Briohny Doyle is a Melbourne-based writer and academic. Her debut novel, The Island Will Sink, is the first book published by The Lifted Brow.
The Island Will Sink is set in the near future and follows the life of Max Galleon, a leading director in the disaster movie genre. In this world, people don’t care about the experience of disaster unless it’s a spectacle. Movies are becoming more and more realistic, with haptic feedback and sensory transferral, while the population is becoming more disconnected from the real world.
Max himself is living in a strange world where he is constantly updating his archive, yet has no memory outside of this record. He has a brother that has been in a long-term coma that he is devoted to, a family that he connects with electronically and a film making career that he doesn’t understand. His life, and those around him, exists on precision and accuracy where everything is measured and recorded. If an event is not recorded, can it truly exist?
The island in question is Pitcairn Island, where the British mutineers escaped to some two hundred years ago. Even though they renounced their British citizenship when they got to the island, they were still claiming it for the empire. This contradiction of reality is a theme in the book. It is known that the island will sink and the sensors have been monitoring the water depth to microscopic accuracy. Max’s latest film is to document the disaster of the sinking, while not actually putting himself or his family in danger by visiting the island. He also faces the professional threat of younger filmmakers making “better” movies, in a world where the better film is the one that makes more money.
This book is one that creates more questions than it gives answers. It cleverly comments on current trends, such as the ubiquitous Pow-Pow, who pops up on screen to remind you not to waste water or to turn off the lights. The idea of the disaster movie is expanded, taking the realism of Towering Inferno to a new level where the realism of a hurricane is considered plausible by immersion. Distance in the world is no longer relevant, you can feel the pain of someone on the other side of the world without leaving your lounge room.
There are many topics addressed in the book: realism and interpretation, memory and experience and the quest to erase the mundane to achieve joyful organisation. The book leads the reader into a futuristic world that is not far removed from our current technologically enhanced world and paints a picture of what may be in store for mankind. While written in a simplistic style, it belies the complex narrative underneath. A book that has a disorientating affect and leaves one thinking long after it has been put down.
What is it to be a hero? What can we believe? As life become more perfect and pristine, are we any closer to Nirvana?
The Island Will Sink by Briohny Doyle is available now.
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