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Castaway
'Writer seeks "wife" for a year on tropical island.'
The opportunity to escape from it all was irresistible. Lucy Irvine answered the advertisement - and found herself alone on a remote desert island with a 'husband' she hardly knew.
Lucy Irvine fell in love with the seductive, if cruel, beauty of that untouched Eden, whose power to enslave and enchant her never slackened throughout the whole of her amazing adventure.
Uncompromisingly candid and sometimes shocking, Castaway is her compulsively readable account of a desert island dream which threatened to turn into a nightmare of illness, thirst and personal antipathy.
The opportunity to escape from it all was irresistible. Lucy Irvine answered the advertisement - and found herself alone on a remote desert island with a 'husband' she hardly knew.
Lucy Irvine fell in love with the seductive, if cruel, beauty of that untouched Eden, whose power to enslave and enchant her never slackened throughout the whole of her amazing adventure.
Uncompromisingly candid and sometimes shocking, Castaway is her compulsively readable account of a desert island dream which threatened to turn into a nightmare of illness, thirst and personal antipathy.
393 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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898 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
June 2, 2012
I didn't read much between the ages 16-20, I was too busy rebelling and going to parties.
But I remember reading this one book. I just found it again, so I thought I would review here it for your pleasure. It was about a woman who went to live a la Robinson Cruzoe with some crazy dude and all I remember was that because of malnutrition the main character's anus became so loose her rectum would constantly fall out.
I am still traumatised.
But I remember reading this one book. I just found it again, so I thought I would review here it for your pleasure. It was about a woman who went to live a la Robinson Cruzoe with some crazy dude and all I remember was that because of malnutrition the main character's anus became so loose her rectum would constantly fall out.
I am still traumatised.
February 15, 2015
At the age of 25, Lucy Irvine answered an ad for a yearlong spot as a 'wife' on a desert island. She and her partner—Gerald Kingsland, who was twice her age—were to play at being survivors: they would build shelters, fish and forage for food (and hopefully make the use of some seeds), be completely on their own. Once you accept that they're both rather batshit crazy, it's an enthralling read. (Perhaps a bit reminiscent of Legacy of Luna?)
There are two main things to consider—the survival aspect and their complex relationship—but those two factors have a relationship of their own. Initially, survival is a serious worry. They have provisions, but only enough for a month or so, as the goal is to be reliant on the island. One felt that permanently hungry as we were, if the sight of a peculiar fish actually put us off, there must be something sinister about it (33). There's freshwater, but not much of it; from the beginning, it has to be carefully rationed, and as the seasons change that rationing gets more and more strict. They lose drastic amounts of weight—Irvine talks of being so malnourished that part of her rectum fell out repeatedly(!), I suppose because there wasn't the muscle to hold everything in place. And they constantly suffered from sores and the like, as coral made the seawater poisonous and turned small cuts into raw, festering wounds.
But the story takes a turn when locals from nearby islands start dropping in. The locals don't really understand what Irvine and Kingsland are doing (who can blame them?) and, seeing the state the 'castaways' are in, start bringing provisions of rice, flour, beans. They drop off extra materials to help Irvine and Kingsland build a shelter (and, in fact, assist in building that shelter). When they learn that Kingsland knows engines, they bring over engines for him to repair; perhaps inevitably, they invite Kingsland and then both Kingsland and Irvine on excursions off the island. The direction of the year changes irrevocably.
This is, perhaps, where things get most interesting in terms of the relationship. Although Irvine says very little about her life before (or after) the island, it is clear from the get-go that it is the island, not Kingsland, that interests her. They are married, but only because the Australian government wouldn't approve their plan otherwise, and Kingsland is far more interested in a physical relationship than Irvine is. He is also, it seems, far less interested in day-to-day practicalities; Irvine wants to build a shelter and stockpile wood for the monsoon season and plan ahead, but Kingsland is more interested in the immediate. More critically, while Irvine mourns the loss of their isolated life when the locals start coming by, Kingsland thrives on being back with others, working on things other than water and food.
Kingsland wrote his own memoir of the experience. I haven't read it—and am not likely to, as it's not readily available locally and anyway I'm not sure I'd want to—but I'd imagine that he paints a very different picture of their time and their roles and so on. Irvine is mostly affectionate when she talks about him, and generally not offended by his crassness, but...but. There's this pervading sense that she's always trying to please him, feeling guilty because she doesn't want to sleep with him (and he definitely believes she should feel guilty for that) or plan to stay with him after the year is out (ditto). It was clear from the start that I was not going to get away lightly with having committed the sin of falling in love with the idea of an island, and not with G (36). She talks of the uncomfortable situation of him having fallen in love with her while she fell in love with the island—but more than that, it feels like she fell in love with the island and he fell in love with the idea of being in love with her. They're never ideal partners, but that's made more and more obvious as time goes on. But if a woman will not share her body with a man, how can she expect him to share her infatuation with a few grains of sand and a lot of sea and sky? (71–72)
I find Kingsland (or 'G', as Irvine refers to him) to be, at best, a terrible boor. "You don't fuck, and what's the good of a c[---] that doesn't fuck?" (193) "It's not that I'm asking you to be grateful, Lu..." When someone says that, you know that that is precisely what they are asking you to be (221). Later I was to discover how profound an effect being called a c[---] for a year had on my feelings of worth as a woman. Because it was all I could really be to G, in the end, I felt that it was all I really was (262). Again, I only have Irvine's perspective here, but my overall impression is that it was in many ways an incredible year, but that Irvine would have been much happier with a different partner.
