Recenzii
'A
brilliantly
deft
and
humane
account
of
two
ordinary
couples
in
post-war
London'
Evening
Standard,
3
February
2004
Evening
Standard
Every
scene
is
rich
in
implication,
entrancing
and
disturbing
at
the
same
time;
the
literary
equivalent
of
a
switch-back
ride
The
Sunday
Times
'Small
Island
is
never
less
than
finely-written,
delicately
and
often
comically
observed,
and
impressively
rich
in
detail
and
little
nuggets
of
stories'
Evening
Standard,
2
February
2004
Evening
Standard
What
makes
Levy's
writing
so
appealing
is
her
even-handedness.
All
her
characters
can
be
weak,
hopeless,
brave,
good,
bad
-
whatever
their
colour.
The
writing
is
rigorous
and
the
bittersweet
ending,
with
its
unexpected
twist,
touching...
People
can
retain
great
dignity,
however
small
their
island
Independent
on
Sunday
'Small
Island
is
as
full
of
warmth
and
jokes
and
humanity
as
you
could
wish...Such
a
rich
saga,
stuffed
full
of
interlocking
narratives'
Time
Out,
2
February
2004
Time
Out
'A
cracking
good
read'
Margaret
Forster
'A
great
read...honest,
skilful,
thoughtful
and
important'
Guardian
'An
involving
saga
about
the
changing
face
of
Britain'
Mirror,
6
February
2004
Mirror
'It's
an
engrossing
read
-
slyly
funny,
passionately
angry
and
wholly
involving'
Daily
Mail,
6
February
2004
Daily
Mail
'Explores
the
Caribbean
experience
of
immigration
to
Britain
with
great
sensitivity'
Independent
'Wonderful...seamless...a
magnificent
achievement'
Linda
Grant
'I
know
it
is
a
fiction,
but
I
emerged
from
the
book
full
of
admiration
for
the
patience
and
resilience
of
that
generation...Levy
has
written
one
of
those
rare
fictions
that
tells
you
things
you
didn't
know
but
feel
you
should
have
known...the
writing
is
deft
and
striking,
without
being
pretentious'
Sunday
Herald,
8/2/04
Sunday
Herald
'With
this
funny,
tender,
intelligent
fourth
novel
Andrea
Levy
looks
set
to
become
as
commercially
popular
as
she
is
critically
acclaimed'
Sainsbury's
magazine,
February
2004
Sainsbury's
magazine
'Never
less
than
finely
written,
delicately
and
often
comically
observed,
and
impressively
rich
in
detail
and
little
nuggets
of
stories'
Evening
Standard
'An
engrossing
read
-
slyly
funny,
passionately
angry
and
wholly
involving'
Daily
Mail
'An
impressive
break-through
novel'
Publishing
News,
23/1/04
Publishing
News
'It
is
a
work
of
great
imaginative
power
which
ranks
alongside
Sam
Selvon's
THE
LONELY
LONDONERS,
George
Lamming's
THE
EMIGRANTS
and
Caryl
Phillips'
THE
FINAL
PASSAGE
in
dealing
with
the
experience
of
migration'
Linton
Kwesi
Johnson
Linton
Kwesi
Johnson
'A
work
of
great
imaginative
power'
Linton
Kwesi
Johnson
'As
full
of
warmth
and
jokes
and
humanity
as
you
could
wish'
Time
Out
'What
makes
Levy's
writing
so
appealing
is
her
even-handedness.
All
her
characters
can
be
weak,
hopeless,
brave,
good,
bad
-
whatever
their
colour.
The
writing
is
rigorous
and
the
bittersweet
ending,
with
its
unexpected
twist,
touching...
People
can
retain
great
dignity,
however
small
their
island'
Independent
on
Sunday,
25/1/04
Independent
on
Sunday
'A
bevy
of
luminaries
have
garlanded
Andrea
Levy's
fourth
novel
with
advance
praise
-
and
it's
no
surprise.
Using
elements
of
her
own
family
background,
Levy
has
vividly
animated
London
in
the
immediate
aftermath
of
World
War
II...
