I read this book, essentially, because I so much enjoyed Salman Rushdie’s memoirs and I wanted, as it were, the other side of the story. So I picked up a book by Marianne Wiggins.

I suppose this is one of those books that as meant as an allegory of sorts. It reminds me a bit of To the Lighthouse (which I’ve never actually read); but in this case it’s colonialism, and not war, that shapes the events of the novel. I’m drawn by Wiggins’s sharp description (in the first part) of conformity and petty social oppression, particularly because it contrasts so nicely with the age-old story of civilization and barbarism in the second part of the novel. Likewise the force of nature that is John Dollar - a plain-as-day brash representative of American pragmatism - gives way in part two to a literal force of nature in the shape of a tsunami; and a very correct British dinner party in honor of King George that gives way to a cannibalistic feast in almost the same spot. Wiggins’s work decomposes British concepts of civilization, bit by bit, so that they can be recreated into a new civilization, of sorts, on the aptly-named “Island of our outlawed dreams”. It is, and was apparently very explicitly meant to be, a female version of Lord of the Flies, and a sort of rebuke to Robinson Crusoe.

The presence of cannibalism seems a bit unnecessary, except I suppose as literary license and a commentary on the British dinner party. Which is, for what it’s worth, a terrific scene: a very prim and proper ceremony, a meal conducted on fine tableware - and all on the shores of a remote island. What’s more, this fine party collapses into a carnival of turtle butchery that heralds the next day’s tsunami and recalls the pivotal pig-slaughter scene in Lord of the Flies.

The eight girls - or seven, if you count Sybil and Sloan as a single character - make for a fascinating constellation of characters that seem to have a sort of biblical quality. In fact Oopi and Gabriella are introduced in scenes reminiscent of Eve and the serpent on the one hand, and Noah and the dove on the other. My favorite, of course, is Menaka - since she is both the underdog and the most capable of characters.

It’s a dark book, which makes it difficult to re-read, which is a shame since I suspect a lot is to be gained in re-reading it. Definitely worthwhile.