Be Specific About Books Conducive To Small Island
| Original Title: | Small Island |
| ISBN: | 0312424671 (ISBN13: 9780312424671) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | London, England(United Kingdom) British Empire,1948 |
| Literary Awards: | Orange Prize for Fiction (2004), Whitbread Award for Novel and Book of the Year (2004), Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book Overall (2005) |
Andrea Levy
Paperback | Pages: 441 pages Rating: 3.95 | 25813 Users | 1612 Reviews
Relation To Books Small Island
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in short, an encapsulation of the immigrant's life.
Define Containing Books Small Island
| Title | : | Small Island |
| Author | : | Andrea Levy |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 441 pages |
| Published | : | April 1st 2005 by Picador USA (first published 2004) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction |
Rating Containing Books Small Island
Ratings: 3.95 From 25813 Users | 1612 ReviewsAssess Containing Books Small Island
Almost seventy years ago, on 22nd June 1948, the passenger ship HMT Empire Windrush sailed into Londons Tilbury docks. Several of these large troop ships had been acquired at the end of the Second World War by the British government, and all were renamed Empire, followed by the name of a river; in this case a little river in Oxfordshire. But the word Windrush came to symbolise something far greater. It was to give its name to an entire generation of people, all of whom had emigrated from theMixed feelings about this one; read very easily and the historical context is one that interests me. However it did not really do what I thought it set out do, which was to chronicle the early years of the Windrush generation. There are four narrators; Hortense and Gilbert from Jamaica and Queenie and Bernard who are English (although Bernard feels like a bit of an add on, arriving in the last quarter of the book). That makes the book feel a little disjointed. A great deal of time is also spent
Wow. I wish that could be my entire review. It feels like "wow" should be sufficient. But in the interest of getting this book into the hands of as many people as possible, I'll attempt to do this book some justice. With NO Spoilers. No worries.This is not a book I would normally choose to read. (I read it with a book group.) The description made it seem depressing, and just too "heavy" for me. However, Andrea Levy is such a gifted writer that she is able to breathe humor into even desolate
Character-driven historical fiction set in 1948 (and flashing back to Before) about two mismatched couples, Britons Bernard and Queenie, and Jamaicans Gilbert and Hortense. It tells a story of the migration of the two Jamaicans to post-WWII London, and the differences between their expectations and the realities. Though Gilbert has served in the RAF, fighting in WWII for the Mother Country, he and Hortense experience racism and intolerance. In Jamaica, Hortense dreams of living in England, where
Story around the ship The Windrush, told through the eyes of two Jamaicans and a British couple and in two distinct times (1948 and "before"). Hortense, the main narrator to begin with, is interesting but unsympathetic (very snobbish and judges people by how dark their skin is). Interesting glimpse into the different ways black people were viewed and treated by US forces, British forces and various British civilians, which is different again from Bernard's views of India and its inhabitants.
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 subjects in Africa, Asia
Rating: 2.5* of fiveThis woman and I are not a good fit. I read and loathed The Long Song, finding it tedious and contrived. I got this excrescence out of the library because I thought it unfair to judge an author by one book. Hell, I even gave EGGERS more than one book.Small Island is a mean-spirited, judgmental, and sarcastic book. In the guise of "telling it like it is", Levy manages to make the reader detest every single person she describes as a narrow, unkind, worthless human being. I know
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