She
weaves
a
wonderfully
detailed
and
vibrant
story'
Red
magazine,
February
2004
issue
Red
magazine,
February
2004
issue
'Gives
us
a
new
urgent
take
on
our
past'
Vogue
'A
terrific
book'
Alan
Plater
Alan
Plater
'Wonderful...seamless...a
magnificent
achievement'
Linda
Grant
Linda
Grant
'A
cracking
good
read...I
think
what
appealed
to
me
most
was
the
passion
and
anger
in
the
writing
all
the
way
through,
yet
it
was
always
leavened
with
a
particularly
wry
sort
of
humour
-
the
sort
that,
tho'
you
find
yourself
smiling,
you
at
the
same
time
realise
you
almost
shouldn't
be'
Margaret
Forster
Margaret
Forster
'I
enjoyed
SMALL
ISLAND
enormously
and
wish
it
every
success.
It
conjures
up
so
vividly
the
era
of
the
1940's
and
expresses
so
vividly
through
the
lives
of
its
four
protagonists
the
conflicts
and
racist
attitudes
that
existed
at
that
time.
A
wonderful
insight
into
a
little
understood
period'
Joan
Bakewell
Joan
Bakewell
'A
worthy
winner
of
the
2004
Orange
Prize
for
Fiction...Levy
does
not
set
out
to
preach,
and
her
light
touch,
wry
humour
and
down-to-earth,
almost
gossipy
tone
make
this
novel
as
readable
as
it
is
challenging'
The
Sunday
Times,
19/9/04
The
Sunday
Times
'Small
Island
is
a
brilliant
picture
of
the
dented
dreams
of
Jamaicans
in
post-war
Britain'
Financial
Times,
Dec
04
Financial
Times
'Soon
you
will
be
enchanted.
It
is
good
enough
to
compete
against
anything
written
this
year'
Jasper
Gerard,
News
Review,
Sunday
Times
13/6/04
Jasper
Gerard,
News
Review,
Sunday
Times
'Small
Island
is
an
astonishing
tour
de
force
by
Andrea
Levy.
Juggling
four
voices,
she
illuminates
a
little
known
aspect
of
recent
British
history
with
wit
and
wisdom.
A
compassionate
account
of
the
problems
of
post
war
immigration,
it
cannot
fail
to
have
a
strong
modern
resonance'
Sandi
Toksvig,
Orange
Prize
judge,
8/6/04
Sandi
Toksvig,
Orange
Prize
judge
'Levy
offers
her
readers
rich
satisfaction
from
both
story
and
character'
The
Times,
10/7/04
The
Times
'This
won
the
Orange
prize
for
its
insight,
compassion,
wealth
of
historical
details
and
its
cracking
plot'
Independent
on
Sunday,
11/7/04
Independent
on
Sunday
'Levy's
trinity
of
voices
gently
refutes
the
idea
that
the
story
of
West
Indian
immigration
has
anything
to
do
with
(free)
teeth
or
glasses'
Guardian,
9/10/04
Guardian
'The
small
islands
of
Andrea
Levy's
title
are
not
Britain,
Jamaica
or
the
outlying
Caribbean
islands
-
they
are
the
blinkered
mindsets
of
both
the
hopelessly
optimistic
West
Indians
and
the
reflexively
racist
Britons
who
have
to
learn
to
live
together
both
during
and
after
the
war.
But
Levy's
concern
is
not
to
browbeat
but
to
educate
and
entertain.
This
deserving
winner
of
the
Orange
Prize
never
loses
its
wit,
energy
or
power'
Observer,
30/10/04
Observer
'A
touching,
eloquently
written
story...Andrea
Levy
expertly
captures
the
turbulence
of
a
time
of
momentous
change'
Sunday
Telegraph,
17/10/04
Sunday
Telegraph
'It's
more
than
a
novel,
it's
a
recreation
of
a
largely
unexplored
episode
of
our
history...the
narrative
voices
seem
so
authentic
that
it
is
easy
to
become
lost
in
their
sometimes
dark,
sometimes
joyous
worlds'
Daily
Express,
15/10/04
Daily
Express
'Levy
handles
themes
of
empire,
prejudice,
war
and
love
with
a
lightness
of
touch
and
an
uplifting
generosity
of
spirit'
Age,
Melbourne
Age,
Melbourne
'Levy
tactfully
delves
into
her
family
history
while
tackling
the
heavy
issues
of
prejudice,
assimilation
and
love
in
the
ordinary
lives
of
Jamaican
migrants'
MX,
Melbourne,
31/5/04
MX,
Melbourne
'Levy's
book
brings
freshness
and
humour
as
well
as
indignation
and
pity
to
its
survey
of
social
and
racial
prejudice
half
a
century
ago'
The
Sunday
Times,
28/11/04
The
Sunday
Times
'A
spellbinding
story...
