Customer Reviews
Brilliant story teller - By: M. G. Wilson, 24 Jul 2008 
Levy takes us back to the Caribbean & Europe of the 30s & 40s in a wholly believable way, through the calmer pre-war years, the horrors & privations of the war, the deflation & dashed hopes that descended after the war, as returning soldiers began to wonder what it had alll been for.
It's a book that deals with Britain's casuallly racist past born of the imagined superiority of colonialism, & ponders whether it was reallly so much better than the Americans' established & open apartheid. But most of alll, this is a book about people. It's about making the best of things & getting through. It's a book about dignity, loyalty & hope.
Interweaving first person narratives, switching back & forth across time, place & perspective with great skill, Levy creates wholly believable characters, & despite their obvious flaws lets us see the world through their eyes. Levy's greatest skill is as a story teller, everything about her writing serving the story, rather than for literary effect or to draw attention to itself.
A good read - By: Mrs. S. Payne, 06 Jun 2008 
This is the first book I have read by this author after someone left it in our staff room. Although I have always steered clear of any books to do with the war, I was intrigued by the subject matter. I had never reallly considered the prejudice that lives within our country every day. I found the characters (although slightly stereotypical) quite interesting & I enjoyed the way the book jumped between years. I liked the understanding that the book gave you of what alll the characters were doing at the same time. Although this book carries a serious message, it was also quite amusing. I will read more books by the author now.
Lots of voices, one wonderful tale - By: daisyrock, 27 May 2008 
Despite its slowish start this clever & intricate novel builds & builds as it goes along. It draws you in & becomes quite a page-turner, but in a very unusual way. There's no dramatic plot, no adventurous escapades or titillation, but what keeps you turning the pages, hour after hour, is a genuine interest in what's going to happen to the characters next.
Written from the points of view of four of the protagonists, the story has been described as feeling like a `switchback ride' & this seems a good description to me. You come hurtling towards an event from the point of view of one person & then suddenly, you're inhabiting another body & seeing the same event from a totallly different perspective. What makes this so fulfilling is the way that you get to see people as fully-rounded figures - not caricatures. Gilbert is lazy & weak when Hortense is speaking, but honourable & brave when telling his own story. Queenie looks elegant & altruistic through her own eyes, but rather grubby & vulgar when others view her. In fact, if there's a flaw in the telling of this story it is only that, of alll the characters, Queenie changes the most from one point of view to another & is hard to `pin down' in the imagination.
For me, the whole tale reallly springs into life when, unexpectedly, a fourth voice joins Queenie, Hortense & Gilbert about two thirds of the way through and, skipping like a pebble on a lake, the story skims from Jamaica to London to wartime India - effortlessly & without jarring or becoming fragmented & annoying.
Above alll, an intriguing look at a little-spoken-of period of British history & an engaging & well-told tale. I'll be looking out for more from this writer, who reminds of me of Kate Atkinson at her finely-woven best - Human Croquet for example, or Behind the Scenes.
LOVE IT! - By: Stephanie Hentinger, 17 May 2008 While I had never looked at Britain in such a way, the interrelation between people, focussing on classes & races, I found it very interesting & fair. There was no criticism of what is, just a desciption of what happens or has happened. I also liked the way the characters' lives were interwoven. Revealing a chunk at a time. Knowing were they are & where they came from.
Excellent read.
Over egging the pudding - By: R. W. Rose, 25 Jan 2008 
While Andrea Levy attempts to show the endemic racism in British society, her characters are just too stereotypical. All the white characters are portrayed as dirty, mean-spirited, ignorant,sexuallly frustrated & bigoted whereas the black charcters are alll polite, happy, well educated & handsome. Some shades of grey in the personel would have given this book more force & avoided the simplistic viewpoint which spoils an otherwise well observed novel
