Small Island (Andrea Levy)

Andrea Levy
Small Island

Started reading on holiday in Cornwall and Devon - very white population so strangely linked to the whiteness of the London population experienced by the novel's protagonists. Oddly split stories which touch in parts but randomly. Two stories of white English couple split by WWII the other of Jamaican dreams of living and working in England. Joint reference points are shared experiences of the war. Seems a little artificial to be honest although each of our narrators find themselves either frustrated in their ambitions or relationships. The racial aspect underlying the stories comes to the fore briefly in a violent affair in a cinema but this suggest that the American racism is far worse than the British. However later in the book when Jamaicans are living in London this aspect is flushed out until it reaches a violent outcome. The end of the book is a little romantic in many senses of the word with a twist in the tail leading to an outcome I hadn't anticipated but one that didn't seem too odd whilst reading.

Although I enjoyed reading this novel I didn't think it brilliant and felt a little short changed. The characters and situations seemed to be building up to a tumultuous climax and whilst I guess there is for the characters the wider context of post war post Windrush Britain is dealt with more delicately than needs be. A fairy tale ending, as in fantastic, where something a bit more gothic is needed. What I mean is that it seems that the author has striven to square up all the main characters weaknesses so that they all cancel out in relation to each other. Not the usual outcome of wars either for victors or victims.