It's a complicated story for a multitude of reasons. Hard to imagine. Irvine manages to pack in an incredible amount of detail, though, and a longing for the hot, sunny island she ultimately left behind. It's a love story, but not a conventional one.
There are two main things to consider—the survival aspect and their complex relationship—but those two factors have a relationship of their own. Initially, survival is a serious worry. They have provisions, but only enough for a month or so, as the goal is to be reliant on the island. One felt that permanently hungry as we were, if the sight of a peculiar fish actually put us off, there must be something sinister about it (33). There's freshwater, but not much of it; from the beginning, it has to be carefully rationed, and as the seasons change that rationing gets more and more strict. They lose drastic amounts of weight—Irvine talks of being so malnourished that part of her rectum fell out repeatedly(!), I suppose because there wasn't the muscle to hold everything in place. And they constantly suffered from sores and the like, as coral made the seawater poisonous and turned small cuts into raw, festering wounds.
But the story takes a turn when locals from nearby islands start dropping in. The locals don't really understand what Irvine and Kingsland are doing (who can blame them?) and, seeing the state the 'castaways' are in, start bringing provisions of rice, flour, beans. They drop off extra materials to help Irvine and Kingsland build a shelter (and, in fact, assist in building that shelter). When they learn that Kingsland knows engines, they bring over engines for him to repair; perhaps inevitably, they invite Kingsland and then both Kingsland and Irvine on excursions off the island. The direction of the year changes irrevocably.
This is, perhaps, where things get most interesting in terms of the relationship. Although Irvine says very little about her life before (or after) the island, it is clear from the get-go that it is the island, not Kingsland, that interests her. They are married, but only because the Australian government wouldn't approve their plan otherwise, and Kingsland is far more interested in a physical relationship than Irvine is. He is also, it seems, far less interested in day-to-day practicalities; Irvine wants to build a shelter and stockpile wood for the monsoon season and plan ahead, but Kingsland is more interested in the immediate. More critically, while Irvine mourns the loss of their isolated life when the locals start coming by, Kingsland thrives on being back with others, working on things other than water and food.
Kingsland wrote his own memoir of the experience. I haven't read it—and am not likely to, as it's not readily available locally and anyway I'm not sure I'd want to—but I'd imagine that he paints a very different picture of their time and their roles and so on. Irvine is mostly affectionate when she talks about him, and generally not offended by his crassness, but...but. There's this pervading sense that she's always trying to please him, feeling guilty because she doesn't want to sleep with him (and he definitely believes she should feel guilty for that) or plan to stay with him after the year is out (ditto). It was clear from the start that I was not going to get away lightly with having committed the sin of falling in love with the idea of an island, and not with G (36). She talks of the uncomfortable situation of him having fallen in love with her while she fell in love with the island—but more than that, it feels like she fell in love with the island and he fell in love with the idea of being in love with her. They're never ideal partners, but that's made more and more obvious as time goes on. But if a woman will not share her body with a man, how can she expect him to share her infatuation with a few grains of sand and a lot of sea and sky? (71–72)
I find Kingsland (or 'G', as Irvine refers to him) to be, at best, a terrible boor. "You don't fuck, and what's the good of a c[---] that doesn't fuck?" (193) "It's not that I'm asking you to be grateful, Lu..." When someone says that, you know that that is precisely what they are asking you to be (221). Later I was to discover how profound an effect being called a c[---] for a year had on my feelings of worth as a woman. Because it was all I could really be to G, in the end, I felt that it was all I really was (262). Again, I only have Irvine's perspective here, but my overall impression is that it was in many ways an incredible year, but that Irvine would have been much happier with a different partner.
It's a complicated story for a multitude of reasons. Hard to imagine. Irvine manages to pack in an incredible amount of detail, though, and a longing for the hot, sunny island she ultimately left behind. It's a love story, but not a conventional one.
July 22, 2016
This book was a big U.K. hit in the 1980s, as it told the story of an older man and a younger woman who spend a year together on the desert island of Tuin, off the Torres Straits of Australia. The couple are combustible from the get-go, as the man wants sex and an escape from responsibilities, while the woman wants to find herself. Never a good combination.
Now add drought, lack of supplies, and starvation to the sexual friction, and the story really gets good. Lucy Irvine tells the true tale from her point of view (for Gerald Kingsland's version, read THE ISLANDER), so the reader will sympathize with her, but even then it's a great adventure. In fact, after reading this, you may want to find your own undeveloped island, free from resorts and fast food restaurants, where the only footprints in the sand are yours.
