"Small Island" book discussion

[Gen]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

I don't get the significance, point evah of Bernard either..if all I'd known about Bernard..was that he went off to war and was MIA (like Michael was assumed to be)..it wouldn't have drastically changed the story either way..just a waste of pages writing about him..

would have liked to see the relationship blossom between mucky foot and gilbert...

mi haffi guh back guh read all dem pages now

[evanovitch]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: justblue</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="color: #3333FF">I disagree that Bernard's saga was unnecessary. His story needed to be told, also, not to indicate change, but because he couldn't just burst on the scene at the end of the book and say and do the things he did without some indication as to his mental process.

Everything in his story indicated that he felt he was better than most around him, not just the Indian population or the other people of color. Even his teammates, or whatever they were. It was necessary to go through his motions, too, I think. Maybe a little less detail, but I didn't feel that it took away from things.

As for Hortense, it was the sense that she was only what she was brought up to be. And her realization that she may have felt that she was better than others, but in white England's eyes, she was just another foreign negro.

As I said, I felt that this was more about class than anything, even race. Hortense and everyone else. The cockneys and the other people on the block. The high rent woman that chased after Queenie when she moved the family in. </span> </div></div>

not to mention, he echoes the inadequacy of the reasons to be prejudice....his only claim to superiority is his skintone,yet the packaging is still so inadequate wen compared to the men he seeks to be superior to...

i agree wid u ....the expectation of higher living, reasoning, behaviour on the part of the Britishers and the obvious letdown in said expectations is more glaring wen u compare their behaviours to that of the new immigrants who they think they r superior to....who comes out looking more of the human...even the act of the accepting the baby out of compassion etc , no questions asked, shows up the lack of same in the behaviour of the Britishers....

the book is a piece of literary work, not a novel in the mass paperbook sense

[MrsBlue]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<span style="color: #3333FF">How do you feel about the idea that the women symbolize the countries and the men the populations? </span>

[CeaBee]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

I'm not sure what u mean by that just blue...please expand and expound in 50 words or less [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

[evanovitch]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: justblue</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="color: #3333FF">How do you feel about the idea that the women symbolize the countries and the men the populations? </span> </div></div>

wat about the women the population, since one on one they will show sympathy , if not empathy, as exhibited by Queenie, while the men show the coldness, hypocrisy , that is the country's foreign policy....

great imagery though....brilliant...and i can see ur view too as well as mine re country vs population...brilliant imagery

[Blackstar*]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: justblue</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="color: #3333FF">And also, that this book is more about England than anything to do with Jamaica.</span> </div></div>Yes! The "Small Island" of the title is definitely Britain and the book really deals with the black British experience.

[MrsBlue]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<span style="color: #3333FF"> [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

I saw Queenie as initially welcoming, but not so much later on. She was friendly until the living arrangements were more intimate, at least for Gilbert. This idea came to me before the arrival of Michael in Queenie's life. The first impression of Gilbert in Queenie's home was that their relationship was on a more intimate level. Once the relationship between Queenie and Michael was revealed, it seemed that Queenie had taken not one but two men from Hortense. I likened it to how England seduces the population of Jamaica.

I think that the analogy fails in the case of Hortense because she is not an effective characterization of a Jamaican woman. However, if Jamaica is seen as being somewhat pretentious and believing herself above others in the eyes of the author, then the analogy fits.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't RWI. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70392-silly.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

ETA: evanovitch, I can see the women being the population, too. But we tend to speak of coutries as female, motherland, mother country, etc, so I guess that's why I thought of it that way.</span>

[evanovitch]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

Hortense represents that section of Jamaica who felt their relief was to be found in England...remember that all who migrate from Jamaica,do not do it for the same reason or have the same expectations that Hortense had..an we must NEVA forget the time period the book is set in...

[MrsBlue]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BlackStar</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: justblue</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="color: #3333FF">And also, that this book is more about England than anything to do with Jamaica.</span> </div></div>Yes! The "Small Island" of the title is definitely Britain and the book really deals with the black British experience. </div></div> <span style="color: #3333FF">I thought that the "Small Island" was Jamaica, but that it was only in comparison to England that there was realization that Jamaica was such.

I thought it was interesting because we'd just a couple of weeks ago had a conversation about other Caribbean islands being called "small island" compared to Jamaica and here Jamaica was being considered a small island.

There was someplace in the book that talked about England being an island, though. Or on an island. </span>

[MrsBlue]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hortense represents that section of Jamaica who felt their relief was to be found in England...remember that all who migrate from Jamaica,do not do it for the same reason or have the same expectations that Hortense had..an we must NEVA forget the time period the book is set in... </div></div> <span style="color: #3333FF">Yes, the time period had me down. I kept wanting Gilbert or Hortense or even one of the cockneys to say, "Who the hell are you talking to like that? Who do you think you are?" [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img] </span>

[Nunya]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

I sense that the discussion is winding down. So lets rate the book out of five stars.

I give it 3.

[CeaBee]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

mi give it a <s>2.5 </s> ...ok 3 i guess

[seemiyah]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

I enjoyed the book I give it 3.5 stars.

[evanovitch]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

has anyone read island wings by cecil foster..would be curious to see how the discussion on that goes compared to this one on Small Island...

in the years following WWII, England became a land of opportunity for people who lived in the Caribbean. Such was the case for Cecil Foster's mother and father, who left three children behind in the Barbados to pursue careers dreams overseas.

Island Wing is the story of an experience shared by many of Cecil's generation, who grew up as 'barrel children' waiting for packages of foodstuffs, toys, clothing-and money-sent by their parents from far away

[seemiyah]

Re: "Small Island" book discussion

No but I read his book "No Man in the House" and LOVED it!! I will have to check out that one. No Man in the house had a similar theme too.