Small Island - Couverture souple

Levy, Andrea

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0312424671 ISBN 13 : 9780312424671

Editeur : Picador USA, 2005

Synopsis

Book by Andrea Levy

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

'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

'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)

'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

'Small Island is a brilliant picture of the dented dreams of Jamaicans in post-war Britain' Financial Times, Dec 04 (Financial Times)

'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)

'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)

'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)

'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)

'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...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)

'It's an engrossing read - slyly funny, passionately angry and wholly involving' Daily Mail, 6 February 2004 (Daily Mail)

'This splendid, well-told novel follows four intertwined lives that collide in post-war London and culminate in the birth of multicultural England... Levy's novel will find happy readers among fans of Michael Ondaatje and Kazuo Ishiguro -- or anyone who enjoys a good, long read. It's all here: exceptional dialogue, clever narrative, and a rich story that tells us something new about our shared history' Joel Turnipseed, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

'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))

'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)

'[A] perfectly crafted tale of crossed lives and oceans...From Kingston to London to Calcutta, Levy deftly directs her story with twin reins of violence and humor...Happily, the hype is warranted-- SMALL ISLAND is a triumph' -San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco Chronicle)

'Andrea Levy's captivating fourth novel sweeps into a US edition with much-deserved literary fanfare...This deceptively simple plot poises the characters over a yawning abyss of colonialism, racism, war and the everyday pain that people inflict on one another...All [the characters] are achingly human' --Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)

'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)

'[A] moving, funny, honest novel' Elle 13/2/04 (Elle)

'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)

'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)

'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)

'A terrific book' Alan Plater (Alan Plater)

'Small Island is a slyly humorous, rich feast of a book' Mail on Sunday, 17/10/04 (Mail on Sunday)

'Very ambitious and beautifully written... in addition [it's] funny and fiercely satirical' Richard Eyre in the Guardian, 16/6/05 (Guardian)

'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)

'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)

'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)

'Wonderful...seamless...a magnificent achievement' Linda Grant (Linda Grant)

'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)

'A brilliantly deft and humane account of two ordinary couples in post-war London' Evening Standard, 3 February 2004 (Evening Standard)

'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)

'An impressive break-through novel' Publishing News, 23/1/04 (Publishing News)

'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)

'An involving saga about the changing face of Britain' Mirror, 6 February 2004 (Mirror)

'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)

'A spellbinding story... An enthralling tour de force that animates a chapter in the history of empire' Kirkus Reviews, 15/2/05 (Kirkus Reviews)

'Levy's novel of two couples--one black, one white--contending with the racism and bleakness of postwar England...manages to deal comically, often hilariously, with some seriously grim issues'
--Newsweek

(Newsweek)

'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)

'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'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)

'Levy's must-read novel seems to gain stature with time' Sunday Express magazine, 12/6/05 (Sunday Express magazine)

'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)

'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 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's greatest achievement in SMALL ISLAND is to convey how English racism was all the more heartbreaking for its colonial victims because it involved the crushing of their ideals... Small Island is too thoughtful a novel to promise its characters a happy ending, but it is generous enough to offer them hope'
--The New York Times Book Review

(The New York Times Book Review)

'Andrea Levy's beautifully wrought novel is a window into 1948 England...Levy demarcates class lines effortlessly--sparing postwar England nothing of its racism--as she weaves a bristling, funny, angry tale of love and sacrifice' Entertainment Weekly (Entertainment Weekly)

'Don't be deceived by the modest size of Andrea Levy's SMALL ISLAND when you see it on bookstore shelves... The truth is it's a sizable epic spanning three hemispheres and several decades -- a revealing and accomplished novel...There are some extraordinary descriptions of wartime London here...Levy deftly and generously captures the moment when the arrival of immigrants from far-flung parts of the Empire was shockingly fresh to all involved' -- Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times (Seattle Times)

'An endearing tapestry... Levy's character Gilbert is unstoppable. It seems likely that he wrestled the pen right out of Levy's hand. Sometimes an author needs to know to step aside while the inspiration rolls. Gilbert rules' --Dayton Daily News (Dayton Daily News)

'Alluring...Gilbert's earthiness offers a delicious counterpoint to Hortense's prideful ambition [in a] spellbinding story [with] a surprising, heart-rending climax...An enthralling tour de force that animates a chapter in the history of empire' --Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Reviews)

'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 offers her readers rich satisfaction from both story and character' The Times, 10/7/04 (The Times)

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as many other awards, Andrea Levy's SMALL ISLAND is a delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel of empire, prejudice, war and love. It has now been adapted into a major BBC TV drama.

It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was...

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Picador USA
• Date d'édition: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0312424671
• ISBN 13: 9780312424671
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 439