Book Season = Summer
Now add drought, lack of supplies, and starvation to the sexual friction, and the story really gets good. Lucy Irvine tells the true tale from her point of view (for Gerald Kingsland's version, read THE ISLANDER), so the reader will sympathize with her, but even then it's a great adventure. In fact, after reading this, you may want to find your own undeveloped island, free from resorts and fast food restaurants, where the only footprints in the sand are yours.
Book Season = Summer
January 30, 2012
Got this off my wishlist for Christmas and read it over the course of a day. Once I'd started, I couldn't put it down.
This is one of those books that gets into your head, you look away from reading it, go into the kitchen to make a drink and suddenly a part of your brain's not sure where you are. One of those books where you look out of the window and wonder why the weather is different to what it was a moment ago, when you were in the book.
Well written and all the better for the fact it's a true story. I'll be looking into the rest of her books, and I will go back and read this again in the future, highly recommended!
This is one of those books that gets into your head, you look away from reading it, go into the kitchen to make a drink and suddenly a part of your brain's not sure where you are. One of those books where you look out of the window and wonder why the weather is different to what it was a moment ago, when you were in the book.
Well written and all the better for the fact it's a true story. I'll be looking into the rest of her books, and I will go back and read this again in the future, highly recommended!
March 22, 2011
Amazing book... hard to read, harder to put down. I found this in a second-hand bookstore, and naturally assumed it was the basis of the Tom Hanks movie. Not. Very much, not. The other reviews tell the story pretty well, so I'll mention some other things. Gerald did go on to write his book,The Islanders, but it was not the success her book was, and to be honest, halfway through Castaway it's pretty clear that he simply does not have the urge to write or anything else. In fact, you wonder if he knows how to finish anything,even his own dreams about life?
Lucy went on to write the book we all want to read next, the account of why she ran away from school at age 12, Runaway. In between this first book and last book, she somehow has four sons, and they figure in her last book, Faraway.
Second son Robin Irvine seems to be very much like his mother, including her amazing honesty and willingness to simply be open to all experiences.
But much as I admire Lucy, I wish she'd explained why or how they could landed on that island with next to no planning for emergencies or contingencies. It is shocking, honestly, how close they came to dying from simple starvation and/or dehydration. In fact, they even discussed how they would die from lack of water before starving, and... well, that was okay, apparently.
Lucy went on to write the book we all want to read next, the account of why she ran away from school at age 12, Runaway. In between this first book and last book, she somehow has four sons, and they figure in her last book, Faraway.
Second son Robin Irvine seems to be very much like his mother, including her amazing honesty and willingness to simply be open to all experiences.
But much as I admire Lucy, I wish she'd explained why or how they could landed on that island with next to no planning for emergencies or contingencies. It is shocking, honestly, how close they came to dying from simple starvation and/or dehydration. In fact, they even discussed how they would die from lack of water before starving, and... well, that was okay, apparently.
March 19, 2017
I've taken away my first review as it was all so long ago. But I always had problems with this book as it simply had so many untruths. It was a short year and many people were highly amused (and otherwise) at the complete ignorance of these two who arrived with no cultural awareness or practicality and relied heavily on help almost immediately. It could have still been a good story and experience to tell without it trying to pretend something it was not I think it's great she wrote the book, I just remember the disappointment of many at the time when it came out. It's an isolated place so easy to be alone, but Tuin is off Badu and close to T.I. We zipped around constantly in dinghies. All too long go now. Great culture of Torres Strait and it's unique seafaring people if people want to read more.
October 30, 2015
Absolutely brilliant! I loved this book. I admire the author's writing style, triumphant strength of spirit and total unrelenting honesty. What an adventure! What a book! Read and enjoy.
September 19, 2010
"Like a Jane Austen novel gone delirious with sun stroke." --New York Times Book Review
I don't know about the Jane Austen reference, but you're curious now, right? Immediately on reading the premise, I was too curious not to read this book. In 1981 a man puts out a want-ad looking for a "wife" to join him on a deserted island just south of Papua New Guinea. It turns out the Australian government required a man and woman to marry before living together, even on a deserted island, but it seems that G, the man, really thought the marriage might become something more permanent. Who would respond to such an ad? Enter Lucy Irvine, an extraordinary woman. I say extraordinary woman, not in the jr. high book-report kind of way, but in the unusual and precious way of a truly intelligent, brave, morally strong, yet human and sensitive woman who allows nothing but her own heart to direct her. She's an early-'80's woman's libber without ever declaring herself one, simply by being wholly herself. Not only were her experiences on the island truly riveting, but her interpretations on the page magnified the experience into a larger experiment of human nature.
Lucy never falls in love with G, her partner (and who can blame her; he is a food- and sex-starved Hemingway, whose pet names for her vary between "cunt" and "shithouse", but in a "loving" way, she says). But Lucy does have a glorious affair with the island itself, and her lone sessions with the sea and sun are the sexiest pages, innocent but sensual.
