Small Island: A Novel
by Andrea Levy
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Read in July, 2005
Andrea Levy's Small Island is a book about misconceptions of identity and race during World War II era Britain. The story revolves around Jamaicans who move to England as they believe they are "British" as they feel entitled to all the Mother Country has to offer. What they realize is that not everything is as it may seem. The best feature of this book is the way Levy tries to explain "colonial politics." During the height of colonialism, European rulers instructed their subj...more
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Read in April, 2008
Well, it was pretty good. It has a lot of heart. Levy is a writer who sometimes teases the reader by dangling a big splodgy sentimental cliche in front of them only to serve round it at the last moment. She's no fool. I've been looking for novels about immigrants, I read The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (which was kind of a drag) and I have Petropolis sitting on my shelf (hope that will be better). (Further suggestions welcomed). Small Island is about (two) Jamaicans coming to 1948 London,...more
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Read in May, 2007
Fantastic novel, a real eye opener! Small Island is a novel that connects continents in wartime. It takes the reader from Jamaica to England and on to India in the days of the second World War. Four main characters connect the dots. A Gilbert, a young Jamaican who joins the RAF to fight Hitler but finds himself fighting racism instead; Queenie, a young white woman who takes in Jamaican Lodgers; her husband Bernard, who is fighting the Japs in India; and the Jamaican girl Hortense, who tra...more
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Read in July, 2005
Told in alternating narratives by four persons in both 1948 London and the time ‘before’, this is a story of race, colonialism, imperialism, sexuality and war. The story is about Hortense and her husband Gilbert from Jamaica who move to London and about Queenie Bligh and her husband Bernard, a white couple in London. Bernard goes off to war so Queenie takes in boarders, mostly black, including Gilbert. Gilbert, a Jamaican who joined the RAF to defend the mother country during WWII brings ove...more
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I loved this book, but I realize that I am very biased because I am Jamaican, and have many relatives who emigrated to the UK from Jamaica, so the characters were immediately real and recognizable to me.
Some reviewers have complained that her use of dialect was heavy-handed, but from my perspective, she actually tones down Jamaican Patois (also called Jamaican Creole) significantly to make it understandable to non-Jamaicans. On a visit to Jamaica last year, I heard her interviewed and she...more
Some reviewers have complained that her use of dialect was heavy-handed, but from my perspective, she actually tones down Jamaican Patois (also called Jamaican Creole) significantly to make it understandable to non-Jamaicans. On a visit to Jamaica last year, I heard her interviewed and she...more
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Read in September, 2007
Christine mentioned that some readers thought this book was heavy-handed in its use of patois, which I thought was interesting. I have no way of judging how authentic the dialect was, but to me, it wasn't at all disruptive to the flow or hard to read, and I enjoyed the "sound" of it.
My main criticsm is that the story of one of the characters, Bernard, seemed like an afterthought to the central account. And unlike the other three characters, who all have their flaws, I couldn't find...more
My main criticsm is that the story of one of the characters, Bernard, seemed like an afterthought to the central account. And unlike the other three characters, who all have their flaws, I couldn't find...more
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Read in May, 2007
Orange Prize winner. I think the voices were what I liked most about this book. Levy tells a story of Jamaicans migrating to Great Britain through the eyes of four people, two from either "side". There is Queenie, a farmer's daughter curious about the world and never going back to a life of slave labour on the farm, her husband Bernard, one of those dull men who adhere to lifetime routines, Gilbert, a Jamaican airman who is keen to try his luck in the wider world, and Hortense with her...more
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Read in January, 2008
This is a fantastic book! I can see why it was chosen for Read 2007, Britain’s largest ever community-based reading project with the backing of Arts Council England taking place across 4 major cities. It is linked to the 2007 commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Slave Trade Abolition Bill – a year that is being used to explore the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact upon modern Britain. Andrea Levy’s widely acclaimed and award-winning novel describes the a...more
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Read in July, 2007
This book was a good read, but I don't feel like it lived up to its potential. The topic was great - the British reaction to a wave of Jamaican immigrants during WWII. Jamaica was a commonwealth country and its citizens were loyal to England, but the British thought of them as foreigners and were not welcoming. There were though-provoking comparisons between American racism and British racism. All of this was more interesting to me because I was traveling through England while reading it.
