On Whale Island
Notes From a Place I Never Meant to Leave

The writing is strong - poetic at times - but the author seems like such a colossal jerk that I just couldn’t give this a five star rating.......more

I wanted to like this book. The idea of the author and his family moving to a relatively remote island for a year sounded intriguing. And the memoir is brutally honest about the author and his life. But I just didn't like him much and found myself mostly thinking, "Oh, grow up already. Stop whining......more

Hays moves his family to a secluded island in Canada in order to escape the modern world, which he feels pushes people away from what is really important: man's relationship with nature. Hays' wife and stepson accompany him to the island and together they have a modern Swiss Family Robinson type of......more