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Small Island by Andrea Levy


Welshman

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Now I am not much of a fan of ethnic writing, but this lady forced me to make an exception. Firstly I read 'Fruit of the Lemon' and found it quite delightful. It was a sort of Anglo-African/Carribean 'Roots' but with more heart. An easy and beautiful read.

 

Then, when I came across 'Small Island', I thought - You won't be able to repeat that kind of standard. Wrong! She took the notch up a level and went better.

 

I am still surprised so few people miss her, even though she won the Orange in 2004.

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  • 4 months later...

I've just finished Small Island and loved it. It's one of those books you don't want to end but you have to keep reading. Her characters were very well written, I loved the way they each had different voices. Thoroughly recommend this and I'll be looking for more of her books.

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  • 8 months later...

I have just finished reading Small Island and it was defo an amazing read. I loved the switching between characters and time frames.

 

Andrea Levy has an amazing ability to make you love all the characters in the book, when I was reading Queenies pieces about Bernard I really did not like his character, but then after reading Bernards perspective I came to empathise with his characters alot.

 

If I have one criticism, it would be the end. I felt that Hortense should have discovered the link between Queenie and Michael. Would have been an awesome ending.

 

Highly Recomended!

 

Sweetie

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  • 2 weeks later...

Talisman - it's being shown on the BBC this autumn. :D

 

 

Small Island

 

Adapted from Andrea Levy's award-winning and best-selling novel, Small Island is an epic love story about the determined pursuit of dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers.

 

Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, at a time when landlords put up signs declaring: "No Irish, no coloureds, no dogs", Small Island follows the interlocking lives of Londoner Queenie (Ruth Wilson) and her husband Bernard (Benedict Cumberbatch); Gilbert and Hortense (David Oyelowo and Naomie Harris), the young Jamaican couple who become their lodgers; and the handsome but mysterious Michael (Ashley Walters).

 

From the heat and hustle of life in Forties Jamaica to the devastation of London in The Blitz, Small Island is an ambitious yet personal tale that deftly touches on the weighty themes of empire, prejudice and war with a warm, uplifting generosity of spirit.

 

This two-part drama is written by Paula Milne (Endgame, The Virgin Queen) and Sarah Williams (Becoming Jane, The Secret Life Of Mrs Beeton) and directed by John Alexander (Life On Mars, Survivors).

 

LH2/BR3

 

A Ruby Television production

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  • 2 months later...

I haven't read the book .. but I thought the first part of the drama was fantastic (of course .. not having read it ... I have nothing to compare it with).

 

It made me want to read the book though, which all good dramas do.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here, but I didn't enjoy the book much at all. I found Queenie irritating in the extreme, and although I learnt a lot about the plight of people who found themselves bombed out of their homes during the blitz, I was pretty much underwhelmed by the book on the whole.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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