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The Long Song: Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize

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A novel such as Small Island is a hard act to follow, but in her new book Levy has moved into top gear… She dares to write about her subject in an entertaining way without ever trivialising it and The Long Song reads with the sort of ebullient effortlessness that can only be won by hard work.” I wanted there to be joy in this book; fun, as well. I had to tread a fine line. It was never going to be ‘Carry On Up the Plantation’, but also I didn’t want it to be just so harrowing that nobody could read it. I wanted a book that everyone could read and everyone could enjoy. mp_sf_list_2_description: Tamara Lawrance (King Charles III, On Chesil Beach, Kindred) delivers a fierce and unforgettable performance as July. Lawrance was able to discuss the character with author Andrea Levy. “Andrea said that what she didn’t want was an encumbered, hard done-by victim, woe-is-me character,” Lawrance noted. “She said July is flawed, July is manipulative, July is a survivor and July is rebellious…July is always this indominable spirit.” The Long Song I found strangely inept for someone who has written such an accomplished novel as Small Island. If I had read it ‘cold’, without knowing the author’s name, I might have judged it the work of a promising (-ish) first-time novelist with a lot to learn.

The Long Song by Andrea Levy: Summary and reviews - BookBrowse

A well-researched book that wears its scholarship lightly… An immensely readable and well-paced book.” July is a mulatto, the daughter of Scottish overseer Tam Dewar, who raped Kitty, her slave mother. July enjoys giving us alternative accounts of her arrival in the world and Levy revels in storytelling itself, its sheer pliability. The memoir comes to its climax during the 10-day Baptist war in 1831 and the slave uprisings that followed. She makes you understand how chaotic and punitive this moment in history was, as well as liberating. Levy has researched the novel meticulously, but July has no desire to weigh herself down with any historical burden. Instead, she cheekily recommends that we do some homework ourselves but warns against a publication called Conflict and change. A view from the great house of slaves, slavery and the British Empire, observing: "… if you do read it and find your head nodding in agreement at this man's bluster, then away with you – for I no longer wish you as my reader." The Man Booker prize 2010 shortlist". The Guardian. 7 September 2010. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 7 July 2020. What am I missing here? This is a perfectly good novel, and the character of Miss July is well-drawn, the story of Jamaica is interesting, but...great? How? Where? a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/clips/the-long-song-official-trailer/">Watch a preview now!Jones, Tayari. "Book review: 'The Long Song,' by Andrea Levy". Washington Post . Retrieved 12 March 2015. Ms. Levy's talent shined with regard to her descriptive language. I could picture everything she described and felt as though I was recalling my last visit on the property of Amity, the plantation, where July is born in Jamaica in the earlier 1800's. At first, we are unclear, who is narrating the story or even their name (which the author did very intentionally, although her purpose for doing so, wasn't achieved in full). Perspective in narration shifted frequently, which frankly I felt was not essential to the story being told. Primarily, so the reader could realize that July's experiences had caused trauma on the level of possibly disassociation, where the injured party disconnects with their emotional response because it is either unsafe (physically and/or emotionally) for the victim to process the trauma as it is happening. Levy may have achieved that with some readers, who have experienced dissociation or know someone who has. Her delivery may be to subtle for those unfamiliar or confusing to others. I think this would have been more powerful, had she been directing that information to someone other than whom she has chosen in the story, although her choice was logical. The Long Song is told with irresistible cunning; it is captivating, mischievous and optimistic, generating new stories and plot lines throughout the tale.” This is a terrific book: beautifully written and imagined, and full of surprises… A brilliant historical novel.”

