Constantine's Reviews > The Colony

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Literary Fiction + Historical Fiction

In 1979, an elderly community that still speaks their native Irish language exists on a small, poorly inhabited, and secluded island in Ireland, but they are rapidly vanishing. For different reasons, two foreigners come to this island separately. One of them is a painter from London called Lloyd. He picked this secluded island as the perfect place to paint the nature of the island as well as some of its people.

The other man is Jean-Pierre, a French scholar who has visited the island on numerous occasions over the years. Jean-Pierre has been looking closely at how the English language has been increasing and has a strong foothold among the inhabitants of the island. It is more like research or an essay that he wants to do to show the effect of the English language on the native language. However, the French man will find himself in constant conflict with the English man. Each one of them thinks he is entitled to do his work, while in reality, both of them are barely tolerated by the people of the island!

I have been alternating between reading the book physically and listening to the audiobook. The writing is very beautiful. At times, it is even lyrical. However, the story was not as captivating as I expected it to be. This is a slow-burn fiction that depends on bigger ideas of colonialism and nationalism rather than smaller events that concern the characters directly. In other words, the plot itself is loose and not the strongest point of the story. The story is more character-driven. I feel the audiobook helped me a lot in liking the book. The narrator did a wonderful job. The physical book does not have the best format, which makes it more difficult to get through. This is a book that should be read to appreciate the beautiful writing and the broad ideas more than the story itself.