sarahreadsaverylot 's review for:

Small Island by Andrea Levy
3.0

Levy is extremely good at effortlessly transporting her reader to a time before civil rights. Her portrayal of an inherently, unashamedly, and unquestioningly racist society is stirring and chastening without ever being didactic. Ditto for her portrayal of the aspirations and disappointments of colonialism. Her understanding of the 'immigrant dream' is profoundly rooted, if not multifaceted.
That said, her characters and narration are borderline 'creative writing 101', and the overall impression of "racism is bad" comes across as slightly reductive. A solid 3 stars.