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abbie_ 's review for:
Small Island
by Andrea Levy
Before I actively wanted to read Small Island, I saw it constantly in charity shops (and then typically when I DID want a copy there were none to be found!) and you know when you see books an awful lot in secondhand shops that you begin to think they must have been given away for a reason, usually not a good one? Well, the only explanation I can come up with for Small Island is that people must have wanted to give it to charity shops so that MORE people could read and enjoy it, and I’m honestly surprised that I don’t see this one doing the rounds more on bookstagram!
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It focuses on two married couples before and after WWII in Jamaica and the UK, two Jamaicans who come to the UK on false promises that the ‘mother country’ will be there to receive them with open arms, and two British who are parted by the war. When Queenie, the British woman, begins letting rooms to immigrants (including those who came over on the famous HMT Empire Windrush), including the Jamaican newlyweds Gilbert and Hortense, all sorts of issues arise with those around her, and the racism of the UK is exposed.
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I think a lot of the time fiction tackling racism tends to focus on the US - there are plenty based in the UK too, but that’s just the view I have. I actually did some research a while back for work into the Windrush generation for a documentary being filmed in Huddersfield, and I spoke with some of the producers who told me about the prejudices and discrimination those Caribbean immigrants faced, the idealistic view of The Mother Country shattered as they come face to face with outright hostility from neighbours and strangers on the street.
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Although I didn’t love the way some of the chapters would be clumped together for one perspective (I wish they’d been more interspersed with one another rather than having to read 70 pages of the despicable Bernard non-stop), Levy absolutely nails the different narrative voices for her characters.
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A vast and immersive narrative that really opens your eyes to the way things were during and after WWII (and sometimes still are) in the UK for immigrants, that I really would recommend!
.
It focuses on two married couples before and after WWII in Jamaica and the UK, two Jamaicans who come to the UK on false promises that the ‘mother country’ will be there to receive them with open arms, and two British who are parted by the war. When Queenie, the British woman, begins letting rooms to immigrants (including those who came over on the famous HMT Empire Windrush), including the Jamaican newlyweds Gilbert and Hortense, all sorts of issues arise with those around her, and the racism of the UK is exposed.
.
I think a lot of the time fiction tackling racism tends to focus on the US - there are plenty based in the UK too, but that’s just the view I have. I actually did some research a while back for work into the Windrush generation for a documentary being filmed in Huddersfield, and I spoke with some of the producers who told me about the prejudices and discrimination those Caribbean immigrants faced, the idealistic view of The Mother Country shattered as they come face to face with outright hostility from neighbours and strangers on the street.
.
Although I didn’t love the way some of the chapters would be clumped together for one perspective (I wish they’d been more interspersed with one another rather than having to read 70 pages of the despicable Bernard non-stop), Levy absolutely nails the different narrative voices for her characters.
.
A vast and immersive narrative that really opens your eyes to the way things were during and after WWII (and sometimes still are) in the UK for immigrants, that I really would recommend!