Reviews - Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 6.29.03 "Exquisitely imagined, researched and readable...Foremost among Vanderbes' many, and possibly more refined, gifts -- her elegance with descriptive language, say, or her effortlessly complex narrative structure -- is her ability to spin a good yarn....Vanderbes continually makes ideas come alive, so that the botany, the statues, the tablets of the mysterious script and the biogeography of islands themselves richly reflect her characters' emotional landscapes...As the island lays bare each woman's character, Vanderbes ultimately connects their stories with assured and hair-raising subtlety. Like nature in near-perfect balance, 'Easter Island' is one of those rare novels that appeals equally to mind, heart and soul." Link to full review WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD, 6.29.03 "An engrossing blend of adventure, romance, and mystery.... Vanderbes's narrative builds on the suspense of the past and the drama of nature, transforming the island from a simple setting into a living, breathing character." *Named one of the Best Books of 2003* PEOPLE MAGAZINE, 6.30.03, **CRITIC'S CHOICE** "Vanderbes has a sure eye for detail and a sophisticated plan... You'll be glad you savored every word in this rich and worldly first novel." BOTTOM LINE: Glorious. TIME OUT NEW YORK, 6.19.03 "Two women visiting a remote island 60 years apart undergo transformations of mind and spirit in this stunning debut novel... a subtle, moving tale about the wonders of nature and the inscrut- ability of passion....Vanderbes is careful to make each one of her exquisite sentences reflect back on an emotional truth, so that descriptions of suboceanic ocean ranges make the blood stir. Easter Island illustrates the cost of submerging passion: Wait too long, and your heart can go barren." THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 6.15.03 An "alluring tale of adventure, romance, betrayal, and scientific discovery...Vanderbes' deft touch in crafting characters and her talent for melding fact with fiction make for a beautiful story, a journey of mystery and surprise that readers will want to take again and again." ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6.8.03 A "captivating first novel...the author really sings when evoking the mysterious nature of Easter Island...Filled with solid characters, suspenseful narrative, romance and passion, and backed up by plenty of research, "Easter Island" is one of those impressive debut novels that comes along once a year -- or once every two years -- and demands that readers takes notice of its existence." NEW YORK NEWSDAY, 6.5.03 This "outsanding first novel...combines gripping traditional storytelling with the scientist-explorer protagonists associated with the fiction of Andrea Barrett ("Ship Fever" and "The Voyage of the Narwahl")... Need and fulfillment, adaptation and mutation, the evolution, for better or worse, of human relationships -- these are Vanderbes' mighty themes. Intelligently conceived and elegantly written, 'Easter Island' is a pleasure to read." Link to full review CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, 5.29.03 A "gorgeous debut novel...brilliant at portraying emotional ambiguities... Vanderbes displays Mother Nature's genius at spinnng a web of life... 'Easter Island' makes a strong case that no man, woman, plant, or moment is an island. By its lovely conclusion, those enigmatic statues seem as familiar and poignant as the private monuments of grief we erect in our own minds." Link to full review *Named one of the Best Books of 2003* PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred) "Restrained passion and confliced loyalties drive this sweeping debut novel, in which two women of different eras experience the mysteries of Easter Island....Vanderbes knows how to craft suspense, and the narratives -- while packed with vivid historical and scientific detail -- move forward on the strength of her fully realized characters...Like the overcast skies of Easter Island, this impressive debut is rich in shades of gray: meteorological, scientific, intellectual and emotional." BOOKLIST "This historical novel deftly combines romance, warfare and science for the rationalist and romantic alike." THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (LONDON), 5.11.03 "Readers often ask writers if they do much research and most writers answer that they rely on imagination. But this novel about exploration and extinction is based on serious study: of paleobotany and the dissemination of plants; of the language, customs and ecology of Easter Island and its mysterious statues; of the naval history of the First World War and the progress of feminism in the 1970s. Combining all of this with a pair of parallel human dramas was an ambitious undertaking, triumphantly achieved....Vanderbes has a vivid imagination and uses evocative language and snappy dialogue. And her story has an unusual attribute: though about young women and by a young woman, it makes scholarship seem sexier than sex." THE LONDON TIMES, 5.10.03 "Jennifer Vanderbes' brilliant debut novel tells the story of two women connected by adventure and betrayal, despite the 60 years of history between them...The narrative moves seamlessly between the two women's stories and the comparisons between them seem to arise naturally. Vanderbes' greatest achievement is in conveying the allure of anthropology and botany to the reader...reminscent of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, Vanderbes describes the way in which plants can haunt and seduce the imagination...she finds a lyricism in the natural world, where 'everything glistens with the urge to live'. Latin plant names resonate with a curious taxonomic poetry, and charming details about 'heart-shaped seeds' and other fairy-tale like flora abound...Like the moai statues on Easter Island, this novel is an impressive, strikingly carved feat." BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE, January 2004 "An oustanding novel by a new writer has emerged which can heartily be recommended to those interested in the island and its study..." Link to full review . |
| ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, JUNE 23 "IT LIST 2003" The 100 Most Creative People in Entertainment MARIE CLAIRE MAGAZINE, JULY "10 BEST TO DO LIST" TIME OUT NEW YORK, JUNE 12-19 "THE BOOKS OF SUMMER" Recalling A.S. Byatt's Posession....Vanderbes weaves together history, science and romance, while maintaining an undercurrent of suspense. THE DAILY NEWS, 6.12.03 "The best of this season's beach reads" Fans of Tracy Chevalier are also likely to appreciate Vanderbes' debut, which skilfully weaves together the stories of two women from different eras..... GLAMOUR MAGAZINE, JUNE (INTVU) "FIVE WOMEN, FIVE STORIES" NEW YORK MAGAZINE, JUNE 2 (INTVU) "IN PRINT: LOVE IN THE TIME OF HAY FEVER PAGES MAGAZINE, MAY/JUNE (INTVU) "PROMISING DEBUTS" TIME OUT LONDON, MAY 21-28 (INTVU) "THE VOYAGE OUT" Vanderbes' precise, honed style and willingness to efface herself before history (not to mention a world beyond the US) is a long way from the smartarse solipsism of some young American novelists...[Easter Island] is aware of itself as a story, as a code to be cracked;...it's a feminist parable which locates women firmly at the center rather than by the side of a notionally clever man...her two narratives cross-fertilize eachother in a way that's ingenious... PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, JANUARY 27 (INTVU) "FIRST FICTION: A BOUNTY OF NOVELISTS ARE HOPING TO STRIKE BESTELLER GOLD WITH THEIR FIRST OFERINGS" Novels as ambitious as Jennifer Vanderbes' Easter Island come along about as often as a blue moon... Link to full article THE NEW YORK POST, MARCH 9 "NEW SCRIBES ON THE (CITY) BLOCK: FIVE FRESH WRITERS TO BOOKMARK RIGHT NOW" |
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