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Andrea Levy: Small Island
- Thread starter oldboy
- Start date
Shade
New Member
It would be much easier to show you, pontalba, if we had the option to disable BBCode in our replies, so we could show you the code without all those *s and stuff...
Anyway try this. Here is the formatting, only replace the round brackets () with square ones []
(SPOILER)Kristin shot JR(/SPOILER)
would come out like this
Anyway try this. Here is the formatting, only replace the round brackets () with square ones []
(SPOILER)Kristin shot JR(/SPOILER)
would come out like this
Kristin shot JR
angerball
Active Member
Just finished this book, and absolutely loved it. It took me about 3 weeks to finish it 
o ), and I really would have preferred to have been able to read it in big chunks, instead of bits here-and-there (due to starting a new job etc.).
Anyway, I thought it was fantastic. Definately not a book I would have picked up, after reading the blurb on the back, if it weren't for this forum. I was very pleasantly surprised with it.
I think Andrea Levy is a fantastic writer. Some of her sentences were just so brilliant. They were so simple, yet so so loaded and descriptive. I will definately be picking up her other books.
As for the story itself, I loved it. I think the way Levy portrayed the characters, and made them so multi-dimensional, and full of personality, made them all the more likeable or dislikeable. You really got to know the characters, in detail. I loved the uppity Hortense. I thought she was hilarious, in a kind of "stuck up" sort of way. Re: what happened with Celia (as earlier in the thread), I don't think it was intentionally done to hurt Celia, and to get what she wanted from Gilbert. I think it was done out of total ignorance of when to keep your mouth shut.
The only part I found boring was Bernard. Unless I'm mistaken, he didn't have his own narrative until the last third of the book, and by then, he was such a peripheral character that I just couldn't warm up to him. Maybe it was also the fact that he was a bit of a twat. All the others had been fully introduced early in the book, so I somehow preferred their narratives.
I thought it was very unusual for Levy to choose that
. Usually these kind of twists are uncovered, so we can see the reactions and implications. I was cringing towards the end of the book, just waiting for it to happen
, and was very surprised (and impressed) when it never did.
I really sympathised for their separate plights - Queenie, with her missing husband,
, Hortense and Gilbert's dashed dreams of England
, and all the racism they encountered (had no idea that kind of thing had happened in England.
It was such a good book! I'd recommend anyone to pick it up, even if (like me), they initially think it's not the kind of book they would like. It's books like this that make me really love reading.
I think this is the longest post I've made!
Now, I'm off to tackle The Blind Assassin!
o ), and I really would have preferred to have been able to read it in big chunks, instead of bits here-and-there (due to starting a new job etc.). Anyway, I thought it was fantastic. Definately not a book I would have picked up, after reading the blurb on the back, if it weren't for this forum.
I was very pleasantly surprised with it.I think Andrea Levy is a fantastic writer. Some of her sentences were just so brilliant. They were so simple, yet so so loaded and descriptive. I will definately be picking up her other books.
As for the story itself, I loved it. I think the way Levy portrayed the characters, and made them so multi-dimensional, and full of personality, made them all the more likeable or dislikeable. You really got to know the characters, in detail. I loved the uppity Hortense. I thought she was hilarious, in a kind of "stuck up" sort of way. Re: what happened with Celia (as earlier in the thread), I don't think it was intentionally done to hurt Celia, and to get what she wanted from Gilbert. I think it was done out of total ignorance of when to keep your mouth shut.
The only part I found boring was Bernard. Unless I'm mistaken, he didn't have his own narrative until the last third of the book, and by then, he was such a peripheral character that I just couldn't warm up to him. Maybe it was also the fact that he was a bit of a twat.
All the others had been fully introduced early in the book, so I somehow preferred their narratives.I thought it was very unusual for Levy to choose that
Hortense never find out that Michael Roberts was the father of Queenie's baby
(especially when Hortense found that pouch in Michael's diapers - I was sure that she was going to find out then and there)
I really sympathised for their separate plights - Queenie, with her missing husband,
and the final sacrifice she has to make for the sake of her son
(particularly towards the end when Hortense is told she can't teach in England - and it really broke that poor woman)
It was such a good book! I'd recommend anyone to pick it up, even if (like me), they initially think it's not the kind of book they would like. It's books like this that make me really love reading.
I think this is the longest post I've made!
Now, I'm off to tackle The Blind Assassin!
murraymint11
New Member
As sometimes happens, my expectations of this book were very high (based on several recommendations) and as a result I was rather disappointed in 'Small Island'. I suppose I was waiting to be 'blown away' by the novel as I had been by 'The Kite Runner' and a few others last year, and yet it didn't happen for me.
.
My favourite character? Probably Gilbert, for his honesty, politeness and resilience. But I also liked Queenie who really belonged to the end of the 20th century, not the middle of it.
Hortense seemed to me to be a 'nasty piece of work', while Bernard was just pathetic.
I found it was one of those books that while reading it I was constantly thinking about what I would be reading next, and wishing that I was nearer the end of the book.
I would rate it 7/10.
The 'coincidence' which was Michael Roberts was rather too contrived, although I liked the fact that Hortense never found out the identity of the baby's father (well not in this book at least!)
My favourite character? Probably Gilbert, for his honesty, politeness and resilience. But I also liked Queenie who really belonged to the end of the 20th century, not the middle of it.
Hortense seemed to me to be a 'nasty piece of work', while Bernard was just pathetic.
I found it was one of those books that while reading it I was constantly thinking about what I would be reading next, and wishing that I was nearer the end of the book.
I would rate it 7/10.
blueboatdriver
Member
I've just finished this book and completely agree with all of the positive comments here. It's the easiest book I've read in a while; refreshing. It's got it all; laugh out loud and also weep out loud if you're like that, especially
10/10
with Hortense sensing Queenie behind the door when they're leaving with the baby and the quote from Winston Churchill on the last page.
10/10
Ronny
Well-Known Member
I did get a bit of the sniffles at the end
I see I'm rather late to the conversation but I just finished this book and really liked it. As many others have mentioned above, I thought the characters were excellent. I liked that while I didn't really like Benard or Hortense, I did feel for them as the end played out. It was a 9/10 for me.