Customer Reviews
Disappointing - By: Caro, 03 Apr 2010 
After Smalll Island & Every Light in the House Burnin', I looked forward to reading this one. It was disappointing. Contrived, no longer informative, silly, not amusing; & the language - "At the end Mick & me stood up ....." and, in close proximity, "the poet & me were the only black people ...." This kind of bad grammar would have been acceptable as part of a dialog, but it's not, it's part of the narrative & the narrator is supposed to be educated; & where is the publisher's editor? For me it spoils the book, sorry. It doesn't say much for the Orange Prize for Fiction.
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.