The original intention of this experiment was that the "wife" was the accessory, and the real goal was for G to write a book of the experience. It turns out G never wrote that book, but Lucy did, and it seems she got the experience G wanted, but, by reason of his character, could never have. Lucy is not only the brave, adventurous character that drives a compelling story, but the exquisite author, as well. Here's a sample of her sensual approach as she gathers water for cooking:
"Now at the edge of the far-away sea there is a gentle lapping of water as my tilted bucket fills. Whisper whisper of little waves, within, without. The growing day has nudged past a tranquil dawn. I want to swallow oceanfuls of this peace and hold it within me always." --pg. 100.
I don't know about the Jane Austen reference, but you're curious now, right? Immediately on reading the premise, I was too curious not to read this book. In 1981 a man puts out a want-ad looking for a "wife" to join him on a deserted island just south of Papua New Guinea. It turns out the Australian government required a man and woman to marry before living together, even on a deserted island, but it seems that G, the man, really thought the marriage might become something more permanent. Who would respond to such an ad? Enter Lucy Irvine, an extraordinary woman. I say extraordinary woman, not in the jr. high book-report kind of way, but in the unusual and precious way of a truly intelligent, brave, morally strong, yet human and sensitive woman who allows nothing but her own heart to direct her. She's an early-'80's woman's libber without ever declaring herself one, simply by being wholly herself. Not only were her experiences on the island truly riveting, but her interpretations on the page magnified the experience into a larger experiment of human nature.
Lucy never falls in love with G, her partner (and who can blame her; he is a food- and sex-starved Hemingway, whose pet names for her vary between "cunt" and "shithouse", but in a "loving" way, she says). But Lucy does have a glorious affair with the island itself, and her lone sessions with the sea and sun are the sexiest pages, innocent but sensual.
The original intention of this experiment was that the "wife" was the accessory, and the real goal was for G to write a book of the experience. It turns out G never wrote that book, but Lucy did, and it seems she got the experience G wanted, but, by reason of his character, could never have. Lucy is not only the brave, adventurous character that drives a compelling story, but the exquisite author, as well. Here's a sample of her sensual approach as she gathers water for cooking:
"Now at the edge of the far-away sea there is a gentle lapping of water as my tilted bucket fills. Whisper whisper of little waves, within, without. The growing day has nudged past a tranquil dawn. I want to swallow oceanfuls of this peace and hold it within me always." --pg. 100.
July 22, 2013
"Like a Jane Austen novel gone delirious with sun stroke." --New York Times Book Review
Haha....great description! I love the survivalist aspect of this book, it's endlessly fascinating to me how people survive when they have little through innovation & invention. I also love the author's honesty, she doesn't sugarcoat either his, or her own, behaviour or personalities but is refreshingly transparent about their experiences. Absolutely recommended.
Haha....great description! I love the survivalist aspect of this book, it's endlessly fascinating to me how people survive when they have little through innovation & invention. I also love the author's honesty, she doesn't sugarcoat either his, or her own, behaviour or personalities but is refreshingly transparent about their experiences. Absolutely recommended.
April 10, 2015
I've been meaning to read this book for most of my adult life and I'm so glad that I finally got round to it. From the moment I started the book I have been living on Tuin and, like Lucy, I am a little reluctant to leave. There is so much to enjoy in this book. Firstly it is the story of a heroic, real life, female, Robinson Crusoe clinging to survival against the odds. Then there are her diary entries that focus on the natural beauty of the island and Lucy's growing love affair with Tuin that flourishes despite the challenges she faces. Then, of course, there is dear Gerald. Let's be honest; if you were to be stranded on a desert island for a year the last person on earth you'd want to take along for company would be Gerald. Rude, arrogant, misogynistic, apathetic and just downright lazy it seems improbable that Gerald ever managed to get the project off the ground in the first place. Lucy's patience and tolerance towards Gerald is admirable and so despite his all too obvious faults she managed to make me warm to him. By the end of the year I felt I understood Gerald and knew that despite his gruff good-bye there was a soft centre that genuinely mourned the loss of his "wife". I will be researching what became of these two fascinating characters.
March 16, 2018
If you still daydream about the drama and romance of "roughing it" on a desert island with a complete stranger who isn't Clive Owen or at least George Clooney, read this. Not to be confused with a very trite movie starring a very trite male star, this is a true story. They become castaways on purpose, when Lucy Irvine answers a newspaper ad looking for a companion for an "adventure." This adventure consists of living on a desert island with a total stranger, in hopes of eventual romance. Well, she's cute but he ain't that hot. And personality? Forget it! She goes anyway. Compelling reading, fascinating story, and scary turn of events. Many things go wrong, or course, because what's a tropical paradise without a four-star all-inclusive and an Iguana Joe's around the next bend? Well, it's pretty durn primitive. No phones, no lights, no motor cars! And no doctors or hospitals, either. I included this in chick lit because it's her story, and she leaves in every gory female-related detail imaginable. A great read for everyone.
