My first non SF review… although this is technically a speculative fiction book… very little was known about the protagonist of the story except that she really existed. O’Dell created a story of her life, her survival, and her ”rescue” by the Spanish Missionaries in the 1600s.
This is a fairly classic young adult book. I remember seeing it in my Jr High classroom, but I never read it… too hooked on space opera and science fiction. I am currently working on a story with a young protagonist and my wife suggested that I read this book to get the idea of how to write from a young, uneducated POV character.
The story was fascinating to read. So much depth and world building on this tiny island, the minor characters who came and went (the Inuit seal hunters, the tribe warriors, the missionaries), and the desperate loneliness of a woman (well, initially girl) left behind.
She made friends with animals, and lived there for 18 years alone before being ”rescued.” The edition I read had a forward which told the (obvious in hindsight) story that she died only months after being rescued, presumably from smallpox or one of the other horrible diseases that wiped out the indigenous populations of North America during the time of colonial expansion.
I think what bought me in to the story was the depth of the description. There was little if any dialogue, and what there was was her talking to the birds, the wild dogs, the otters, so it was one sided. Instead, we got to viscerally experience her world, and what it was like to survive alone on an island with plentiful food, but no companionship.
I am not sure I can take much away from this to help me with my writing, except a re-recognition that we have to identify with our characters to believe they are real. This character was real, for sure. And the relationships she built with the other creatures on the island felt real and true, so when they ended, for a variety of reasons, it was definitely sad.
The biggest takeaway may be that i need to up the age of my POV character. Currently I envision her as 5-8 years old in a post-apocalyptic world, but that may be too young. I’ve sent the story out 3 or 4 times and it has been rejected, but one of the rejections had some editing suggestions (which I take as a good sign) and they really wanted to know the world better. This story came to me with the very young protagonist, so changing that will change the story, but probably for the better. I feel I owe it a complete rewrite (or at least the major edits needed) to try to adjust the age up about 10 years. At least see what that does to the world and the story.