Details:
Pages: 437
Edition: Kindle
Publisher/Date: HarperCollins / January 29, 2013
Price: $10.67 on Amazon
Challenges: Women Authors
★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
A new take on the psychological thriller, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter was bursting at the seams with potential. Through the eyes of Dr. Moreau’s 16-year-old daughter, Juliet, it provided a new perspective and insight to the nefarious madman and his island of chimeric creations. At least that’s what it was supposed to do. Aside from the blatant correlation to Stockholm Syndrome, you’d really have to sit around and analyze and dig deep into the plot to derive any other type of deeper psychological meaning. And, really, you shouldn’t need a shovel to enjoy a book.
The book actually has a great start (maybe that’s why I was so disappointed that it didn’t really amount to anything?).
Juliet has not seen her father (or even known if he was alive) for years – not since he fled the country, leaving Juliet and her mother to fend for themselves, when suspicion began to arise about his inhumane experiments. Now Juliet works as part of a janitorial staff at a medical school, cleaning up blood and other fluids left behind from the students’ experiments (predictable much?).
By chance, Juliet discovers evidence that her father is not only alive, but he might be living at a nearby inn. Following her lead, Juliet does not find her father, but she finds the next best thing: her former childhood friend and servant, Montgomery, who apparently fled with her father and now works as his assistant at his new location on an island off the coast of Australia. Montgomery is only there getting supplies to take back to the island, but Juliet decides there is nothing for her there anymore and she might as well go with him.
She boards the ship for the journey.
At this point, I’m like, “OMG! WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT?”
And then she’s on the ship. For A. Very. Freaking. Long. Time.
The amount of pages devoted to Juliet’s voyage is ridiculous. NOTHING happens, aside from picking up a mysterious castaway. Did we really need to hear about Juliet’s interactions with the unscrupulous captain? Did I care that a monkey ran up one of the ships riggings and Juliet spent way too much time getting it down? Were all the mentions of storms really necessary – aside from drawing Montgomery to her room for some awkward what-you-hope-to-be rekindling of a childhood crush?
Do yourself a favor. Instead of reading the pages upon pages about Juliet being on a boat, put on Lonely Island’s song “I’m on a Boat” and then skip to the part about them rescuing the castaway, later known as Edward Prince. You won’t miss anything important and it’ll be ridiculously more entertaining.
At this point, my frustration with the pace of the book grew, but I figured, hey, sometimes there’s a little lull before the real plot takes off. Nevermind that I hadn’t felt like I’d really gotten to know any of the characters, despite being trapped on a boat with for what seemed like forever.
When they reach the island, I’m thinking, “This has to get better. It’s the freaking island of Dr. Moreau!”
And then I learned what a 16 year old would do on Dr. Moreau’s island – THINK ABOUT BOYS! I mean, sure, there were murders happening and her dad was, well, batshit crazy, but Montgomery and Edward are, like, soooo hot. For the most part, Juliet spent her time at the compound flittering around, prattling on and on about her deep connection with Montgomery and her strange attraction to Edward, which one should she be with? What’s worse, from what I can tell, Juliet had mostly invented this emotional love triangle in her head. Sure, Montgomery felt some attraction to her and Edward may have too, but I’m 90% certain they wouldn’t have been heartbroken if she, oops, fell of the dock and was never heard from again. Or maybe that’s just how I'd feel?
In all fairness, Juliet didn’t just think about boys. Occasionally, she obsessed about whether she was crazy like her father. She’d not done anything particularly inhumane or crazy, yet somehow, she would interpret perfectly normal reactions and emotions into potential signs.
There were so many opportunities to make this into a rich story – all the drama of the regressing animals, turning against her father, the nature of man and beast – but none of this is explored. Juliet left it up to the men to pursue the tough subjects, waiting around for them at home so they could tell her what was happening.
Not that that was easy because, oh my God, Juliet was so effing ignorant. I’m serious, she could be standing in a room with a toilet and sink and still need to ask someone, “Where is the bathroom?” It was THAT bad.
For example... (okay I’ll hide this because it is a little bit of a spoiler for those without critical thinking skills)
[spoiler title="Click to view" open="0" style="1"]Juliet knows her father employs his more human-like creations as servants around his house, like Balthazar. And, really, Montgomery and Edward appear to be the only other humans on the island (except for her father). She recognizes that, even though the creatures may look mostly humanish, they have slight deformities. Still it takes her until almost the very very end of the book to realize that Alice wasn’t a human. The girl is freakishly flighty, has a cleft lip and yet Juliet doesn't even think twice about her. She even asks Alice where she’s from, to which Alice replies “I was born on the island.” And Juliet is all, “Oh, so, like, you must be, like, one of children of the missionaries that, like, used to live here.” (Okay, I inserted the “like”s, but I so think they should’ve been there).[/spoiler]
If there was any discernible plot to this book, I really can’t tell you what it was. Maybe if you’ve never read The Island of Dr. Moreau or watched the movie (or know anything about it), then it might’ve been interesting. To me, it was just a rehashing of the same story with all the exciting and suspenseful moments taken out and a bunch of superficial babble put in.
I’ve heard people describe the end as a “surprise” or a “cliffhanger,” but I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t care about any of the characters or the plot enough to wonder what was going to happen next (at that point). If anything, it just made me want to slap Montgomery on the back and buy him a beer. You’ll have to read the book to understand what I’m talking about, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t worth the $10.67 to find out (really overpriced, in my opinion).
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