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karenangela_1's review against another edition
4.0
I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.
An exploration of the Windrush generation featuring David Lammy, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Sharmaine Lovegrove, along with many others.
For the Windrush generation and those who came before, Britain was ‘the Mother Country’, they made the long journey across the sea to a country thousands of miles from home where they expected to find a place where they would be welcomed, a place where you could build a new life, where you could be anybody. What they instead found was a country that objected to them being here simply because of the colour of their skin, it didn’t matter if you actually came to work or you were actually a chancer all that they saw was that you weren’t white and that was all that counted, it would be nice if in the intervening years things had changed but between the despicable attempts to try and deport the surviving members of the Windrush generation, the demonization of all Muslims because of the actions of a few, and the rise of far right movements across the world it is clear that we haven’t learnt a damned thing.
If you only read one story from this book then it has to be the one about Joy Gardner, a woman whose only crime was to have over stayed her visa, and being black. Given the level of restraint used against Joy you would think that she was a serial killer.
An exploration of the Windrush generation featuring David Lammy, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Sharmaine Lovegrove, along with many others.
For the Windrush generation and those who came before, Britain was ‘the Mother Country’, they made the long journey across the sea to a country thousands of miles from home where they expected to find a place where they would be welcomed, a place where you could build a new life, where you could be anybody. What they instead found was a country that objected to them being here simply because of the colour of their skin, it didn’t matter if you actually came to work or you were actually a chancer all that they saw was that you weren’t white and that was all that counted, it would be nice if in the intervening years things had changed but between the despicable attempts to try and deport the surviving members of the Windrush generation, the demonization of all Muslims because of the actions of a few, and the rise of far right movements across the world it is clear that we haven’t learnt a damned thing.
If you only read one story from this book then it has to be the one about Joy Gardner, a woman whose only crime was to have over stayed her visa, and being black. Given the level of restraint used against Joy you would think that she was a serial killer.
nrldyer's review against another edition
5.0
These stories are a must read, not just for anyone interested in the Windrush generation, but for anyone interested in British history. Windrush immigrants, their children and grandchildren provide illuminating accounts of what it meant to come to Britain, experience the harsh life and everyday racisms and grow up in a country that has managed to make them feel unwelcome, whilst also being their home, where they have lived, loved, worked (extremely hard) and built communities, buildings, festivals, arts, families and more. Our country would be unrecognisable (and far poorer) without them.
raehink's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dunneniamh's review against another edition
4.0
This is an evocative, emotional and brilliantly written collection of interviews and essays with children of the Windrush Generation, a group of Caribbean immigrants who were brought to the UK in the post-war years to help rebuild the fractured economy and the devastated country. They provided integral support to many of Britain's institutions- particularly the NHS and manufacturing industries- yet found themselves on the receiving end of racism, discrimination in housing, education and career prospects, government treatment and access to UK citizenship, and ultimately the culminating Windrush scandal. Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff writes honestly and with great care, letting his subjects speak directly for themselves and invite the reader into their individual lives. In some cases, you are talking directly with those who immigrated to the country, whereas with others you are reading about first and second generations trying to blend their own sense of Britishness with the diaspora of their heritage. It's well structured and immensely readable, without pushing politics too much. Rather, it puts the individuals right at the forefront and makes for a richly cultural, wonderfully written and often, heartbreakingly sad, memoir of many.
repeatbeatpoet's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
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