March 29, 2014
Probably my favorite book. After all the hardship, I wonder if she ever missed the island...
March 25, 2015
This book is a great read!
August 6, 2022
Note: this review contains spoilers and quotes some obscene language from the book.
This is an engineered survival memoir. Twenty-six-year-old author Lucy Irvine answered a newspaper ad from a man she calls G who was looking for a woman to spend a year with him as a castaway on an island off the coast of Australia. Neither of them has much money, so they arrive with scant and odd supplies and Lucy doesn’t even have the funds to leave when the year is over. Some things they buy, other stuff people give them; the result is they are somehow both prepared as a true castaway wouldn’t be, and yet ill-prepared to survive.
Granted, this memoir is from Irvine’s point of view, but G seems to be a truly awful man to be stuck with on an island for any length of time, let alone a year. He calls her “old shithouse” and “cunt.” He sort of claims they’re endearments, but to both me and the author, they are demeaning terms, and Irvine even states the latter had a psychological effect on her.
Early on, G’s legs get bitten by insects and swell painfully, so he seems to spend most of the time lying around ostensibly working on his novel. He doesn’t build a proper shelter, and it seems Lucy does more than her share of the food gathering, in addition to all the cooking and firewood gathering. Actually, it’s not clear what G does to contribute. He sulks, he bitches if she mentions the lack of the shelter he was supposed to build. And yet she’s generally sympathetic to him, sensitive that he’s frustrated to no longer be as physically capable as when he was younger.
He’s twice her age, but the Australian government insisted they marry if they’re going to be living alone on Tuin together. The central problem between them for most of the book, and in a way the central conflict of the book, is their sex life. Lucy has no interest in a sexual relationship with G, something he resents deeply. Apparently, they did sleep together before traveling to the island, but once there she changed her mind. She simply isn’t attracted to him. At one point he says something like, “what’s the good of a cunt that doesn’t fuck.” Again, she seems to be doing the majority of the providing for both of them at this point, but he is fixated on the fact that she won’t have sex with him and makes it clear that is the only thing that gives her worth to him repeatedly.
He gets jealous of any other young man, accusing her of sleeping with them. Granted, she tends to spend most of her time naked or mostly naked in front of him and them, reveling in the freedom from social mores. The men do seem to take an interest and she disappears with them for hours. Staying with her point of view, the reader knows she chooses not to sleep with these other men, but G’s suspicions and jealousy are understandable given the circumstances.
Wait, other men, you ask? I thought they were stranded alone? They should be, and they are at first. But at one point two young men on their own experimental trip stop briefly at the island (and tell her G treats her horribly.) The story picked up for this part, and the impact their visit had on Lucy, G, and their experiment is interesting. Then at the halfway point of the book—though I think it’s earlier in the experiment, the timeline is vague throughout the book—they make contact with the locals who inhabit the nearby island of Badu. When the Baduans discover G can fix generators and boat motors and anything with an engine, they begin trading food and supplies and even bring them a small boat in exchange for his work.
G is finally contributing and perks up, but that they rely on commerce with the outside world undermines the experiment, something Lucy is aware of and resents. The Baduan’s are connected through commerce themselves with the rest of the world, and through them G and Lucy become connected, too. Granted, they likely would not have survived without help—the island had very little fresh water, not enough food, and illness and infection set in. Part of the issue is the coral reefs around the island cause the water to be poisonous, infecting any open wounds caused by routine scrapes and insect bites. As their health deteriorates, they became less and less physically capable of surviving. Even if they’d been actually stranded, they’d likely have encountered and established relationships with nearby natives. It’s hard to imagine there are habitable islands anywhere that are completely undiscovered, and the pair rely on things left on the island by others, such as a shed, sheets of iron, and a few crops they discover. But this aspect nevertheless significantly undermines the premise of the experiment and the book.
Overall, this was a slow read for me. It’s deceptively long, with the text packed densely on each page. Beyond that, for long stretches, nothing much happens. Lucy states that she cares about G but isn’t in love with him. She seems to think he falls in love with her. I don’t think either of them legitimately cared for the other, there’s no affection, this was a finite relationship and they were stuck with each other. She makes a lot of compromises to make the relationship work out of necessity. He seems to recognize she has no intention of staying with him after the year is up, and protects himself by making it clear she’s a sex object to him. Or so Lucy concludes, but he objectifies her through, and I suspect she’s painting a rosier picture of him either out of kindness or her own ego. Again, we don’t get G’s point of view, so that perspective is skewed in the author’s favor.
G’s attitude likely contributed to Lucy isolating herself a lot. This may also just be her personality. When they form relationships with the Baduans, it’s mostly G who socializes, Lucy maintains her isolation more, often choosing to stay on Tuin while G travels to Badu, and going off by herself. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Lucy walking around the island alone, trying to poetically describe her daily life and doing the same few things, gets tedious. I ended up having to push myself to keep reading through most of this book, even though the premise really intrigued me. I will say, she does a good job blending her diary and the narrative, it’s well structured.
