- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Ebury Press; New edition edition (5 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 009187968X
- ISBN-13: 978-0091879686
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
366,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #26 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Film Genres > Westerns
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Review
'A gripping read about the rows, romances and everything else that went down on Taransay' Heat
Product Description
This is the full, in-depth story of one extraordinary year - a year in which 32 people set off to build a self-sustaining community in the far reaches of the Hebrides. Only 25 remained by December 2000. They were totally isolated from their previous lives, their families and the trappings of the modern world. Except for one thing - their progress was watched by audiences of eight million. Mark McCrum visited the island frequently and became a confidante to many of the castaways. He heard the inside track on their arguments, grievances, and insecurities. He heard who was supposed to be flirting with who, who was intimidating who, who had lost his temper, which castaways were conducting illicit romances, who were considered to be 'TV Tarts' and who was taking secret phone calls on top of a mountain from a forbidden mobile phone. The hardback edition moved into the bestseller lists faster than a Castaway after a Mars Bar. This new paperback edition includes two whole new chapters - covering their departure from the island, their plans for the future, the media reaction to their return, Trish and Trevor's baby, Tammy's new-found happiness and Ben's romances. One fantastic summer read...
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
I hadn't watched any of the TV series on "Castaway 2000" until recently and was sufficiently inspired to order a copy of Mark McCrums book from Amazon.
One of the main criticisms of the first edition of the book was that it ended before the Castaways year of experiences on the island of Taransay was up. The paperback edition corrects this curtailment by including some final chapters on the closing scenes as the Castaways left their island home and also an epilogue describing what happened to some of the Castaways post TV-La-la-land.
Marks book is largely made up of dialogue taken from video diaries and personal written diaries kept by the "islanders" and as such you feel like the 'invisible friend' drawn into the experience and confided in.
However, I couldn't help feel that much of what Marks book concentrates on is the 'black' and conflict plagued side of island life. I would recommend reading the book in conjunction with watching the TV programmes and actually observe that many of the episodes recounted in the book with an air of foreboding actually were quite comical and humorous events!
I felt the biggest missing element from the book was the main character herself - the Island of Taransay. There is some description of parts of the island but dont read the book expecting delicious depiction of sandy bleached-white beaches, wind swept mountains with glistening snow caps, blue white-topped waves crashing against iodine black seaweed coated rocks. Thats not the kind of book Mark has written - it's a story of peoples interactions with each other, not with the island.
The book is an excellent read and quite easy to follow through with about 90% of it being dialogue between the islanders - either to each other or to the camera or to their own personal written diaries. On occasion, as you read through Marks book, it can be a little tricky to work out who is saying what and to whom, but it's written in such a way that you quickly learn the kinds of things the 'characters' are likely to say and this helps give a sense that you know then and that you're standing beside them, albeit invisible.
I do feel that Marks book, perhaps due to the pressures of time and publishers, becomes 'thinner' in later chapters. Initial chapters go into infinitesimal details on all the arguments, conflicts, meetings etc but in later chapters hugely significant events, such as Bens birthday or killing of the deer are largely ignored.
I would have liked to have seen a second volume of the book giving as much detail about the second six months on Taransay as had been given to the first six months.
Like other readers, I do think a little map of the pods showing who slept where and the relative distances between the steading and the McKay house, would have helped put things into context.
Initially for me the most viewed page in the book was the central page showing the photographs of all the islanders. This helped tremendously to put faces to names which occur through-out the book and helped again to put everything into context.
A tremendous book recounting the experiences of a tremendous project.
Well done Mark and well done Castaways!
Wills
1 of 13 people found the following review helpful
The book was a good read I suppose but I was surprised that it differed so much from what I had seen on the screen. I didn't know for example that Wilson was not in the original story and that the plane crash had been added in the shooting. The book lacked for the tension of the on screen story and I found two many people on the island made the story of a castaway unconvincing. I hope you get a chance to see the on screen version before reading the book as this kind of spoils the story a bit. A light read but best not to draw too much from it overall.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
