Small Island - Andrea Levy

****************************************​***** ********* Update: 26th January 2005. It has just been announced that, in addition to winning the Orange prize, Small Island is also this year's winner of the Whitbread prize. It was judged to be "hilarious" - which is not quite how I thought of it, although it is full of gentle humour and warm, witty writing. A really well deserved win; and a book not to be missed. Below is the original review - written shortly after I had finished reading the book. ****************************************​* ************* I’ve always been a bit wary of buying books ... more

I had been meaning to read Andrea Levy's award winning Small Island for years. It had won the Orange Prize for fiction and the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year award in 2004. Whilst I have often enjoyed past winners, sometimes I haven't, and this does give a weight of expectation to a book. Would Small Island be able to live up to it? The book is set in London and Jamaica (the Small Island in question) before and after the Second World War. Our four protagonists are in London after the war. Queenie Bligh was in a loveless marriage, but she feels slighted when her husband did not return ... more

This is a fiction book which could quite easily be non fiction. Based mainly in Britain, partly in Jamaica it encompasses the difficulties two couples from both of these Islands could have experienced during the post war period. There is laughter, love, ignorance, friendship, sadness and hatred entwined to make a very compassionate and a deeply moving novel. It is very realistic and true to life which adds a flavour of poignancy to the story. Each of the four main character's personalities, thoughts, likes and dislikes shine through with brilliancy in writing that makes one stop to re-read the ... more

Andrea Levy's "Small Island" uses the recollections of four central characters against the background of the first wave of immigration from the Caribbean in the years after the Second World War to tell a story of racism, prejudice and, ultimately, hope for the future. The story weaves between the four characters with each one telling their part of the story in the first person; if that sounds like a lot of narrators, don't worry, the characters are sufficiently well developed and distinct from one another not to be easily confused and each adds a new dimension to our understanding of the story ... more

--Introduction-- Small Island is a dramatic novel written byh Andrea Levy set in Post World War Two and World War Two, following the lives of three main characters; Queenie, Hortense and Gilbert. The chapters vary but they are split into before and the current World War Two time, they are also from the characters point of views including Bernard (Queenie's husband). In my opinion, this first person effect is a good effect as it demonstrates a certain realism and engages you within it. --Storyline-- Queenie is a female born into a male dominated family, the men in her family work on the farm ... more