Savages

Product Information

It's one of the books I'd want with me if I were stuck on an island somewhere, that's for sure, as it's full of useful hints and tips (like turning your bra into a utility belt and using the cups of it for fishing, and using your socks for straining bits out of water, and how to go about testing unfamiliar food, and how not to eat only coconut or get pawpaw juice in your eyes, and a million other things! I have to admit that only a few people have read this on my recommendation and they were not as sold as I was but so what.

The closest comparison I had was Nobody Move which had the same urgent feel and post Tarantino dialogue to it but none of the subtleties that leaves Savages as fantastic unputdownable achievement. I think drugs are stupid as shit, and yes, I mean all of them: alcohol, cocaine, heroin, nicotine, caffeine, marijuana, meth, even most prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Following “the best summertime crime novel ever” (San Francisco Chronicle on The Dawn Patrol), bestselling author Winslow offers up a smash hit in the making. Reading a book that is set in my own community of South Orange County, California was a fun experience.makes for blazingly fast reading (like a movie script, yes, and there are pages in script form mixed in with the prose here as well, though to what end its hard to say). Like, warning: if erection persists for more than four hours, consult a physician immediately and hope you have one fucking horny physician. It takes place on an island off the coase of Australia and puts the reader in an environment of contrasting culture, modern day society clashing with jungle savagery. Razor-sharp plot twists, a cast of ruthless antiheroes, and of course, Winslow’s superb, adrenaline-fueled prose make this scorching, drug-infused thriller an addictive and entertaining read.

The story follows the messed-up three-way love affair of Ben, Chon, and O (short for Ophelia, of course). Seriously, Stone's movie may be entertaining, but I have a feeling he may miss the subtle humor and strange beauty of Winslow's writing. I have to say though that I was a bit disappointed with the ending - I like things to be neatly finished off and this left some things unanswered in my mind ! The ‘moral’ of the story does seem to be that it’s better and more fulfilling to live in squalor and constantly on the verge of death in a jungle, than to lead a vacuous, wealthy existence where everything is done for you.Shirley Conran expertly built up the tension and the interest, and the suprises until I found myself rooting for these spoilt women as they gradually learnt to work as a team, and put their selfishness, snobbery and individual needs to one side, in the interest of the group as a whole.

I must addmit that sometimes I wanted to slap some of her female characters for some of the stupid, 'female' things they did. Conran managed to build in one lesbian scene, no doubt for the pleasure of the voyeurs among her readers.

Although the truth is it’s probably still not unusual to think these things, it is (thankfully) less acceptable to say them now. This was a very intriguing storyline, and I loved how these wealthy women had to survive and tough it out. Conran delivered on the female side, and I got very attached to the five fictitious women she created. It just could have been so much better if the author had more faith in his story and worried less about being cute.