Wow. Awful. The characters were horrible people--selfish, stupid. The writing was OK, but I think he was trying to be Hemigway-esque and not succeding very well (writing in short choppy dialogue with no quotation marks). I only finished it to see if there was any redemption at the end. Really, don't read it. I wish I had not.

this book was touted as an "epic"read--and it was horrible. Why spend hours reading about horrible people? Not one of the characters had an ounce of sense, except maybe Rhoda, and she was an idiot not to leave. What is the sequel--her suicide?

"Caribou Island" is undoubtedly very well written. The characters are authentic, the descriptions of the scenery are very poignant and realistic, and the symbolism of the cabin as it relates to the failed marriage is really quite striking. The juxtaposition of the failing mother's marriage with her daughter's engagement is very clever. However, despite the fine literary crafting of this tale, the story itself is dark, depressing and somewhat horrific. I didn't like one single character in this novel, with the exception of perhaps Rhoda - and all I wanted to tell her to do was "Get a life and dump Jim!" Don't read this if you want to be uplifted or inspired; quite truthfully you might fall into somewhat of a depression. However, I can't deny that this book does fall into the category of "literature", so if you are interested in exploring symbolism, meaning and depth of character you might give this a whirl.