Book Review: The Islander
The Islander. David W. Berner, Outpost19 Books/The Shortish Project, San Francisco, CA, February 26, 2023, Paperback and eBook, 174 pages.
Reviewed by Katherine Tozer.
Seamus Damp lives in the only permanent structure on an island called The Rock off the coast of Dingle in Ireland, where he has watched the sun rise and set between cups of tea and books of poetry for the many years since leaving his wife and his son, Aiden. The Rock is only accessible from Dingle by ferry. Its only visitors are Michael, the ferryman, and the hikers and backpackers he transports.
Seamus isn't interested in visitors. He calls himself a hermit thrush, "the bird that hides away in the forest understory because that's where it wants to be, that's where it sings its pensive song." The people of Dingle find him ornery, but he's so isolated that they entertain his eccentricities with good humor. On a rare trip to town, Aiden coaxes his father into visiting his twin granddaughters for their birthday. Seamus grabs a handful of flowers from the ground as a gift for the girls, whose age he can't recall even after Aiden makes a point to tell him. Aiden worries about his elderly, diabetic father living so remotely. He convinced Seamus to get a cell phone but can't force him to use it. He argues for Seamus to leave the island but can't make him pack.
A violent early morning storm drives Seamus and an ambitious young backpacker together. She's a bit of a hermit thrush too. The beauty and distance of The Rock appeal to both characters, and the trajectory of their stories changes after they meet.
The Islander uses imagery to win readers over to Seamus's side. Who wouldn't fight social norms when weighed against a view like this?
"On the horizon, the sun now flickered over
the land of silhouettes, sometimes hiding behind
bruise-blue clouds, creating little sparks of light
on the surface of the water. These were the glints
of light that poets wrote about."
The scenery comes alive on multiple occasions; rain, fire, wind, and currents move the story along. It is a quiet story, despite these external forces, though. Each character nurses internal conflicts, which deepens their humanity and also slows the pace. Character development is at the heart of the scene I find most salient, a caesura in the final quarter of the story. Seamus, Aiden, the twins, and the backpacker are together in Seamus's home on The Rock when Aiden, fresh off a bout of familiar grievances, turns and sees Seamus laughing at the typewriter with his nine-year-old girls, sharing a story he has been writing just for them.
I would recommend The Islander to those who like character-driven stories, the natural world, and family drama. It reveals beauty in people and places that don't always get a second look. In that respect, The Islander shares some themes with novels by Elizabeth Strout and Fredrik Backman. It asks about what we owe each other, how we should grieve, and what we owe to each other when we are grieving. It left me with a sweet ache for the characters and an urge to go camping in Ireland.