I have been relishing this book for a few weeks now - it's a good, thick, well written one so although the story is compelling I didn't want to devour it too quickly. T chose it and gave it to me for my birthday. I love when he chooses books for me because they are almost always ones I would never have picked up myself but end up really enjoying them.
Small Island is by Andrea Levy, and is set just after the Second World War in England. It is narrated by different characters, each giving their own viewpoints in a series of events that both bring them together and also tear them apart. They also reflect back on their experiences during the war, which explain how they ended up knowing one another, and the complex relationships that have developed.
It is 1948, and Queenie Bligh takes in Jamaican lodgers. Her neighbours disapprove, but her husband Bernard is not back from the war, and she is alone. Gilbert Joseph, having fought in the RAF had high expectations of life as a civilian, as does his wife Hortense, who comes over from Jamaica to join him. However the reality is a long way from their dreams and they struggle to build a life together.
I found this book fascinating as it opened my eyes to the racism experienced by soldiers who had fought with the British throughout the war, and yet were looked upon with suspicion after it. It a long way removed from the society we live in now, where turning someone down for a job because of the colour of their skin would be a shocking and illegal action - yet Gilbert faces this problem repeatedly, and is expected to not only accept it but to understand it.
Small Island is funny, sad, well written and has real depth to its plot and themes. The characters are well developed, and because they each narrate the story, you are able to understand their actions and feelings, and empathise with them even when you may not agree with them. The prizes it has won (Whitbread Book of the Year, and Orange Prize for Fiction) are well deserved and I would not hesitate to recommend it. However, I do wonder if it would be as interesting to someone who is not either British or Jamaican - the story centres so much on the two countries that I would be interested to know if a reader from the US (for example) would enjoy it as much? Let me know if you have read it - I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I have a lot of reading time these days. With an hour long train ride each way between work and home I get through books quicker than ever. This one is a gem.
Brief overview: The Cellist of Sarajevo
is set over a period of about a month, in Sarajevo, during the Bosnian civil war. A bakery is bombed and twenty two people queueing for bread are killed. The cellist of the title happens to be watching from his window as this happens and decides to play Albinoni's 'Adagio' in memory of victims - in spot they were killed every day for twenty two days. Also in the city are three other characters, all trapped by the siege in their own ways and all facing their own challenges.
The story is told from the point of view of each of these three people. We see their struggles to not only survive the war but also to save a part of who they were before it.
My thoughts: Excellent. I felt the tension and indecision as the characters had to choose their moment to cross an alley where a sniper may or may not shoot at them. When they were encouraged and uplifted for a brief time by the cellist's performance I felt their relief. And when they wavered between survival and doing "the right thing" in a situation where right and wrong are so difficult to distinguish, I wondered what I would do.
One thing that struck me was the fragility of life in peace time. Some of the characters thought back on when the siege was imminent - they'd dismissed it. Surely it wouldn't come to that. Surely the world would intervene. And yet, here they were risking their lives to buy food at vastly inflated prices, walking through dangerous territory to collect water - living in a war zone.
I love a book that challenges me. The writing is good, but not so complex it gave me a headache to read. And the Bosnian conflict is not one you find often in literature so it was good to learn more about it.
Have you read it? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Also: more book reviews.
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