Small Island - Andrea Levy

...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 ...
...standing in WH Smith pulling Small Island by Andrea Levy off the shelf, looking at the cover, putting it back, taking it down again ... having another look. In the end my husband who had offered to buy me the wretched book lost his patience and went ahead and bought it anyway. The reason for my reluctance was that Small Island is the winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. Did that lofty accolade mean that it was going to be an up-hill struggle ...

weenawoo 02.12.2004 (26.01.2005) · Read full review
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Review of Small Island - Andrea Levy

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. ...
...thoughts, likes and dislikes shine through with brilliancy in writing that makes one stop to re-read the similes and metaphors that make up their lives, thoughts and actions. 'Her eyes were as black as apple pips' The novel jumps between the 'before' and 1948 with each chapter headed with a character. Each character talks as if they are telling you their story. It begins with Hortense arriving in London alone - her husband Gilbert who promised ...

teacherofhooch 25.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Small Island - Andrea Levy

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 ...
...be easily confused and each adds a new dimension to our understanding of the story. BACKGROUND Thousands of men from the Caribbean - part of the British Commonwealth - volunteered for the British Armed Forces during the Second World War; most had never been to Britain and did not have any British blood but they referred to it as "the Motherland". Most did menial, but essential jobs in the British Isles, a few of the highly-educated men became pilots. ...

fizzytom 27.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Small Island - Andrea Levy

Excellent picture of racial and social relations and tensions in war time Britain. Very amusing with well developed and believable characters. Charting all the highs and lows of their very complex relationships. Especially interesting (and funny) is the ideal of England that has been carried abroad. Highly recommended this is definately a book to loose yourself in . ...

Rea1010 12.05.2007
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Review of Small Island - Andrea Levy