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Book Review of Small Island

Small Island
Small Island
Author: Andrea Levy
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
maura853 avatar reviewed on + 542 more book reviews


Disappointing. Some time ago, I saw a BBC documentary about Andrea Levy, and she was so sparky and interesting, and it featured dramatized highlights of Small Island that made it sound like a perfect balance of social humour and canny insights into racism.

And instead, I found it very hard going. I am usually the Queen of the Slow Burn, but page after page after page dragged by, with nothing more to keep me reading than to wonder if Hortense was going to -- miraculously -- become less smug and annoying, and whether Gilbert would become as charming as we were supposed to think he is ... and if we were moving anywhere in the direction of a plot.