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Small Island

By Andrea Levy

(63)

| Paperback | 9780755307500

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'Small Island' by Andrea Levy

Small Island is one of those books that has been sitting in my reading queue for two or three years. I was prompted to dig it out when Simon wrote a rather glowing review of it. The deal was cemented when several more of you chipped in on this post a ... (read full critics)

readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

Roots manoeuvre

Small Island by Andrea Levy 448pp, Review, £14.99 Andrea Levy's narrative switches between four protagonists. The first, Queenie, is Gilbert's white landlady; they met during wartime when he came over as an RAF recruit. Returning on the SS Empire Win ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

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5 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

I've loved this book!
The characters are so polyedric and dynamic, the story is interesting and nice to follow, the writing is intriguing and clear.
Most of all I loved the fact that all my first impressions about the protagonists were wrong. Everyone is presented under a light that slowly ... (continue)

I've loved this book!
The characters are so polyedric and dynamic, the story is interesting and nice to follow, the writing is intriguing and clear.
Most of all I loved the fact that all my first impressions about the protagonists were wrong. Everyone is presented under a light that slowly shift and illuminate different part of the same person.
Beautiful.

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Alice said on Feb 4, 2009 | Add your feedback

London - 1948

The plot is interesting but the book didn't get me at all...

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Mati said on Mar 16, 2011 | Add your feedback

I have already read some really enjoyable books this year and this one rates very highly amongst them. A well written novel about War, Love, Prejudice and the British Empire. In all innoncence I had no idea that racial prejudice ran so high in the UK during and just after the Second World War.
... (continue)

I have already read some really enjoyable books this year and this one rates very highly amongst them. A well written novel about War, Love, Prejudice and the British Empire. In all innoncence I had no idea that racial prejudice ran so high in the UK during and just after the Second World War.
Synopsis:Amazon.co.uk
It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was.
Highly recommended,an easy read that is difficult to put down.

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Lindyloumac said on Oct 26, 2009 | Add your feedback

The story of two Jamaican immigrants in London and the woman who takes them in as lodgers. Told from the point of view of different characters, this is evocative, witty and moving.

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Andy Neads said on Jan 28, 2008 | Add your feedback

This is a Whitbread Book of last year. It deals with the very difficult subject of racism and handles it with flair.
Recommended.

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Tracy W said on Apr 11, 2007 | Add your feedback