The Lesson

Hmm. The first third was very good, the middle third felt erratic or disjointed, and the final third was underwhelming. Maybe my mind wasn't in the right place, but there were far too many questions left unanswered (in fact, pretty much all of them).

Overall I would class this as intriguing but unsatisfactory. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and rate this a rounded-up 3.5 stars.

3.5/5 stars

 I wanted to have enjoyed this book more, but there was something about it that threw me off. It is unique because the story takes place on St. Thomas Island in our current time. An alien ship lands on the island in 2019. But we don't get to know much about them, only that they want to do some research on the island, they live among the humans peacefully but can become extremely violent if someone annoys them in any way. The aliens are used as an allegory of colonialism, racism, and slavery. And it is all portrayed through the lens of characters, with their personal struggles and thoughts. This book had an eerie feel to it, where I couldn't trust the character's points of view, it all seemed too surreal to me sometimes. So, I was hoping for more sci-fi alien explorations and this is more like a social commentary on power and occupied territory.