Reviews for Hisland

The average rating for Hisland based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-08-23 00:00:00 Annette Scarlett What. The fuck. Even. Okay, so a friend of mine gave books away as wedding favors and I picked this because I was curious. It sounded like it could be funny, as the premise was about an intelligent monkey falling in love with an English teacher she met when he was on a mission in Africa. I also wanted to get a sense of who this book was written for (because, really, who wants to read about a monkey loving a man?) and at the very least, I figured it would be amusing. Well I was wrong. This book is crap. I know it was written in 1930 but one of my favorite books was written in the 1800s, so I don't feel the disconnect is because of the difference in time and society. I do think a lot has to do with Collier's prose - it was so wordy and flowy and he talked so much about gourd only knows what. To be honest, very little stuck in my head and I was constantly trying to find the parts that actually had to do with Emily (the chimp) and Mr. Fatigay (her weak-willed love interest). In short, Emily is super smart. She thinks like a human (albeit a very subservient and martyrish one) and though she cannot speak she can read and so she falls in love with Mr F. He takes her back to England because he finds her amusing (having no clue how intelligent she really is), where Emily encounters Mr. F.'s bitch fiance, Amy. Amy is instantly jealous of Emily and makes her a slave. In the end, Emily threatens Amy with a knife on their wedding day, so they switch places at the alter and dumbass Mr. F. can't tell his lover from a chimp and so marries Emily. He finds out seconds later, banishes her and then falls on Amy's mercy. Amy, strange bird that she is, decides to use this as an out not to marry Mr. F. and tells him to get lost. He ends up nearly starving to death on the streets from despair, where Emily finds him. She's become a rich dancer (I can't even) and takes him in and he decides to keep her as his wife. Amy shows up later to crash the party, finally revealing that Emily threatened her and Mr. F. is shocked and upset for 2 seconds, but them Emily produces a letter she typed him explaining how she wanted to come clean, etc, etc and he forgives her and finally realizes that Amy is a conniving bitch. Then they move to Africa to live in marital bliss forever after. No joke. And this book wasn't funny, nor amusing. Nor did I find it "A work of genius" or "written with sly humor throughout and is illuminated by splendid similes and metaphors which mark the author as a true humorist" s the quotes on the book's page remark. I still don't know who the intended audience of this book was, but it wasn't me. I didn't find Emily endearing or fascinating and I am more than a little creeped out by Mr. F.'s speech at the end, proclaiming the virtues of having a chimp for a lover! Is this just an intellectual romance or is there some bestiality going on here? Either way I'm glad it's over.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-05-19 00:00:00 Parwinder Klair Well, this certainly was a book! Not a fun book, one full of racism and sexism and irritatingness, but certainly a book! Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here. In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook