Winner, Orange Prize 2004
Winner, Whitbread Book of the Year 2004
Winner, Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2005
Andrea Levy wrote
Small Island
as a way to research her Jamaican parents' immigrant experience. The title,
Small Island
, is apt as it refers to both Jamaica and Britain. The book takes place both before and after World War II and is comprised of 4 main characters, with each character speaking in his or her own voice throughout the novel. Gilbert and Hortense are a couple from Jamaica who rent a room from Queenie in England. Queenie is renting rooms out because her husband Bernhard has not yet returned from the war.
The novel covers several issues: war, immigration, prejudice, and class. I love historical fiction because history is so much more interesting when it's portrayed in the personal experiences of the men and women who lived it. I've always wondered why England didn't have as much of a racial problem as the U.S., but in this book we discover that there were, in fact, prejudices that needed to be overcome. While Gilbert was so proud to be a part of Mother England as a Jamaican citizen, enough so that he went to war for her, his 'Mother' not only didn't appreciate his efforts, she didn't even recognize him as her child.
Each character in the book is so well defined. I got a kick out of Hortense and her 'white-gloved,' prudish ways. I appreciated that Queenie was ahead of her time in terms of racism, and even though Bernhard was quite the opposite, I felt sorry for him. Gilbert was perhaps the star of the novel as just an overall good-hearted person and patriot.
I always enjoy hearing authors speak about their novels, and if you've already read the book (because there are spoilers), you might want to hear her interviews here:
Andrea Levy interview for The Guardian Book Club:
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Andrea Levy interview with BBC's World Book Club:
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Not only did
Small Island
win the Orange Prize, it was also voted The Best of the Best out of all the winners by the Orange Prize committee chairs. While my favorite Orange winner so far is probably
Half of a Yellow Sun
, I do understand why
Small Island
has a strong following as well.
"Those Impressionists," she said, "they certainly knew about color. And about light and shade. Different kinds of shade: thinner shadows that let the light through, and heavier, denser ones. And it's as if Monet made this garden to show the world how he saw colors. How he saw their power, their potential, and their purpose. I think he wanted to show that the world is color. That life itself is color. That if we can just see the colors, really see them, life will be beautiful. And meaningful. Because beauty has a value of its own, that"s how I see it anyway."
- p. 37
"People who read books,' he went on, "tend to be dispensable. Extremely."
- p. 48
Useful or dispensable? A life of choice or no choice? And what if your own choices led you to have to give of your own body to the 'needed' until your 'final donation'?
I love dystopian fiction, and this book was no exception. It reminded me quite a bit of
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro, so if you enjoyed that book, you'll probably like this one as well. Reading books like this is always a reminder of the ways society could go horribly wrong, and sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if parts of the book actually do come to pass someday.
Dorrit, age 50, has reached an age where she is now considered dispensable because she has no children or parents to take care of and because she is a writer, which is considered an unessential occupation. The dispensables in The Unit are provided for in every way, a nice apartment, exercise facilities, and entertainment venues, etc. Except that they are monitored 24/7, and of course, they may never leave The Unit. Dorrit makes great friends here, and in some ways her life is better than when she was on the outside, but, obviously, her life and her body are not her own. She is essentially a commodity of the State.
The book raises some excellent ethical questions. Is a person's life itself precious and valuable, or is it only what they can contribute to society that is deemed worthwhile? My view will always be the former.
How obtained: I checked this book out from my local library.
2006 (Swedish), 2009 for the English translation; 268 pp.
It was fun to read both
The Hunger Games
and
Catching Fire
back-to-back for the read-a-thon. I'm glad I didn't have a long wait between the first two books of the trilogy, but obviously I'll have a longer wait for the third book to come out. The bad part is, the cliffhanger between 2 and 3 is quite a bit greater than from 1 to 2 in my opinion. I do look forward to reading the next book.
I liked this sequel about the same as the first book and both books received a rating of 4 stars. As I said in my post about
The Hunger Games
, though, I still feel there are some better written young adult dystopian books out there. However, this series, though a bit dark and violent, will definitely keep you going until the very last page.
2009, 391 pp.
Disclosure: I received this book from a promotional company (but after I had already purchased
The Hunger Games
).
I read this book for the read-a-thon, and I must say it was an excellent choice as it was quite a page turner. This book is taking the internet by storm, and while I did enjoy it, I didn't quite love the book.