I think it would have been more enjoyable if they’d had a better relationship and if they’d just done more in general. When the two young men stop at the island, they are physically able to help a great deal in a short time. They describe all the things they’d have done, making a good shelter, for starters, and even decorating it. It’s what Lucy imagined doing, and it’s what I imagined they’d do. But I guess if I want that, I’ll have to turn to fiction. Maybe I’ll try Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson.
This is an engineered survival memoir. Twenty-six-year-old author Lucy Irvine answered a newspaper ad from a man she calls G who was looking for a woman to spend a year with him as a castaway on an island off the coast of Australia. Neither of them has much money, so they arrive with scant and odd supplies and Lucy doesn’t even have the funds to leave when the year is over. Some things they buy, other stuff people give them; the result is they are somehow both prepared as a true castaway wouldn’t be, and yet ill-prepared to survive.
Granted, this memoir is from Irvine’s point of view, but G seems to be a truly awful man to be stuck with on an island for any length of time, let alone a year. He calls her “old shithouse” and “cunt.” He sort of claims they’re endearments, but to both me and the author, they are demeaning terms, and Irvine even states the latter had a psychological effect on her.
Early on, G’s legs get bitten by insects and swell painfully, so he seems to spend most of the time lying around ostensibly working on his novel. He doesn’t build a proper shelter, and it seems Lucy does more than her share of the food gathering, in addition to all the cooking and firewood gathering. Actually, it’s not clear what G does to contribute. He sulks, he bitches if she mentions the lack of the shelter he was supposed to build. And yet she’s generally sympathetic to him, sensitive that he’s frustrated to no longer be as physically capable as when he was younger.
He’s twice her age, but the Australian government insisted they marry if they’re going to be living alone on Tuin together. The central problem between them for most of the book, and in a way the central conflict of the book, is their sex life. Lucy has no interest in a sexual relationship with G, something he resents deeply. Apparently, they did sleep together before traveling to the island, but once there she changed her mind. She simply isn’t attracted to him. At one point he says something like, “what’s the good of a cunt that doesn’t fuck.” Again, she seems to be doing the majority of the providing for both of them at this point, but he is fixated on the fact that she won’t have sex with him and makes it clear that is the only thing that gives her worth to him repeatedly.
He gets jealous of any other young man, accusing her of sleeping with them. Granted, she tends to spend most of her time naked or mostly naked in front of him and them, reveling in the freedom from social mores. The men do seem to take an interest and she disappears with them for hours. Staying with her point of view, the reader knows she chooses not to sleep with these other men, but G’s suspicions and jealousy are understandable given the circumstances.
Wait, other men, you ask? I thought they were stranded alone? They should be, and they are at first. But at one point two young men on their own experimental trip stop briefly at the island (and tell her G treats her horribly.) The story picked up for this part, and the impact their visit had on Lucy, G, and their experiment is interesting. Then at the halfway point of the book—though I think it’s earlier in the experiment, the timeline is vague throughout the book—they make contact with the locals who inhabit the nearby island of Badu. When the Baduans discover G can fix generators and boat motors and anything with an engine, they begin trading food and supplies and even bring them a small boat in exchange for his work.
G is finally contributing and perks up, but that they rely on commerce with the outside world undermines the experiment, something Lucy is aware of and resents. The Baduan’s are connected through commerce themselves with the rest of the world, and through them G and Lucy become connected, too. Granted, they likely would not have survived without help—the island had very little fresh water, not enough food, and illness and infection set in. Part of the issue is the coral reefs around the island cause the water to be poisonous, infecting any open wounds caused by routine scrapes and insect bites. As their health deteriorates, they became less and less physically capable of surviving. Even if they’d been actually stranded, they’d likely have encountered and established relationships with nearby natives. It’s hard to imagine there are habitable islands anywhere that are completely undiscovered, and the pair rely on things left on the island by others, such as a shed, sheets of iron, and a few crops they discover. But this aspect nevertheless significantly undermines the premise of the experiment and the book.
Overall, this was a slow read for me. It’s deceptively long, with the text packed densely on each page. Beyond that, for long stretches, nothing much happens. Lucy states that she cares about G but isn’t in love with him. She seems to think he falls in love with her. I don’t think either of them legitimately cared for the other, there’s no affection, this was a finite relationship and they were stuck with each other. She makes a lot of compromises to make the relationship work out of necessity. He seems to recognize she has no intention of staying with him after the year is up, and protects himself by making it clear she’s a sex object to him. Or so Lucy concludes, but he objectifies her through, and I suspect she’s painting a rosier picture of him either out of kindness or her own ego. Again, we don’t get G’s point of view, so that perspective is skewed in the author’s favor.
