An Island Away

by Daniel Putkowski

Book Overview

In Aruba, far from the sparkling beaches and glamorous hotels, lies a waning refinery boomtown of barroom brothels, flexible morality, and one tourist trap known as Charlie's Bar. Luz, a young... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0981595901
• ISBN13: 9780981595900
• Release Date: December 2017
• Publisher: Hawser Press
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great read!

Great read... especially for anyone that's ever been to Aruba. It gives a completely different view of the island, away from the glitzy hotels and restaurants that tourists usually see. Through this novel, I feel that I got to know the island that I love better than I had in nine trips there. Definitely worth reading!

Loved It!

As someone who has been traveling to Aruba for the past 15 years, I loved An Island Away. Daniel actually made me feel like I was right there while the story was being told. I look forward to the sequel... and, can't wait to see what happens to my two favorite characters ~ Luz and Captain Beck! Hurry Daniel, I'll be back in February, and would love to read the new book while on island. Thanks for a great story!

Must Read For All Arubaphiles

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book. I am a 17 time visitor to Aruba and this book put me right on the island. It is not the Aruba that we are used to seeing. It is the dark side of the island. An Island Away details the lives of four people and how all their lives cross. Charlie is an artist and a bar owner. Luz is a prostitute working for 90 days on the island. Sam is a transplanted Aruban who made his fortune in Miami and is returning to retire and live on the island. Beck is a tugboat captain whose boat goes down in a storm and washes up on Aruba. This is a very real story of survival, romance and "how it used to be" in modern day Aruba. An Island Away takes you on a tour of the seamy side of paradise detailing the lives and loves of the aforementioned characters who are painted as colorful and resorceful survivors in a world where the weak get swallowed up and spit out

An Island Away

An Island Away left me with soul-searching questions. I suppose the biggest one is, "How far would you go to give your child a better life?" But there are others, too. Who can you trust? What is the truth? When is enough enough? The book is mostly the story of a young mother from Colombia who comes to the town of San Nicolas, Aruba, where she works as a prostitute to support her family. There are scenes from the upscale tourist areas of the island, but the majority of the book takes place in San Nicolas which is a refinery town full of bars/brothels. Here Luz meets a rambunctious American expatriate named Sam who loves the island and wants nothing more than to live there for the rest of his life. One night they are on the beach together and discover another American, this one a tugboat captain named Nathan Beck whose boat was sunk in a storm. The interactions between these three characters, in a setting that is full of duplicity, surprises, and somtimes comedy, reveals the tough decisions each of them has to make in life. There are light hearted moments, which are a welcome relief to some of the more heartbreaking scenes. Anyone who has been to Aruba will find this book a "must read" because it goes beyond the veneer of tourism and into a reality they may not know exists.

The Aruba of my youth.

Having grown up on Aruba in the Esso (Lago)Oil Camp a generation before Sam, I am was struck by the book and the realities of my youth. A no-holds-bared look at the island for those who live or have lived on the island and a must read for those who plan to visit. Arthur D. Jensen, web master for [...]