Small Island: A Novel

This book is about ordinary folks who hope to find the good life in England in the midst of World War II. Their lives on the small island of Jamaica do not prepare them for the weary devastation of London nor for the racism that greatly limits their choices. In parts the writing transforms and captures the pace, anguish and battleground experiences. Otherwise the writing vacillates between good and very good with a sense of lost opportunities. It's a fast read and good regarding the history. I can recommend it but not as a top choice.

This book is about the 2 small islands of Jamaica and Britain and has a good start but it's all downhill from there, the book fails because the characters are for the most part unlikable it was hard to care about any of them. The premise of this book seems to be that racism exists everywhere even in the small predominantly black island of Jamaica. Where Levy loses her footing is when she claims one form of racism is better than another. The story centers predominantly around the characters of Hortense, Gilbert and Queenie.The bulk of the book focuses on Hortense, a light skinned black woman living in Jamaica. Because she is light she has opportunities and is given breaks that she does not deserve(ie she is given good grades in cooking and it is shown in a comical way later that she obviously cant cook). Hortense glides through life as a light skinned woman in Jamaica and looks down on darker blacks as being "rough" or "coarse" but when she arrives in England and the tables are turned she is viewed with the prejudices that she had reserved for others. Because she is black most of the English people she meets thinks she is dirty, and lower class. Does all of this force Hortense to rethink her earlier views and prejudices that she had for other darker Jamaicans? Sadly the answer is a resounding No! Instead Hortense cries and feels sorry for herself because of the discrimination and racist attitudes she faces in Britain conveniently forgetting what went on in Jamaica. She feels it's okay for her to benefit from skin color discrimination in Jamaica but it's not okay when discrimination is used against her in England. Hortense never comes to any self-awareness but goes on to the end of the book with the same small minded attitudes and prejudices that she had when the book started. It was very hard to care at all about this character as she is also very selfish, narrow minded, and never experiences any personal growth or enlightenment. She goes through the book thinking the world revolves around her, she uses her friends, and when things don't go her way she cries and feels sorry for herself at what she see as the horrible injustice of her not always getting her own way.Gilbert, Hortense's husband, doesn't fare much better. He also glides through life, and doesnt seem very bright. He puts up with a lot of Hortense's crap and seems pathetically grateful when she is nicer to him. Hortense only warms up to her husband when he gives her what her friend wanted(a nice home in London). Which goes to show how pathetic Hortense is as a character she doesnt even have her own dreams but is content to steal the boyfriend and dreams of another.Queenie is the most likable character, but her story is the most absurd. She marries her husband Bernard for reasons that are not entirely clear. She doesn't love him, doesn't particularly seem to like him and is relieved when he goes off to war. Then inexplicably when he doesn't return to her after the war she is desperate to have him back. After the war she takes in black boarders because she knows her husband wouldn't like it and is hoping he will hear of it and come back to her. A few chapters later however, it is revealed that she doesn't love her husband but is in fact in love with another man whom she is desperate to be with. This contradicts what was said earlier but it only gets worse from here.The whole baby part of the story was completely unbelievable. An overweight woman could hide the fact that she was pregnant but Queenie is described as very thin. Bernard even says when he sees her after the war that she is much thinner than he remembered, there is no way that she could hide the fact that she was in her last few weeks of pregnancy. I don't care how tightly you bind yourself the belly is going to show. It's also pretty silly because Bernard comments on her flat stomach when he sees her in her nightgown and then two weeks later flat stomach Queenie has a baby. When liberal minded Queenie rejects her baby because he is too dark, considering her earlier views and the fact that she claims to be madly in love with the baby's father, was just too silly for me. It was also unclear why she didn't leave for Canada like she wanted to when she found out she was pregnant. The time frame also didn't work. For the whole England part of the story to take place in the space of 10 months was also not believable.Bernard is given a few chapters in the book but he is not very bright, more of a caricature than a character. He is the stereotypical British man, who is sexually repressed, racist, and a bit on the stupid side. Thankfully only a small section of the book is devoted to him.Levy is a good writer and the book is at least readable even though her characters are not likable. Unfortunately Levy's message seems to be that Jamaica's racism and prejudices that has a darker underclass is better than Britains prejudices that views all blacks, regardless of skin color the same, but that Britains racist attitudes is better than Americas racism because America has institutionalised racism. It would have been a much stronger book if the message was you shouldn't judge someone based solely on their skin color. Hortense is upper class in Jamaica because she is light but lower class in England because although light she is still black. Racism is racism and one form of it is not better than another.

At times almost too painful to read — this beautifully written novel is “blinking” wonderful. In its way, the best book about World War II from the British perspective I’ve ever read.

I received this book in a book exchange, and reading it was such a delightful surprise. I might never have come across it otherwise. Skillfully written and set mostly in England in 1948, the novel tells of the disillusionment and racism the Jamaican characters Gilbert and Hortense experienced upon arriving in the Mother country. It shifts from their perspectives to those of the white, English characters Bernard and Queenie, caught up in the racist, class system in an England reeling from the aftermath of the war. Every character in the novel is so flawed that it made me want to shout at them, but there was enough redemption in each one to make me care about their stories and anxious to see what paths they would take. The book is so insightful, the scenes so clearly drawn, the characters so richly portrayed, that it’s as if the author personally experienced every perspective she wrote. I highly recommend the book.