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Read in June, 2007
When you listen to the news, you get the idea that the U.S. is the only place where there is racial discrimination, that the rest of the world and especially Europe is much more tolerant and open-minded. Not so. In Andrea Levy's Small Island, a Jamaican couple immigrates to London just after WW II in search of a better life, only to find virtually all doors closed to them. The only room Gilbert is able to rent is a shabby bedroom in a white woman's house, only because he resembles someone she...more
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Read in February, 2008
The small island could be Britain or it could be Jamaica - the story of four people, Hortense and Gilbert, Jamaican immigrants who come to London just after the war on the Windrush, full of hope and dreams only to have them disappointed by the prejudice and hostility they encounter; Queenie, white woman who takes in black lodgers much to the disgust of her neighbours; Bernard her husband who goes awol after fighting the Japanese in the war. At times incredibly funny or else desperately heartbr...more
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Read in September, 2007
An excellent book. Very easy to get drawn into the story. Told from various perspectives, but the story of a Jamaican couple that comes to England post World War 2 and the English woman who rents them a room, and her husband. Did not like the ending at all - did not think that some of the actions taken fit the characters that were developed in the rest of the book and also found a coincidence to be just too much of a coincidence (if that makes sense). I think it deals with several serious is...more
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Read in March, 2008
I read this book while in Brasil with my baby sister who was going through pancreas surgery. We grew up in the Virgin Islands and this book takes place in Jamaica and London so it felt a little bit like home. The story is set during World War II and revolves around several Jamaicans who serve in the British Air Force (RAF) during the war, and their experience of being black in a very white, cold England. I loved the story, found the characters very human and engaging and the writing fluid, belie...more
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Read in August, 2007
The book is about 2 couples, one English, the other Jamaican, and how their lives intersect, with World War II in the middle. The book was written from four points of view, a bit choppy going at the beginning, but pulls together somewhere in the middle. My strongest impression is how it presented race relations, both in the US and in England (and some in India). I keep thinking this would be a perfect book for a high school reading project – history, literature, and social studies all rolled...more
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Read in November, 2007
Harsh and funny, a fascinating insight into racism in England in the 1940's - but not quite. The horrified reactions of the native poeple to black faces in London just did not ring true. Several older ladies in my reading group confirmed that black people were not uncommon, and were generally accepted - two of our ladies had had black friends at that time. Apart from this, and one or two other anachronisms, the book was a good read, interesting stories and very vivid depictions of life post war....more
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Read in February, 2007
Well written account of Jamaicans fighting as British citizens in WWII and then returning to Britain after the war in search of a better life. Learned a lot about the race issues in the UK during and after the war, especially in comparison to the US, and about consitions during the war in general. The book was funny and sad at the same time and it was a quick read despite the fact that it was over 500 pages. The ending seemed a little rushed, but geerally it was a good and entertaining book.
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Read in January, 2008
I am currently Smack Dab in the middle of this book. It is very well written, and running smoothly. So far I am falling in love with the storyline, even though the author is jumping back and forth, back and forth. It is a creative way to build up the characters, nevertheless. I feel like going and watching gone with the wind, or some cheery movie from the 50's. Even with the heavy laden themes of racism, death, and infidelity, she paints it in a very easy to swallow picture. LOVED IT!
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Read in December, 2005
recommends it for:
immigrants
This is a book that gives great insight into the experience of West Indian Immigrants in Britain. It also questions Britain's Racial policys and its implicit role in the slave trade.
It helps one understand the present day Britain which is still in parts divided by racial lines.
And I think the structure is perfect as it shows the raptured lives. For me it is absolutely perfect but I am not looking forward to the Mini series they are going to make that is going to be based on it.
It helps one understand the present day Britain which is still in parts divided by racial lines.
And I think the structure is perfect as it shows the raptured lives. For me it is absolutely perfect but I am not looking forward to the Mini series they are going to make that is going to be based on it.
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Read in March, 2007
I just finished this novel for my book group. The novel is set mostly during and after WWI. It is broken up between 4 different characters whose lives intersect. Personally the most compelling character is Gilbert, the Jamaican man who joins the RAF and eventually leaves Jamaica for a life in England. The only problem I have is that the book sums up a little too nicely in the end. It is a good companion to Night Watch by Sarah Waters.
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Ruth by:
Momrecommends it for: Tenli
Luscious, such clear voices, such a fresh view of things I thought I knew about, and places I've never been...
Overall, I'd call it a tour de force, a masterpiece, really. The 4 narrators, the shifts in time, the way the pieces of the plot were revealed so gradually, and most of all, the VOICES... Wow.
A real insiders' view of immigrating into a deeply racist society.
Can't recommend it enough. So glad it won all those prizes!
Overall, I'd call it a tour de force, a masterpiece, really. The 4 narrators, the shifts in time, the way the pieces of the plot were revealed so gradually, and most of all, the VOICES... Wow.
A real insiders' view of immigrating into a deeply racist society.
Can't recommend it enough. So glad it won all those prizes!
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