Synopses & Reviews
From Andrea Levy, author of
Small Island and winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Best of the Best Orange Prize, comes a story of one woman and two islands.
Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work.
At her parents' suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined.
Fruit of the Lemon spans countries and centuries, exploring questions of race and identity with humor and a freshness, and confirms Andrea Levy as one of our most exciting contemporary novelists. Andrea Levy was born in 1956 to Jamaican parents. The author of four novels, she has received a British Arts Council Writers Award, and her novel Small Island won both the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Best of the Best Orange Prize. She lives and works in London. Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work.
At her parents' suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined. "It is Levy's light touch in tense situationswhen a white friend's father calls a black girl 'darkie' and 'coon' in Faith's presence, when she interacts with villagers in the English countrysidethat allows us to experience rather than merely watch Faith's growing disillusionment . . . At times, you might even be tempted to read bits and pieces aloud, just to hear the lyrical quality of the Jamaican-accented English. Though Levy writes specifically about black Jamaican Britons and their struggles to be acknowledged as full members of the larger society, her novel illuminates the general situation facing all children of postcolonial immigrants across the West, from the banlieue of France to the Islamic neighborhoods of New York to the Hispanic ghettos of Los Angeles."Uzodinma Iweala, The New York Times Book Review "It is Levy's light touch in tense situationswhen a white friend's father calls a black girl 'darkie' and 'coon' in Faith's presence, when she interacts with villagers in the English countrysidethat allows us to experience rather than merely watch Faith's growing disillusionment . . . At times, you might even be tempted to read bits and pieces aloud, just to hear the lyrical quality of the Jamaican-accented English. Though Levy writes specifically about black Jamaican Britons and their struggles to be acknowledged as full members of the larger society, her novel illuminates the general situation facing all children of postcolonial immigrants across the West, from the banlieue of France to the Islamic neighborhoods of New York to the Hispanic ghettos of Los Angeles."Uzodinma Iweala, The New York Times Book Review "As an English novelist of Afro-Caribbean descent, Andrea Levy launches her works with great aplomb into the shifting seas of the concept formerly known as the British Empire. Her last novel, Small Island, won the Orange Prize, the Whitbread Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Fruit of the Lemon, her new one, follows exceptionally well in its footsteps, a work that feels of a piece with Small Island and its story of Jamaicans in post-World War England while carving a fresh niche where new characters can breathe and grow. Faith Jackson counts herself entirely at home on English soil. Everything about it is her home, several times over: her immigrant Jamaican parents' initial council flat, where she and her older brother were born, then the 'house in a proper street that they were so proud of they sent pictures of it to relatives with invitations to come and stay' . . . [Faith] is someone who has, finally, outgrown the little girl she had buried at the bottom of her memory well, the shivering child in the playground taunted by the 'bully boys' shouting 'You're a darkie. Faith's a darkie.' She is, she now concludes, 'the bastard child of Empire and I will have my day' . . . Those are uplifting, exciting and promising words for the Faiths of our day and age, and for the others whose stories, it is hoped, Andrea Levy will go on to write."Chicago Tribune
"[A] charming Fruit of the Lemon takes its title from the song 'Lemon Tree,' which laments that the beautiful tree produces a fruit 'impossible to eat.' This becomes a metaphor for the black Londoner who seems to have everythingeducation, employment, social mobilitybut suffers from a bitterness just beneath the brilliant surface . . . The portion of the novel set in Jamaica is, in equal measures, engaging and frustrating. Levy unfolds Faith's family history in a series of testimonies with titles such as 'Coral's Story told to me by Coral' and 'Cecelia's Story told to me by Vincent.' These oral histories tell of a time when colonialism and slavery devastated the entire society, particular communities, family bonds and individual sanity. Always powerful, these stories are infused with a sense of humor that provides the novel with a certain buoyancy without undercutting its gravity. Take the story of blue-eyed cousin Constance, who returns from England forever changed: 'Constance called England Babylona place of sin where the evil white man livedand swore she would never return . . . Constance stopped combing her hair, sat in the sun, wiped her skin with cocoa butter. And told everyone she was letting her black inside out.' Such vivid descriptions draw us in, but Levy is soon on to the next history, full of colorful characters, sparkling dialogue and engaging predicaments. One feels like a gate-crasher at a neighbor's family reunion: The stories and characters are insightful and bubbling with emotion . . . Fruit of the Lemon, essentially a heartwarming novel of self-discovery, is peppered with incidents of real bravery and unguardedness."Tayari Jones, The Washington
Review
"[Levy's] novel illuminates the general situation facing all children of postcolonial immigrants across the West, from the banlieue of France to the Islamic neighborhoods of New York to the Hispanic ghettos of Los Angeles." Uzodinma Iweala, New York Times
Review
"Faith's initial obliviousness to prejudice makes the first half of the book feel implausible; but, once the narrative moves to Jamaica, Levy's remarkable ability to weave a complex, engrossing family history takes over." New Yorker
Review
"A somewhat abrupt ending and slightly flat secondary characters hinder but do not spoil this otherwise solid effort." Library Journal
Review
"Levy has chosen her title shrewdly: like the lemon, her loaded satire is bright and alluring, but its bite is sharp." Booklist
Synopsis
From Andrea Levy, author of
Small Island and winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Best of the Best Orange Prize, comes a story of one woman and two islands.
Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work.
At her parents' suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined.
Fruit of the Lemon spans countries and centuries, exploring questions of race and identity with humor and a freshness, and confirms Andrea Levy as one of our most exciting contemporary novelists.
Synopsis
Content with her life in England and delighted with her first job in the costume department of BBC television, Faith Jackson is stunned when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, an announcement that threatens Faith's fragile sense of identity and forces her to come to terms with the racism she encounters in her daily life. Original. 75,000 first printing.
Synopsis
From Andrea Levy, author of
Small Island and winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Best of the Best Orange Prize, comes a story of one woman and two islands.
Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work.
At her parents' suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined.
Fruit of the Lemon spans countries and centuries, exploring questions of race and identity with humor and a freshness, and confirms Andrea Levy as one of our most exciting contemporary novelists.
About the Author
Born in 1956 to Jamaican parents, Andrea Levy is the author of three previous novels. She lives and works in London.
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
1. The first sentences and the last sentences of Fruit of the Lemon reflect each other. What does the author accomplish by doing this? What does this say about how far Faith has come? How has she changed?
2. What was the first thing you noticed about Faiths relationship with her family compared to her relationship with her housemates? How is she different in the two worlds? Discuss the concept of cultural assimilation, as it appears in Fruit of the Lemon. Do you believe such a thing exists?How voluntary is it on Faiths part? Have you ever experienced the feeling of being "Other"? Where is Faith most comfortable?
3. Examine the racism Faith encounters. How does she react to it, and why? Have you ever encountered or witnessed it? Is it different from the racism of supremacist groups? How would you have reacted, in Faiths situations?
4. Why is Faith so upset about her parents moving back to Jamaica? Why is Carl not? How are Faith and Carl different from each other? What does being black mean to them? What does being Jamaican mean to them? What does being Londoners mean to them?
5. Discuss the ideas of identity, family and community. How are they established and influenced, specifically in the characters of Faith and Marion? How does race factor into these ideas? How does being firstgeneration (the child of immigrants) factor in?
6. What are the dynamics of Faith and Marions relationship? How does it change? How does Marion use feminism to disguise her feelings about race? Are gender and race comparable? Which is more of an influence?
7. Examine the scene on pages 137-143. What does it reveal about Faith and her life? How do Carl and Ruth perceive her? How does she perceive them? Why does Ruth become hostile toward her? What do you think of Ruth in retrospect, knowing that she has been raised in a white family?
8. How does Faith confront the racism she encounters? Reread the scene in the pub, with Simon, his mother, and the man who talks to Faith about Jamaica. How does each of the characters react to the mans story? Why does Faith express regret over telling the man about slave names? How does the man react to it? What happens in the dialogue between Faith and Simons mother, afterwards? What is your impression of Simons mother?
9. What motivates Faiths decision to visit Jamaica? Is there a final straw? How does she feel on the journey there, and once she arrives in the airport? Have ever you experienced something similar? How are things both familiar and foreign at the same time? What are Faiths first impressions of her family, especially Auntie Coral? How is her perception affected?
10. There is a major change in narration when Faith is in Jamaica. Why do you thinks this happens, and what does it indicate? Consider what Coral says on page 185: "You must have lost time somewhere...You cant leave England and come all that way without losing some bit of yourself." How does the movement of time within the story change? What are Faiths feelings of displacement? How does she begin to recognize herself within her family and Corals stories?
11. When did you first notice a change in Faith? Examine the chapter ‘Wades Story Told to Me by Violet. How does her idea of her parents change? Could you identify with her? Consider the idea of the ‘Mother Country. Where does this term come from, and what does that have to do with Faith? What does the ‘Mother Country mean, historically, emotionally and metaphorically?
12. Discuss Faiths realizations in the last few pages of the book. What do they reveal about parents and children? How has Faiths perception of race and racism changed? About her parents and friends? Why do you think that Faith never wanted to hear her parents talk about Jamaica? How has her relationship with them changed?
13. Did Fruit of the Lemon change your ideas about race and racism? What subtleties did it reveal? How familiar or unfamiliar was Faith and her story? How did your perception of her change? What does Fruit of the Lemon say about self-realization?