Island of the Blue Dolphins
author: Scott O’Dell
name: Paul
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1960
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/26
date added: 2012/02/26
shelves: childrens, classic, novel
review:
The thing I liked the best about Scott O’Dell‘s Newbery-winning story Island of the Blue Dolphins comes actually in the Afterword, where it is revealed that Karana, the story’s protagonist, is based on an actual person, the Lost Woman of San Nicolas. This is a very fictionalized account according to O’Dell since very little is known about her other than the barest of facts: White explorers did in fact collect all of the natives from an island off the California coast save one girl who jumped off when she found her brother had not made it to the ship; the brother was killed by wild dogs and the girl was later rescued wearing a cormorant skirt and accompanied by a wild dog. The rest has been added by O’Dell’s extrapolation of those few facts.
Island of the Blue Dolphins is not altogether unlike plenty of other cast away stories, like Robinson Crusoe, although it is a bit less of a self-discovery tale since Karana is a native of the island and not an accidental visitor so she is already familiar with the basic skills needed to survive. What she doesn’t have is accompaniment, assistance or support (until she eventually befriends the leader of a pack of wild dogs, whom she dubs Rontu), and that makes the novel incredibly lonely and often very melancholy.
What is interesting is that O’Dell allows the inconsistency of loneliness to shine through as well. Sometimes, loneliness is a terrible, oppressive thing. But solitude can also be incredibly liberating and one gets the sense that while ultimately Karana desires the company of others more than anything, she mentions the island and the animal friends she makes in a wistful, contented sort of way that suggests she doesn’t always long for escape from her life.
Island of the Blue Dolphins is kind of a strange, sad little book. I like that Karana has to buck the societal conventions that her tribe set for her as a girl/woman in order to survive which makes her a strong and admirable female character, and I like the adventure it conveys that is frequently devoid of any exploitative elements (it is never overly violent, not oppressively preachy nor saccharine). Karana’s voice is somewhat clinical and detached which at first I thought was odd and off-putting but later seemed to be more deliberate in its effort to characterize a girl who grew up and lived nearly all her life with only her own thoughts and some domesticated animals for company.
I definitely plan to keep this book on hand and give it to my daughter when she’s a little bit older; a very good children’s book and every bit deserving of its fondly-recalled reputation.