San Francisco Island by Randi Hart



The novel is based on a really interesting “what if” premise. What if there was an earthquake big enough to cause the city of San Francisco to break off from the mainland of America? I enjoy survival stories. I like seeing what people do without their usual conveniences, their routines, the new ways they find to do things and the interpersonal dynamics that arise when people are taken out of their ordinary roles.

This book addressed more of the technical and practical difficulties the characters had to overcome. No phones, no vehicles, limited food and water, transporting people off the new island. It dealt really well with these facets of the problem. The solutions all made sense and were believable. On a practical level you could learn a lot from this book on the best actions to take if you’re ever in an earthquake.

I had difficulty connecting with the characters. There are a couple of possible reasons for this. Firstly, I found the two families to be a bit too perfect. They were upper middle class, married couples with kids, no financial problems, no marital problems and they’re all of above average intelligence. Their biggest issue was that the oldest daughter was being a bratty teenager and Dad might not make the boys baseball game because he had to work. These people just seemed too faultless. Secondly, the dialogue throughout the book never flows like real speech. It was stilted and unnatural. It wasn’t a natural way to talk, especially when the kids were speaking. Because of this I didn’t feel the characters pain at being split from the rest of their family and not knowing what had happened to them. 

Despite that, it was still an engaging read and an enjoyable story. It’s a short novel but the author has managed to pack a fair bit of action in there. As a side note, I think the book could benefit from a map inside the cover. I had to pull up a map to check exactly what the geography was like for San Francisco, the bay area and where the bridges were. It would have been handy to have a map inside the book for quick reference.

3.5 out of 5 on the  ratings Richter scale.

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