Small Island charts the arrival from Jamaica of Hortense and Gilbert, two contrasting people with a misty eyed view of England and what it promises. The book also charts the effects of West Indian immigration and integration upon Bernard and Queenie - two people who mirror the relationship that Hortense and Gilbert have.I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a revelation. The evocation of World War II was depicted very well, in a different way to normal and expressed the real life side of it; actually living in London during the The Blitz. I found that all the characters to be complicated and quirky and eventually warmed to all of them by the end of the book.
The handling of the racial tensions was handled very well that made me angry in one sense at the way that West Indians were treated at the time and also sympathetic of Levy's tone: writing Queenie and Bernard's thoughts with enough naive condescension and contempt to accurately represent the 1940s view of West Indians and black people in general.
The novel is a real page turner and I never felt I would not be continually surprised. My only criticism of the book would be that I found that I could not really picture Jamaica or the Windrush - but these aside I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
2 comments:
Great idea Michael and really good review of Small Island. I'm afraid I haven't read it or Mae West. Can we start afresh in 2008 with a new book? Any suggestions people?
xxx
Dear all, It's a while since I read Small Island. I enjoyed it eventually, it took me a while to get into it, but once I did it was a revelation. It shows a completely different (to me) side of the war, one that I had not come across before. I've read a number of books about the London Blitz, but I had certainly never read anything about the Jamaican and West Indian contingent in the British army. I suppose I was not surprised to read about the naivety and stupidity of the British presented with their fellow Black citizens, however I was shocked - as I had never given it any thought - to read about the segregation that went on in the in the US army during the war. I saw Hairspray recently so of course now I remember that it wasn't til the 60s that segregation officially ended... thanks for recommending the book Michael, it definitely was informative and I liked the style of the chapters being "spoken" by the different characters in turn.
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