G’s attitude likely contributed to Lucy isolating herself a lot. This may also just be her personality. When they form relationships with the Baduans, it’s mostly G who socializes, Lucy maintains her isolation more, often choosing to stay on Tuin while G travels to Badu, and going off by herself. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Lucy walking around the island alone, trying to poetically describe her daily life and doing the same few things, gets tedious. I ended up having to push myself to keep reading through most of this book, even though the premise really intrigued me. I will say, she does a good job blending her diary and the narrative, it’s well structured.
I think it would have been more enjoyable if they’d had a better relationship and if they’d just done more in general. When the two young men stop at the island, they are physically able to help a great deal in a short time. They describe all the things they’d have done, making a good shelter, for starters, and even decorating it. It’s what Lucy imagined doing, and it’s what I imagined they’d do. But I guess if I want that, I’ll have to turn to fiction. Maybe I’ll try Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson.
April 24, 2013
Well. What an interesting book. This is the true story of two strangers spending a year on an island in 1981-1982. Lucy Irvine answers an ad to be a "wife" for a year with a man who wants to spend a year on a deserted island and then write a book about it. It is not clear whether the expectation of sex was set forth ahead of time; however, when they find an island (Tuin, in the Torres Straits) the government will not allow them to live there unless they are legally married. Once on the island Lucy decides she does not feel toward her male companion ("G") the way she should in order to have sexual relations with him. As a result, he becomes a big pouting baby while Lucy gathers the firewood, looks for food, cooks the food. Whenever she brings up building a shelter, he becomes more passive-aggressive and will not help until HE decides it's HIS idea. He sums up his entire feeling when he says, "What use is a cunt who won't fuck?"
The story of how they manage to survive, Lucy's constantly having to worry about how to tiptoe around G's feelings in order to get him to cooperate and basically learn to manipulate him, their interactions with nearby islanders, and Lucy's love affair with the island made for great reading.
The story of how they manage to survive, Lucy's constantly having to worry about how to tiptoe around G's feelings in order to get him to cooperate and basically learn to manipulate him, their interactions with nearby islanders, and Lucy's love affair with the island made for great reading.
January 11, 2017
(Contains spoilers) At first I couldn't put this book down. I love tales of survival and this started off brilliantly. I enjoyed it even though Lucy and G had made the choice to try survive on a desert island for a year. Irvine's descriptions are fresh and evocative and I was hooked until the story stopped being about survival and life on Tuin and instead became more about Lucy and G's relationship with the Islands near by; how they would leave Tuin to spend time on Badu, take part in celebrations, their sex life and G exchanging his mechanical skills for food and water so there was no longer a need to 'survive' on the island and live off what was available or even do the work themselves as the islanders nearby built their shelter for them and brought materials, even luxuries like coils to keep mosquitoes away (and they even acquired condoms at one point), so the project had really stopped. I finished the book but felt a little disappointed by the last third. But that said I enjoyed Irvine's style of writing and wouldn't be put off reading more of her work.
January 10, 2013
When I found this book abandoned on the shelf of my favorite second-hand store, I was afraid it would be some sort of survival challenge tailored for TV or a plea for world peace straight out of the Flower Power movement. After all, the tagline above (i.e. Writer seeks "wife" for a year on tropical island) isn't exactly reassuring.
I'm glad I didn't let this put me off. Instead, it turned out to be the simple story of a man and woman living for a year on a wild island, not trying to prove anything to anyone or send any message to the world. The rhythm of seasons, the joys and difficulties of living with someone in such an isolated place, the way nature shapes its inhabitants, what necessity truly means, in short it's a book that lingers with you. Page after page, I find myself drawn by the island's unspeakable magnetism that the author conveys so simply.
I only have 20 pages to go but I'm not ready to leave Tuin just yet.
I'm glad I didn't let this put me off. Instead, it turned out to be the simple story of a man and woman living for a year on a wild island, not trying to prove anything to anyone or send any message to the world. The rhythm of seasons, the joys and difficulties of living with someone in such an isolated place, the way nature shapes its inhabitants, what necessity truly means, in short it's a book that lingers with you. Page after page, I find myself drawn by the island's unspeakable magnetism that the author conveys so simply.
I only have 20 pages to go but I'm not ready to leave Tuin just yet.
September 16, 2018
Great getaway read! Yes I use the word "getaway" intentionally. I loved sitting there reading the story for Lucy's point of view and feeling myself pulled into her life and her situation and understanding if only slightly what it is like to be a million miles away from civilisation and be happy with that. Who hasn't thought one time or another they would prefere to be on a deserted island without any of lifes strife? The one thing that very "nearly" put me off reading this book was a review that the descriptions of her suffering were too vivid....well actually yes they are vivid and that's a good thing if they were not well then the book may have not gotten the point across how dire the situation is. So I thank that person for their review but I completely disagree with it. I will read this again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting, and I thought she had some insightful things to say regarding boundaries, decisions, purpose and relationships. I was amazed with pioneer/can do spirit. This girl worked so hard and was awfully smart; still they nearly died of thirst and starvation, and suffered all sorts of deprivation and illness, all by choice originally. They would have died (or had to leave the island if they could have found a way off) without the help of the islanders. They should probably have gone in better prepared, but it was their game to set their rules of how to be a castaway and try to stick to it. In any case, without judgement of their choices; it was a fine book, surprisingly and beautifully well-written.
