Small Island by Andrea Levy

Published 2005 · 448 pages · 150,710 words · about 16 hours at an average pace · Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

How hard is Small Island to read?

Small Island scores 69 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 55 out of 100
Andrea Levy employs accessible contemporary English, but intersperses it with period-specific terms and significant passages of Jamaican Patois. While context often clarifies the Patois (e.g., 'sprigadee,' 'cha,' 'him'), its distinct linguistic features and the occasional archaic or specialized word require a slightly elevated vocabulary engagement compared to standard accessible fiction.
Sentence structure: 60 out of 100
The novel features varied narrative voices, with Hortense's sections exhibiting more formal, structured sentences and subordination, while Gilbert's Patois-inflected narration often uses non-standard grammar and rhythms. This stylistic diversity, along with moderate sentence lengths and descriptive clauses, demands attentive reading to navigate the distinct flows and grammatical patterns, placing it above works like 'The Great Gatsby' in complexity.
Abstraction: 68 out of 100
"Small Island" is fundamentally a concrete narrative, yet it consistently uses character experiences to explore profound abstract themes such as identity, colonialism, racial prejudice, and the myth of the 'Mother Country.' The narrative delves into the psychological and social implications of these concepts, moving beyond simple plot to offer deep commentary on human nature and societal structures, similar to '2666' in its probing of meaning.
Information density: 70 out of 100
The novel presents a high information density through its shifting multi-perspective narration, rich historical backdrop (WWII, post-war migration, Jim Crow), and intricate cultural details. Readers must actively process distinct character voices, decode Patois, and absorb layered social and emotional information, requiring sustained attention to fully grasp the narrative's depth and nuances, comparable to the demands of '2666' or 'War and Peace' on a more intimate scale.
Narrative indirection: 70 out of 100
The narrative relies heavily on readers inferring meaning from the characters' subjective experiences, cultural misunderstandings, and unspoken tensions. Hortense's formal language often masks her true feelings, while Gilbert's bravado is frequently undercut by his internal thoughts, requiring the reader to interpret the gap between appearance and reality. This constant interplay of conflicting subjective realities places it higher than 'Beloved' (50) but not as extreme as 'Lolita' (72) with its singular, deeply unreliable narrator.
Symbolic density: 70 out of 100
The novel employs significant recurring symbols and motifs, such as the 'blanket of gold' representing the idealized England versus its harsh reality, and Hortense's 'white gloves' signifying her aspirations for refinement and dignity amidst squalor. The 'small island' itself functions as a complex symbol of both origin and limitation. These elements consistently carry meaning beyond their literal presence, enriching the thematic exploration of identity, belonging, and disillusionment, placing it near 'The Great Gatsby' (75) in its use of significant, grounded symbols.
Ironic distance: 75 out of 100
A strong sense of ironic distance pervades the narrative, particularly through the clash between characters' expectations and reality, and the author's implicit critique of colonial attitudes and racial prejudice. Hortense's naive pronouncements about 'class' and 'breeding' are consistently undermined by her experiences, while Gilbert's grand plans often lead to comical or disheartening outcomes. The casual racism encountered by the Jamaican characters is presented with a sharp, often bitter, irony, comparable to the nuanced critique found in 'Lolita' (75).
Resolution withholding: 70 out of 100
The narrative frequently withholds clear-cut resolutions, leaving significant character fates and thematic implications open-ended. The excerpt concludes with Arthur Bligh's death and Gilbert's poignant question, 'which war?', highlighting the unresolved nature of racial conflict and the broader impact of historical events. The long-term consequences of Michael's disappearance and the future of Hortense and Gilbert's transactional marriage remain ambiguous, resisting easy closure beyond the immediate plot points, placing it higher than 'The Great Gatsby' (60) but not as extreme as '2666' (92).
Structural complexity: 75 out of 100
The novel employs a multi-perspectival structure, alternating between the first-person narratives of Queenie, Hortense, and Gilbert, often revisiting the same events from different viewpoints. This is further complicated by extensive flashbacks within each character's story, creating a non-linear timeline that requires the reader to actively piece together the overarching narrative and character motivations. The distinct voices and cultural patois of each narrator also contribute to this complexity, making it more intricate than 'Midnight's Children' (68) and approaching 'Pedro Paramo' (80).

How Small Island is regarded

Small Island holds a literary regard score of 64 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Prizes

Where Small Island sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (277 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Small Island scores 68 out of 100. A second mythos, comedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.3. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
‘Just this? Just this? You bring me all this way for just this?’
Symbol: Formal
her white glove is black
Mythos: Irony & Satire iv (irony iv)
Arthur Bligh had become another casualty of war – but come, tell me, someone . . . which war?
Genre: Novel + Confession
There are some words once spoken split the world in two.

Where the story of Small Island takes place

  • Postwar London, 1948, the main setting
  • British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, 1924
  • Jamaica: Hortense and Gilbert's childhoods, college and marriage, c.1925-1948 (1925 to 1947)
  • Wartime London and the Blitz: Queenie, Bernard and Arthur at Earls Court, 1939-1945 (1939 to 1945)
  • Gilbert's RAF service: Virginia, Filey, Lincolnshire, 1943-1945 (1943 to 1945)
  • Bernard in India and Burma, through the Calcutta riots, 1943-1946 (1943 to 1946)
  • Postwar London: Earls Court and Finsbury Park, 1948-1949 (1948 to 1949)

5 things that are true of Small Island, with the passage for each

  1. When Hortense arrives at Nevern Street, Queenie jokes that her trunk is the size of the Isle of Wight.

    ‘It’s the size of the Isle of Wight. How did you get it here?’

  2. The single room Gilbert has found for his wife is only three or four steps across.

    Three steps would take me to one side of this room. Four steps could take me to another.

  3. A British cinema usherette orders Gilbert, an RAF airman, to sit at the back with the black GIs.

    ‘You have to go up the back,’ this woman said

  4. An American Military Police bullet kills Arthur Bligh in the jaw during a riot after a segregated cinema evening.

    He had been shot in the jaw, his head burst an obscene inside-out by the bullet.

  5. Queenie hides £300 in knitted wool inside the baby's nappy for Hortense and Gilbert to find.

    Three hundred pounds in dirty notes.

Scenes in Small Island that Frye would name

70 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, untitled
‘Your baby is black,’ I said to her. Hortense recognises the newborn's colour and thus the whole secret of Queenie's affair and the husband's cuckoldry.
Sparagmos, untitled
My foot was being cradled by a severed arm that merely ended in a bloodsoaked fraying. The aftermath of the V-bomb blast and its dismembered bodies.
Anagnorisis, untitled
For before me I suddenly saw quite the most wonderful woman. Gilbert sees Hortense anew when she accepts the run-down house; the pivot of the marriage.
Anagnorisis, untitled
I realised that Gilbert Joseph, my husband, was a man of class, a man of character, a man of intelligence. Hortense recognises Gilbert's worth, echoing her phrase for her father.
Point of epiphany, untitled
We went up and up into the heavens until people were just dots below us. Queenie on the Wembley scenic railway with the whole Empire at her feet.
Sparagmos, untitled
His spine twisted and broken in so many places it bent him backwards. Mr Ryder's body torn by the hurricane, the book's first dismemberment.

Books that share these scenes with Small Island

About the author

Andrea Levy