Considero que es el peor y mejor libro que leí hasta la fecha. Siempre me empecino en no abandonar los libros sin terminar y así me encuentro con joyas como esta. La primera mitad me pareció muy aburrida ya que es una presentación de todos los personajes y las circunstancias de por qué deben realizar el viaje. Una vez que zarpan, el libro es absolutamente exquisito. No pude dejar de leerlo. Te mantiene en una tensión constante. Con mucha seguridad puedo finalizar diciendo que se los recomiendo a...

I've just re-read this book for the first time in perhaps twenty years. I've had a copy on my physical bookshelf all this time, carried it to college and through numerous moves, even though it took me this long to come back and read it again. It's an intense and challenging story of a hodgepodge of modern people shipwrecked on an uncharted island, led by a half-Polyneian/half-caucasian man who is the descendent of a line of navigators, inheritor of the mana of his ancestors.Morris West is a fine...

An odd, but fairly interesting book, of a group of individuals who hunt a legendary South Pacific Island. In no way should this book be compared to "Lord Of The Flies" and this is not an action-adventure tale. The book is more concerned with the interworkings of various groups of peoples in adverse situations.

Interesting story conjuring the ancient journeys of Polynesian mariners as they explored deep unknowns hundreds of miles offshore from their native lands. The Hawaiian cultural connections in pidgin seemed a little hokey, and the jealousy of crazy husbands and paired off couples could have used a dose of subtlety, IMHO. Fascinating tale, nevertheless.

Great concept of a man in search of a secret island and a group of people ending up marooned on it. I had to "speedread" a lot as the pace was too slow for me. This book is not about adventure and adversity in alien surroundings. It is about the psychology of individuals in a closed society.A few things bothered me: The writing style is unusual - long passages of dialogue without any indication of who is speaking, or any action or desription. Only words coming out of people's mouths. These passa...

Una historia fácil de leer, no importa si es una isla Polinesia o una ciudad moderna, las relaciones humanas son complicadas.

I read this book 40 years ago and still remember the breathless ending. Fantastic.

This behaves like and has the structure of a traditional novel, but due to the setting and the course of events that lead the characters into certain situations where a certain knowledge and mode of thinking becomes critical to the plot, a very unique quality becomes apparent and the book takes on a mysterious feel.I like the author as a writer, and he seemed dedicated to crafting a story around the idea of a tribal, Polynesian way of men's and women's relationships with each other and their com...

In spite of (or maybe because of) West’s didactic style I usually really enjoy his books. This one though … he was totally obsessed with sex. Not the act exactly, just whether everyone was getting what s/he needed. It was as if that was the number one problem. It started before they left on the voyage and continued right through to the end. It was as if he couldn’t conceive of humans other than sex-crazed, and if they didn’t get regular-like, they would totally destroy the community. Seriously?!...

1 star after determining two plot holes in the mid to late part of the novel. See attached: https://ozhamada-observes.blogspot.co...The book is too short for the number of characters in it. To that end, there is ample character development for some, but not all, characters. The reader never really gets to see the characters in terms of their own strengths or their quality of contribution to the community.While the story started out in a promising manner it became too predictable and too unrealis...

It could have been an exciting adventure novel but to me it dragged on, and appeared to be more concerned with the psychology of the characters than anything.The storyline was a shade weak..a very convenient weather event causes the travellers boat to capsize, they are subsequently marooned, but do they all survive and live happily ever after?The book was written in the mid 1970's and presumably the events took place around that time. No apparent major air/sea search & rescue by the US Navy, con...

3 1/2-4 star read. Gunnar Thorkild is half Polynesian and half European and a scholar. When his theory of a mysterious island known to the Polynesians is discredited, he gathers a group of people together to make a journey to find the island. They do and build a community there and he becomes the big Chief, but when adversity strikes, they have difficulty coping and getting along and making decisions. An interesting if old fashioned read.

An interesting premise. A group of hand picked individuals get marooned on an island. How do they manage and reform a society? What are your core beliefs and how can you make it work? Bit convient in places and a few too many characters for a bedtime audiobook.

A much enjoyable and the quick and fast moving plot that the book is developed from. I love the theme of the book and the way it is presented to the reader. Surely recommending. Thank you.

It has good storyline but it would be better if it had bigger length.

I've come to expect so much from Morris West, and he let me down badly with this one. In fact, it was so bad I had to give up and put it down. Truly awful, one-dimensional, stereotyped characters, turgid dialogue, a hackneyed plot. There wouldn't be a strong enough rope on Earth to suspend my disbelief at how the yacht ends up wrecked on that island. I had difficulty believing Morris West actually wrote this tripe, but I suppose it's the rare author who doesn't have at least one turkey. Yes, I'm...

Así como hay que estar inspirado para escribir un libro, creo firmemente que también hay que estarlo para leerlo. Y creo que yo no lo estaba para el momento en que leí este libro. Creo que Morris West trato de crear un retrato de la vida en la cual pudieramos ver reflejados muchos de los conflictos internos que tenemos la mayoría de los humanos mientras vivimos, mientras nos relacionamos con los demas, mientras buscamos un sentido al camino que estamos siguiendo. Hay que estar muy atento a lo qu...

There is a lost art in the Pacific Basin. The Polynesians taught and preserved their secrets of Navigating the open ocean for many years, but sadly today, this knowledge is becoming lost. West's adventure story is an elementary fiction that uses the Polynesian Navigators of old as a central theme. The story also presents a brief sociological account of what happens to a small group of people when they become marooned on an island where resources are plentiful. Although the story is really basic,...

Gli ingredienti c'erano tutti: un naufragio, un'isola misteriosa e una nuova comunità New Age che poteva ignorare le regole della civiltà per creare un nuovo ordine tribale. Prima di iniziare a leggere mi aspettavo qualcosa sul genere "Lost", ovvero misteri dell'isola, invece mi sembrava di leggere la versione cartacea dell'"Isola dei famosi", senza però i famosi. Anche il finale è inconcludente. Un vero peccato.

A bad read. The premise was good. The rest was poorly written. The scenes of social decision were stilted. Characters were referred to by given and family name repeatedly. It dragged down the narrative. The grand father was the only saving grace. This was my first West and will be the last.