Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada, March 23,2021

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Shay is surprised when her husband Senna declares his intention to build her a spectacular dream house on an idyllic beach in the tropical island nation of Madagascar.

But the Red Island House casts a spell from the moment she sees it, and before she knows it Shay has become the somewhat reluctant mistress of a sprawling household, caught between her privileged American upbringing and education, and her connection to the continent of her ancestors.

At first, she’s content to be an observer of the passionate affairs and fierce ambitions and rivalries around her. But as she and her husband raise children and establish their own rituals on the island, Shay finds herself drawn ever deeper into an extraordinary place with its own laws and logic, a provocative paradise full of magic and myth whose fraught colonial legacy continues to reverberate. Soon the collision of cultures comes right to Shay’s door, forcing her to make a life-altering decision.

A sweeping novel about marriage and loyalty, identity and heritage, fate and freedom, Red Island House reintroduces readers to a powerhouse literary voice and an extravagantly lush, enchanted world.

My Review:

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: beautiful and lyrical writing, non-linear stories.
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The book is about Shay, an African American woman who marries an Italian man, and then finds out he has built a vacation home in Madagascar. Shay has an odd feeling about this house, and she comments that she feels too much like a colonizer coming and reaping the benefits of Africa, which I thought was interesting.
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While the book is about Shay and her experiences, the book is also about the house. The house seems to hold an important role not only in Shay and her family’s life, but also in the lives of many others living in Madagascar.
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The only thing about this book that I didn’t love is that it felt more like a set of short stories rather than a novel, which I didn’t love and I felt like it was a bit disjointed. This could totally work for some readers though!
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The final thing I will say about this book is that the author acknowledges at the end that the book is from the perspective of an outsider coming into Madagascar, and not from an own voices perspective.
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CW: adultery, racism, death of a loved one.