. They call themselves The Scrubs, and they all, in some way, are connected by the cord of family. Instantly upon meeting them at the old beach house on Sullivan's Island, which they co-own, Anny knows that she has ultimately found home and show more family. They vow that, when the time comes, they will find a place by the sea where they can live together.

Bad things begin to happen - a hurricane, a fire, deaths - but still the remaining Scrubs cling together. They are watched over and bolstered by Camilla Curry, the heart and core of the group, always the healer. For the first time in her life, Anny allows Camilla to enfold her and to care for her with a kind of love and support that Anny has never experienced.

I loved this book; it was one of those books that you can get lost in the storytelling of it. I'm really beginning to enjoy Anne Rivers Siddons as an author and look forward avidly to the next book of hers that I read. I have added three more books by Anne Rivers Siddons on to my Wish List and give Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons an A+! show less

This was a smooth, easy read. It had enough twists and turns to keep me interested but wasn't sappy or "chick-lit" material. Siddons does a great job capturing southern living, especially island living in South Carolina. The language was rich enough for me to taste the she-crab soup and smell the salty beaches.

This book started out slow for about the first half, but by the end I wasn't able to put it down. It's the story of four couples who call themselves the scrubs because they are all involved in the medical community of Charleston, South Carolina in some way. The main character is Anny who marries Lewis and is welcomed wholeheartedly to the group. The unquestioned heart of the group is warm and gracious Camilla; she is the one that is credited for holding the group together through a hurricane, deaths, fire and change.
Towards the end of the book there is a mystery to be solved and I was surprised at the conclusion of it, but the book itself is an excellent one and I would recommend it for reading when it's cold outside.
3.5 stars out of 5

This was decent, but not nearly as good as some other Anne Rivers Siddons books I’ve read. As usual, the location plays a large part in the atmosphere of the book. Here we get 3 different faces of South Carolina — old money Charleston, the beach, and the low country — and each does its part. Unfortunately, I wish she’d spent as much time on her characters as she did on the setting.

Anny is the center of the story. She’s not old money Charleston, but the leader of a non-profit who searches out the help of a doctor one day for one of her clients and meets Lewis, a successful surgeon 15 years her senior. He pulls her into his group of lifelong friends, the Scrubs, and soon they are all one happy family. Or so it seems.

The story show more crosses multiple decades and follows the Scrubs through the good times and bad — hurricanes, fire, death. It had the potential to be really emotional, but I felt like I never got a chance to know the characters before I was thrown into their lives and machinations. Lewis and Anny’s courtship is nearly non-existent. They meet and then bam! They’re married and life goes on. We’re told how deeply they love each other, but we’re robbed of the chance to see that love grow. And then there are the friends. Only a couple of them are really fleshed out characters, and not necessarily for the better. I even kept forgetting about one of the couples… whenever they’d be mentioned I’d think “Oh yeah, those guys”.

Unfortunately, practically all of the inciting events in this story are tragic. After a while, it felt like “geez, who else is going to die?” I appreciated the twist at the end, but I think it could have used a little more intrigue sprinkled throughout the story to keep us interested. show less

Anne Rivers Siddons' Islands is set in the Carolina Low Country.

It's the story of a group of life-long friends who share a beach house and become closer to each other than they are to their families. The narrator of this seemingly idlyllic tale is Anny, who, at age thirty-five, marries Lewis, and becomes enfolded into the group. There is, however, a serpent in their Eden, and what begins as a lovely reminiscence of times past turns into a suspense story.

As usual, Siddons characterizations are strong, and, with the addition of the suspense element, her plot moves along nicely. However, she's a bit more impressed with the glories of the Low Country than I am. I find her constant repetitions of local color to be a bit tedious and intrusive.