I'm not going to go through the plot as quite a few people have read it, or if they haven't, there are plenty of sources to find that information. I will say that the plot was, in my view, the best part of the book. As I said above, it's quite a page turner, but although I didn't think the writing was bad per se, I didn't feel it was up to par with
The Giver
by Lois Lowry or
The House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer. The romance angle in the book irritated me a bit. I understand to a degree why it was necessary to the plot, but I thought it could have been a little more well done. Another minor irritation was the naming of the characters in the book. I suppose it was done on purpose, but I felt it distracted me from the story every time I came upon a strange name. I've never really noticed it in books like
Lord of the Rings
, etc., but in this book the names just seemed a bit silly.
Even with all that said, I did like the book quite a bit and plan on reading the entire trilogy. I hate to be too negative when I actually enjoyed it, but since it's received so many rave reviews, I just thought I'd explain why my rating was a little lower.
2008, 374 pp.
Disclosure: I purchased this book for my personal library.
I don't remember where I heard or read this story, so it might not be true, but I heard that when Joe Hill was trying to get this book published, he didn't tell anyone until he signed the contract that he was Stephen King's son. I was so impressed by that. He really could have used that to his advantage and instead he chose to try to make it on his own first. Kudos. [Edit: Okay, I did find a source of this from
USA Today
]
But can he compete with his famous father? In a word, yes. I used to love Stephen King when I was in high school and have read several of his books. I can't take much horror at all now, but I was really curious about Joe Hill's writing and the book seemed like it had an interesting premise. At an online auction site, a guy buys a suit that's supposedly haunted. The guy that buys it, Judas, is an older rock star who collects all sorts of crazy stuff so he's unable to resist the suit when he's prompted to do so by an email. Turns out, it's a bad decision.
This book was creepy. Very creepy. I listened to it on audio CD, and I could only listen to it in the daytime. It was perfect for the R.I.P. Challenge, but it was a little too gritty for my tastes -- otherwise I probably would have rated it 4 stars instead of 3.5. If you don't care about such things and like Stephen King's writing, there is almost no doubt you will like Joe Hill's as well.
2007, 384 pp.
[Disclosure: I obtained this book from my local library.]
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
tied (along with
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak) for my top book of 2007, so I was very anxious to read the latest book by Lisa See. It did not disappoint. In fact, I am now fairly certain I will want to read most, if not all, of Lisa See's works. Though I didn't feel it was as good as
Snowflower
, I still thought it was excellent and will definitely be reading the sequel.
The novel takes place mostly in the 1940's and 50's, and I just love the sense of history in See's novels. It was so fascinating to learn about the Chinese immigration process and the discrimination they endured, the dynamic of Chinatown, and the workings of the new Hollywood. Not to mention the intense relationship between Pearl and May, two sisters who are thrust into a completely new life with only each other as a reminder of the old. I also appreciate the female perspective on all their difficult situations.
Though I thought the ending of
Shanghai Girls
was a bit abrupt until I realized a sequel was in the works, I thoroughly enjoyed this story of sisters and the almost unbreakable bond they share. Reading a second novel by See made me even more interested in reading her non-fiction historical account,
On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese American Family
. I'm not a huge non-fiction fan, so that says a lot. I was surprised how much I enjoyed another Chinese family account when I read
Wild Swans
by Jung Chang, so I know it's fairly certain I will like
On Gold Mountain
as well. Plus, it was heavily wishlisted on both PBS and Bookmooch, and that's always a good sign.
Highly recommended.
2009, 336 pp.
[Disclosure: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher.]
Winner, Orange Prize 2004
It was fun to read both
The Hunger Games
and
Catching Fire
back-to-back for the read-a-thon. I'm glad I didn't have a long wait between the first two books of the trilogy, but obviously I'll have a longer wait for the third book to come out. The bad part is, the cliffhanger between 2 and 3 is quite a bit greater than from 1 to 2 in my opinion. I do look forward to reading the next book.
I read this book for the read-a-thon, and I must say it was an excellent choice as it was quite a page turner. This book is taking the internet by storm, and while I did enjoy it, I didn't quite love the book.
I don't remember where I heard or read this story, so it might not be true, but I heard that when Joe Hill was trying to get this book published, he didn't tell anyone until he signed the contract that he was Stephen King's son. I was so impressed by that. He really could have used that to his advantage and instead he chose to try to make it on his own first. Kudos. [Edit: Okay, I did find a source of this from
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
tied (along with
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak) for my top book of 2007, so I was very anxious to read the latest book by Lisa See. It did not disappoint. In fact, I am now fairly certain I will want to read most, if not all, of Lisa See's works. Though I didn't feel it was as good as
Snowflower
, I still thought it was excellent and will definitely be reading the sequel.
