Customer Reviews
Fruit of the Lemon - By: AJGR de GROOME, 09 Mar 2010 
Very disappointing. The first half of the book (set in London) was extremely tedious & the humour very contrived. The second part, set in Jamaica slightly more interesting & colourful, but mostly a catalogue of family relationships (at least thank goodness for the family trees scattered throughout as you needed them to keep track of the characters, as there were so many). Not a patch on 'Smalll Island' or 'The Long Song'. Andrea Levy comes through as a very inexperienced author in this work, but she DOES improve significantly, so stick with her later publications.
Opinions of Bea - By: Gwyn M. Jones, 23 Dec 2009 
Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy was a close cousin of her 'Smalll Island' best seller. The style & language engaged the reader very well & some of the description of the culture were very well set out. The two halves of the book - first in U.K the second in Jamaica did not fail to show the extremes of behaviour & the reader could pick up the history of the family. The second half was a little repetative of language & behaviour but I enjoyed reading.
Ok, but not as good as small island - By: Sl Hind, 04 Sep 2009 
This story was interesting but it kind of just fizzled out at the end. I was hoping for more as I reallly enjoyed 'Smalll Island'.
Vivid, feisty and warm. - By: Script Angel, 03 Jul 2009 This is a feisty yet beautifully subtle story of a woman's search for her identity. Its themes are universal & speak to anyone who has ever felt that they don't belong. The incidents which lead to Faith's identity crisis are subtlety & truthfully written.
All of the characters in the novel are vividly written with integrity, warmth & humour. Faith is a particularly engaging protagonist & provides the strength of character needed to hold our attention throughout. Her hunger for knowledge is fully imparted to the reader & she takes us with her on her journey of discovery.
An enjoyable read with some memorable moments. Thought-provoking without preaching.
Not what I had hoped for - By: Slartibartfast, 05 Jul 2008 I loved Smalll Island & was keen to read more of AL's work. It started off great, the humour, the understated points she made about family, racism, Britain..it was an interesting story, & I stayed interested up until she got to the intersections about individual members of Faith's family. And those I found increasingly dull. It'd be like me telling someone about my life & then banging on about great aunt Fanny & how she worked in a shop, or every dream I'd ever had, or why great uncle Bill had done whatever. Its not that fascinating to me, & it wouldn't be wherever she'd gone. I wanted to hear more about Faith, not random relatives, however useful they may be in illustrating cultural differences/yeah we're alll racist. In fact I'd have liked to know where Carl was going. Sorry to those who loved it, I am creaking towards the end & am not sure I'm going to make it.