November 11, 2013
I read this years ago in a haze of jealousy. I was stuck in a low-wage job and couldn't imagine how people got to travel.
I've been to the Thursday Islands now, and travelled a lot, so it was fun to reread from a different perspective. It's still an interesting book. I wish I could reread the book that G wrote as well. I remember being fascinated by how differently they related the same incidents.
The descriptions are luscious, the experiment was brave, it's well worth reading about.
The most interesting point is the way that this little book proves how dependant we all are on civilisation. Nature doesn't care if millions of us die. It's engineers and drug companies who keep us alive.
I've been to the Thursday Islands now, and travelled a lot, so it was fun to reread from a different perspective. It's still an interesting book. I wish I could reread the book that G wrote as well. I remember being fascinated by how differently they related the same incidents.
The descriptions are luscious, the experiment was brave, it's well worth reading about.
The most interesting point is the way that this little book proves how dependant we all are on civilisation. Nature doesn't care if millions of us die. It's engineers and drug companies who keep us alive.
November 28, 2010
This was a very intriguing book, I think everyone wonders what it would be like to live the life of a castaway on some tropical island and this book certainly covers that topic, but I found it hard to relate to the author or to understand her motivations for choosing to do it, or for many of her other choices. I wish she had been more reflective and open of all of her decisions, and of her relationship with her companion. I appreciated her openness about the physical hardships that they endured. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had found the two castaways more likable.
March 4, 2016
A writer put out an ad seeking a 'wife' for year on tropical island. Irvine, a 25-year-old Britisher, answered that ad in 1981 and spent a year on the small uninhabited isle of Tuin in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. Their relationship went through various stages of intimacy as well as facing the problems of merely surviving periods of heat, drought, heavy rain, and having little or no food at times. In the end,.... well, you'll have to read it to find how they managed.
PS - I wish that there had been more photos of the island itself.
PS - I wish that there had been more photos of the island itself.
January 2, 2017
This book is the account of a woman living on a deserted island intending to write about the experience, her only companion being her 'husband' for the project. Towards the beginning they have no company and live only on the supplies they brought with them and what they could catch or gather. After illness and near starvation, they make connections on a nearby island and the island people greatly change the experiment. The couple's relationship is rocky and many issues eluded to are not explained in the book, which leaves a little to be desired. Otherwise, it is an enjoyable tale.
April 14, 2011
Loved this true story of a woman, tired of her city life, who answered a newspaper ad from an older man looking for someone to accompany him on an 'adventure' on a desert island for a year! It's her fantastic account of what that year was like with all its highs and lows of survival and of their love-hate relationship. Not the movie with Tom Hanks, though it was made into quite a decent film with Oliver Reed and Lucy Irving.
May 8, 2023
I've read this book lots and lots of time. I don't know why I love it but I do. Gerald drives me nuts portrayed as he is as an intolerant sexist, and I'm not sure that Lucy would be that easy to live with either. It has gives a good insight into how happy you can be without all the trappings and inconveniences of modern living-surviving on your wits, being entirely self-reliant and sometimes monumentally brave.
December 22, 2014
It was definitely my type of book. It took place on a tiny Island. G had advertised for a "wife" to spend a year there with him, so he could write a book about his experiences. She explored the island and I (felt like I) was with her every step, even listening to her thoughts. There was limited water, and they had little to eat. People from a nearby island discovered them and became their friends. You'll have to read the book she wrote to find out the details. So interesting.
September 7, 2010
Good story. As a male, I was very intrigued by the diaretic voice of such an educated woman going through this experience of island living for a year. I really do want to eventually get to her counterparts books.
On the break of absintence from sex after weeks on the island, she says she could not believe how much she held her counterparts happiness in her own hands.
On the break of absintence from sex after weeks on the island, she says she could not believe how much she held her counterparts happiness in her own hands.
August 10, 2011
This book really sucks you in and when she had to leave i really understood the pain. Having lived in Botswana and then having to say goodbye i understood the feeling when she said it felt like she had a rock under her chest. I shed a tear as well! Definately a book for wannabe adventurers who embrace culture!
July 25, 2012
Somewhat interesting, but mostly irritating, story of two mismatched people who determined to live as castaways on a small island for one year. Their self-imposed rules were never made very clear in the book until they basically threw them all out. I wouldn't have made it a month with either of them.
January 11, 2017
The subject matter is excellent here - who hasn't thought of running away to a desert island? I love Lucy's free-spirited willing to get back to nature, including taking her clothes off as much as possible :) The writing is reasonable if nothing special, but this is quite a readable book by someone whose experience and bravery you have to respect.
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