Small Island Andrea Levy Novel On Caribbean Immigrants

Small Island is award winning novel written by the prestigious novelist Andrea Levy. The book was published on 2004 and it was a tremendous hit and gained popularity worldwide. The author was influenced by personal family life and experience along with extensive research which made this novel absolutely astounding. The novel portrays a mix of drama, comedy, outrage and empathy.

Small Island is based on the life of the first Caribbean immigrants arrived in Britain. He then communicated with a British Family and this changed the life of both parties. The story is set in 1948 when a ship carrying 492 Jamaican migrant workers reached the docks at Tilbury. One of those workers was actually Andrea Levys father. The historical moments in this story along with the years leading up to the migration was witnessed by four narrators.

The four narrators in the Small Island are Hortense Joseph along with her husband Gilbert. Then there is the landlady Queenie Bligh and her husband Bernard. The critics describe this book as plain and complacent. The characters are well placed and timely twists and shifts in the story make it very interesting to read. The story defines the life experience of certain individuals and how they cope with their trials and tribulations along the way.

The characters in the novel Small Island have an attachment with the readers as they face the same life problems as many men and women in todays world. All characters have weakness and all of them have their moments of glory. The novel stresses upon the similarity of life style between black or white people as portrayed in the reviews. The novel is highly acclaimed by critics and the author deserves to be applauded for her work.

Small Island depicts the life of Hortense and her dream of having a golden life. She has a superiority complex due to her skin color. Being brought up as a teacher she is later disappointed because she gets to teach dark skinned students only. But she discovers that coming to Britain her skin colors comes to nothing. She marries Gilbert only to attain British citizenship. Queenie takes Gilbert in and gives him a job. Gilbert proves to be an honorable man.

Small Islands also depicts Queenies life who thought of having a better life then most islanders. She discovers her potential while growing up and later faces problems in her life. She has a strong dislike for Gilbert and his friends and charges them more rent than usual. She was said to be very indiscreet. Bernard who returns from the war feels nostalgic. He has indefinite habits and keeps to himself. The novel revolves around the life of these characters.Smallislandread