This is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read for years, and kept putting off. But my mom decided to read it, and I enjoy talking to her about books we’re both reading, so I figured now was the time! (I also really wanted to watch the mini-series but wanted to read this first!)
This story follows a few different characters whose lives overlap and intersect. There’s Queenie, a Yorkshire girl who moved to London and married. Her husband goes off to fight in WWII and doesn’t come back – she knows he’s alive and that he made it back to England, just not to her. To make ends meet, she rents out rooms – some of them to Black people, much to the disapproval of her neighbours.
One of the people she rents a room to is Gilbert Joseph, who later brings his wife, Hortense, from Jamaica. There are ways in which Queenie and Hortense are connected that neither knows about, but their relationship is strained. Queenie finds it hard to connect to Hortense, and Hortense resents the assumptions Queenie makes about her intellect and ability to do for herself.
This book is all about the people in it. We learn the backstory of each of these characters (and a few more), and we see how their lives intersect and diverge throughout decades. Love is a major theme, but so is the lack of it and whether it is the most important element in a partnership. Necessity is another theme, and one that is brought to the fore particularly by the time and place in which it is set.
None of the characters are entirely likable. There are parts of them to like, but also unpleasant aspects that can’t be overlooked. They all make mistakes and decisions they will have to live with. They all pay prices for them. Despite their portrayal as real, believable characters, I didn’t feel emotionally invested in any of them. I did care about how they behaved and were treated (there’s a lot about racism in this book, and it’s hard to read), but not about any character as an individual presence.
Queenie is an interesting character because she stays largely in one place, but all the other characters seem to cycle in and out of her orbit. Bees come up in the story, and it’s impossible to miss her resemblance to the matriarch she shares her name with – the Queen Bee who sits in her hive while all the other bees come and go. It is a privilege but also leaves her trapped.
I enjoyed this book, even if I wasn’t as emotionally connected to any of the characters as I expected to be. I thought Levy did a great job of presenting her characters as real people – the Black characters aren’t painted as being perfect and therefore easy to side with when they come up against racism. They are flawed, just like anyone, and siding with them against racism is not dependent on them being perfect – (something I liked as that is a trope I dislike). I thought that was a brilliant aspect, and I applaud her for it. Likewise Queenie, as much as she is willing to suffer repercussions for her association with Black people, has her own prejudices and makes assumptions about them that are cringe-worthy. This book brings up a lot of the issues that deep consideration of race bring up, and I very much appreciated that about it. It challenges its readers, and it forces us to look at our own views and consider how we would behave in similar circumstances (particularly given the time and place of its setting).
I’d definitely recommend this to fans of historical fiction, particularly those who have an interest in WWII-era stories, and those who wish to learn more about how racism manifested in post-WWII London. It’s not something I’ve seen addressed often in the often idealized stories of upstanding bravery and resilience of regular folk in wartime. But I think it’s a very important reality to be aware of, and I though Levy did a fantastic job of bringing it to light.
Having now read the book, I also watched the mini-series based on it by the same name. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and while it doesn’t stick exactly to the book, it came close enough for authenticity. Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo, Ruth Wilson and Ashley Walters didn’t hurt either! Highly recommended.
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer’s daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.
Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers—in short, an encapsulation of the immigrant’s life. – Goodreads
Book Title: Small Island
Author: Andrea Levy
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: Tinder Press/Audible
Released: October 4, 2018 (First published in 2004)
Genre: Historical Fiction, Migration, Race, Family
Pages: 560
Date Read: June 12-20, 2020
Rating: 7/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.96/5 (26,520 ratings)