ritareadthat's Reviews > The Colony

The premise about a cult-like group of individuals living in the woods in Sweden was what drew me in.

I'm always intrigued by people who live off-grid or challenge conventional and modern society. The simplicity and ease of the secluded life rings a bell for me. Peace and quiet. A simple life.

In The Colony we follow 7 people (Aagny, Sara, Jozsef, Ersmos, Sagne, Lake, Zakaria) who have chosen to live on a small secluded property - which is farm like and referred to as such at points throughout the book. Some end up there by chance, some by choice, some by mistake. All decide to stay. And stay they do, for a decent amount of years. But when their idyllic little society is challenged by the intrusion of an outsider (Emilie) years after they have started The Colony, things start to become unhinged. Is their conjoined silence and harmony the peace they have always dreamed of, or are they avoiding bigger issues at hand? Do they really want to continue living this way? All questions shall be answered as the seven take a good look at what their past years spent together have and have not brought into their lives.

This book is quite nonlinear in narrative, with almost every chapter jumping forward and back in time. In the beginning, it took a bit to adjust to how the book was written, but it quickly became easy to follow. Additionally, the author introduces all of the characters within the first few chapters, which is to be expected, but there were a lot of people to keep track of. I actually took notes on who was who, what they did, and their reasoning for moving to the farm. It helped as the book progressed.

The book delves deeply into challenging societal norms, and what is and isn't considered acceptable. What constitutes a family? Should children be made to go to school if they can be educated thoroughly at home? Polyamory is also a prevalent topic, as is buddhism, generational trauma, and rape.

Lots to think on! I do know that I really was invested in the characters, even though I didn't necessarily like about half of them. I consider this successful on the part of the author, as diverse personalities and conflict within the plot structure typically makes for a more interesting read.

I obviously won't spoil the ending, but I have rather mixed feelings on how it ended. It is a tad open-ended, but at the same time not. It definitely makes you think and wonder what will happen to all of these people. I finished this several days ago but I'm still thinking about everyone. I think that's one of the best compliments an author can receive, that you can't get their beloved characters out of your head. I know my thoughts will be occupied with this crew for the foreseeable future.

Even though this was a longer book for me (400+ pages) I was not bored with it. It kept me hooked throughout the entire story.