And the rating should be at least 4.5. I think I was restrained by the fact that it's a bit hard to read in these times, but by the same token, important to read. I wish I had realized from the beginning, as I should have, that it's told from the perspective of each of the four main characters, and that the first to appear is not Jamaican. But I loved getting to know the characters and their challenges--they are not like any I've encountered elsewhere. Definitely recommended.

This novel accomplishes so many feats of craft in stand alone chapters, reoccurring symbols and managing pov characters deftly. Levy unapologetically captures the ignorance, panic and damage of anti-blackness on her white characters and the needful dignity, rebellion and sometimes submission of her Jamaican characters. She intertwines her characters and holds back from cheap reveals or sentimentality. A fabulous fabulous novel that gives an alternate telling of war not often given the chance to be heard. Some sexual content but tastefully and often humorously handled. Many instances of racial slurs. Some violence. Ok for mature teen readers, but would need to be previewed for high school-level if you are considering teaching this novel, which would be an excellent addition.

Wow this is a masterpiece of a book; I loved it so so much and would thoroughly recommend it. As I've mentioned before historical fiction is not my preferred genre at all, but I couldn't put this one down. The story is set during WW2 and its aftermath and focuses on four main characters: Queenie and her husband Bernard, both English; and Hortense and her husband Gilbert, both Jamaican. In the aftermath of the war, Bernard has not yet returned home and Queenie has taken in some Jamaican lodgers including Gilbert. Hortense has always dreamed of coming over to England but when she finally makes the trip, it is not quite as she expected. The story flicks from before the war/during the war to its aftermath in 1948 and we hear each character's story in turn, although they do interweave.I absolutely loved the structure of the story and how it all comes together. It was fascinating to get to know the characters on such a deep and intimate level in turn; the characters were the best thing about the story for me as they were so real and raw and they were what kept me glued to this book as I felt completely immersed in their lives and their emotions were so strong. It was definitely a slow paced story, but for me that was the beauty of it as it really enabled the reader to connect with the characters. And although it is a slow paced book, it is still extremely eventful nonetheless! I also found it a very thought provoking novel as it explores prominent themes of cultural heritage and racism; it was an extremely educating read for me with respect to what went on in history, but also in terms of relating similar themes to present day events. The only reason why I didn't give this five stars is because the book lost that captivation slightly for me during the final section of Bernard. But otherwise, I couldn't fault it at all.

This is a real 'page-turner'. I honestly had difficulty putting it down. Levy's style of writing is remarkable. She writes a scene so well that the reader is in balmy Jamaica or dreary London. Each of the characters are so well developed that I cared what happened to each of them. I'll definitely be reading another book by Andrea Levy. Her telling of the tale of the 'Windrush Generation' is superb. I had a vague knowledge of this shadowy period of British Empire history, but this novel has padded out those years from many points of view. The arrogance and ignorance of many of the white British population is quite toe-curling.

It took me quite a while to get into this book and really start enjoying it, but once I got to about a quarter of the way through, where Jamaican Gilbert joins the RAF and the story suddenly became very interesting and extremely funny and horrific in equal measure, I enjoyed it immensely. It became clearer what experiencing racial discrimination feels like - and it's not pleasant. I found the Jamaican language irritating to start with but got into its rhythm. I loved the tongue in cheek digs at the bewilderment of the Jamaicans at the uncouth British, and the fact that the Jamaican men were allowed to live with white men because, being part of the British Empire, they would be deemed to have "superior black skin" unlike the "inferior American negro."Gilbert is married to Hortense, who finds her training as a teacher is rejected in England, while Queenie finds a passion with Jamaican Michael which is lacking in her marriage to the dull Bernard, with a neck like the back of a heel. Bernard's war in India is probably the best writing in the book, sharp and witty, Bernard's mother telling neighbours on the doorstep that her husband was in the Somme "like he'd popped down the road for a swift half."The ending didn't convince me, would a mother so readily give up her baby, not even suggesting how it could be fed?But as a depiction of the Blitz in London, the second world war around the world, and the deplorable racism and prejudice revealed in unflinching light, this is not only readable but unmissable and vital reading.

Can genuinely say I have cherished this book from start to finish and I have run an array of feelings understanding it. The creator skilfully yet tenderly unfurls the narrative of the lives of the four primary characters. You find what their identity is as well as why they are and why the demonstration the manner in which they do. In the telling, there is a lot of cleverness and some sadness. It is set in the fundamental in early post-war Britain in the midst of the decrepit demolishes as the nation licks its injuries and attempts to remake itself. We discover Britain not prepared at this point to completely acknowledge the individuals with various hued skins that battled for the motherland and returned to it to settle and make another life in its as far as anyone knows the brilliant city of dreams. This is the setting however there is quite a lot more to the lives of these four individuals as the story unfurls.

This lady is an awesome writer. I was drawn straight into the story from page one. The characters are so alive and the reader gets to share a little bit of their lives. I didn’t really understand racism. Small Island has helped me understand a little bit where it comes from and also what it’s like to be a victim. I felt involved with each character and saw where their different attitudes came from. It’s all to easy to judge a person without knowing them at all. This book really made me think about my attitudes as well a being a very good read.