Long Song: A Novel - Andrea Levy - Google Books The Long Song: A Novel - Andrea Levy - Google Books

Based on the award-winning novel by the late Andrea Levy ( Small Island), the fictional story is inspired by Levy’s family history. Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents who arrived in Britain in 1948. “I’ve always used my books as a personal journey to understand my Caribbean heritage – and with that sooner or later you have to confront slavery,” Levy said. Andrea Levy's Small Island – her fourth novel – has had a glorious career: it not only won the Orange prize, but was voted "Best of the Best" novels ever to win that award. It was an adroit, funny, tender book about a Jamaican immigrant couple, their big-hearted white landlady and her bigoted husband in postwar London and it beautifully described the struggle to survive in a new country. A novel such as Small Island is a hard act to follow, but in her new book Levy has moved into top gear.beautifully written, intricately plotted, humorous and earthy… Those who enjoyed Small Island will love The Long Song, not just for the insights on the ‘wretched island’ , but as a marvel of luminous storytelling.” Notable Books of 2010". The New York Times. 24 November 2010. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 7 July 2020. The story is told in retrospect by an older woman and (in very small part) by her son. The woman constantly moans about the son's insistence on using a recalcitrant ink pen and also his verbosity. The novel is certainly peppered with very funny/tragic moments. The scene where July's master dies is particularly funny when it shouldn't be. But my mama began her life as a person for whom writing the letters ABC could have seen her put to the lash, for she was born a slave. The undertaking of committing her tale to words that might be read and set into printed form was, at first, quite alarming for her poor soul. She fretted, following me about the house and town to chatter at me of her anxiety of writing upon paper. She feared she would not have the skill to make herself understood in this form; and what if she were to make some mistake in its telling? Then surely it would be there, for ever and a day, for all to find amusement in her errors!

Songbook Foundation The Great American Songbook Foundation

The story unfolds at the Amity sugar plantation, where the strong-willed July is working as a lady’s maid for Caroline Mortimer. When Robert Goodwin, a new overseer at Amity arrives, both July and Caroline are intrigued by his revolutionary spirit and intent to improve the working conditions on the plantation. But the winds of change across the hot plantation fields end up not being without consequences. Para mí el punto fuerte de Levy como escritora es su gran capacidad para ambientar la obra de forma que los elector acabe transportado a la Jamaica del siglo XIX. Uno se encuentra en medio de una vorágine de calor sofocante que se pega a la piel, frutas exóticas de sabores poderosos, colores vibrantes y vegetación exuberante. Una vorágine en la que la en la que la dicotomía entre blancos y negros, ya no solo en lo histórico, aspecto que se nota muy cuidado y estudiado. También se siente transportado a lo que era la vida en una plantación de azúcar de la Jamaica de la época y en como era la vida en la isla, con una sociedad de negros con sus propias normas y convenciones sociales y sus propias maneras de hacer y ver las cosas. Pero sobre todo, el lector puede sentir como fueron esos últimos años de esclavitud y como se llevó acabo la emancipación de los habitantes de la isla, la forma en que estos dos mundos chocaron y se enfrentaron salvajemente entre sí, la manera en que los negros lucharon y pelearon por su libertad y por la posibilidad de ser independientes en todos los sentidos, frente a los prejuicios y la incomprensión de los blancos. Andrea Levy's insightful and inspired fifth novel, "The Long Song," reminds us that she is one of the best historical novelists of her generation… Levy's previous novel, "Small Island," is rightly regarded as a masterpiece, and with "The Long Song" she has returned to the level of storytelling that earned her the Orange Prize in 2004. skill is an ability to find meaning in the most scribbled of texts. Give me writing that looks to have been made by some insect crawling dirty legs across the paper and I will print its sense, clear and precise. Show me blots and smudges of ink and I will see form. Let blades of grass blow together in the breeze and I will find words written in their flowing strands.

Preview

It's all rather one-note cute-n-coyness from my POV. The narrative drive is that these are the memories of Miss July. So that takes any suspense out of the book. I know she's alive to tell the tale, so who cares who else dies? The Long Song is one of those fiction books that provides a clearer picture of a particular historical era then any history book. In this case the time is the last years of slavery in Jamaica and the story unfolds from the viewpoint of a child born into slavery who lives through the end of slavery. Most disturbing of all, is that a major subplot was started and never again. Had this "event" happened to a real person, I can't imagine that they wouldn't give it further thought or mention. To end the story without even this significant subplot even a nod was grossly dissatisfying.

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