‘Island’: Novel about an uncontacted tribe asks profound questions on what it means to share a world

A quick look at the course of human history, and the idea of relating to a place as being a part of our world without laying claim to it seems almost impossible. The insinuation is scary, but what is scarier is that it might be the story of our moment too. In November 2018, an American missionary was killed on a remote island in India, inviting dangerous attention back to its resident uncontacted tribe. Using this incident as a loose anchor, Island sees Sujit Saraf weave a startling tale that implicates its characters – in wants and desires, but also the anxieties of contact and the conflicting impulses of nationhood.

A fatal expedition

In the slim novel, when American missionary James lands in Port Blair, determined to bring God to the godless Sentinelese, he is aware of the protected status of the islands, but is happy to pay his way in. Before you recognise its fanaticism, you can almost find something romantic about his conviction: he is determined to bring god to the Sentinelese, at the cost of his own life.

Nirmal Chandra Mattoo, disgraced anthropologist and owner of one Mattoo Tribal Arts, is manipulated into accompanying the missionary on the expedition. His knowledge of the island and his...

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