An
enthralling
tour
de
force
that
animates
a
chapter
in
the
history
of
empire'
Kirkus
Reviews
Kirkus
Reviews
'Levy's
must-read
novel
seems
to
gain
stature
with
time'
Sunday
Express
magazine,
12/6/05
Sunday
Express
magazine
'What
a
deserved
winner
she
is.
It
was
a
very
good
shortlist
but
in
my
opinion
Small
Island
stood
out
at
the
longlist
stage
-
for
its
writing,
its
wit
and
the
impressively
light
touch
she
brought
to
the
subject'
Minette
Walters,
15/6/04
Minette
Walters
'Small
Island
operates
on
a
larger
canvas
than
Levy's
previous
novels.
It's
neither
splashy
nor
experimental,
but
for
thoughtfulness
&
wry
humour
cannot
be
faulted'
Telegraph
21/2/04
Telegraph
'Small
Island
is
a
great
read,
delivering
the
sort
of
pleasure
which
has
been
the
traditional
stock-in-trade
of
a
long
line
of
English
novelists.
It's
honest,
skilful,
thoughtful
and
important.
This
is
Andrea
Levy's
big
book'
Guardian
14/2/04
Guardian
'Andrea
Levy
gives
us
a
new
urgent
take
on
our
past'
Vogue
13/2/04
Vogue
'[A]
moving,
funny,
honest
novel'
Elle
13/2/04
Elle
'Every
scene
is
rich
in
implication,
entrancing
and
disturbing
at
the
same
time;
the
literary
equivalent
of
a
switch-back
ride'
The
Sunday
Times,
29/2/04
The
Sunday
Times
'Here
is
the
book
I
have
been
waiting
for...
an
ample,
sprawling
story
of
nearly
450
pages,
mirroring
an
expansive
inner
and
outer
landscape,
spanning
two
islands
and
three
continents,
and
incorporating
a
hybrid
cast
of
humanly
idiosyncratic
characters;
and
above
all,
a
book
in
which
the
author,
Andrea
Levy,
never
once
forgets
she
is
telling
a
story,
delighting
us,
improbably,
in
this
nasty
tale
of
race,
with
the
effervescent
style
of
Dickens'
Globe
&
Mail,
Toronto,
12/6/04
Globe
&
Mail,
Toronto
'Very
ambitious
and
beautifully
written...
in
addition
[it's]
funny
and
fiercely
satirical'
Richard
Eyre
in
the
Guardian,
16/6/05
Guardian
'Small
Island
is
a
slyly
humorous,
rich
feast
of
a
book'
Mail
on
Sunday,
17/10/04
Mail
on
Sunday
'A
beautifully
crafted,
compassionate
novel,
well
worth
reading'
Bulletin
with
Newsweek,
4/5/04
Bulletin
with
Newsweek,
Australia
'[Hortense]
has
guts
and
this
portrait
of
her
world
is
created
with
strong
feeling
that
is
subtly,
and
brilliantly,
rendered'
Sydney
Morning
Herald,
1/5/04
Sydney
Morning
Herald
'Funny,
poignant
and
profoundly
moving...Small
Island
deals
with
the
weighty
themes
of
empire,
prejudice,
love
and
war
with
such
humour
and
compassion
that
Levy
has
been
praised
for
her
even-handedness
by
some,
condemned
for
it
by
others'
West
Australian,
1/5/04
West
Australian
'Levy's
story
is
a
triumph
in
perspective...a
triumph
of
poise,
organisation
and
deep,
deep
character
-
the
sort
of
work
that
can
only
be
achieved
by
an
experienced
novelist'
Age,
Melbourne
17/4/04
Age,
Melbourne
'Everything
about
the
plot,
characters
and
clever
end
twist
of
SMALL
ISLAND
[is]
beautifully
drawn...
This
is
an
epic
book
that
brings
the
patois
of
Jamaicans
alive,
fills
the
world
of
war-torn
London
with
amazing
detail
and
is
a
great
history
lesson
about
the
era
when
England
changed
forever
as
migrants
braved
bitter
racism
to
flood
her
shores'
Herald
Sun
(Melbourne),
10/4/04
Herald
Sun
(Melbourne)