Fruit of the Lemon: Andrea Levy

by Andrea Levy

Fruit of the Lemon [Paperback] Andrea Levy

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Novels, Historical

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Andrea Levy was an English novelist, born in London to Jamaican parents. Her novels chronicled the experiences of the post-World War II generation of Jamaican immigrants in Britain. She was one of the first black British authors to achieve both critical and commercial success. Her novel Small Island won several major literary prizes: the Orange Prize for women's fiction, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread Book of the Year award.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Sonia Gomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fruit of the Lemon is a sketchy effort at portraying the lives of Jamaicans in the UK. It is sad that Levy makes no effort to show how much influence Jamaicans have on the English, particularly the youth.

Think reggae...

Andrea Levy just skims around the chapters in a disjointed manner, with hardly any attempt at continuity.
The redeeming feature however, is when Faith, the protagonist realizes with a deep shock that the immigrants particularly the Blacks mean nothing to the Whites.

Everywhere there are struggles...
Liz’s struggle to move to a different department...
Her sorrow at finding her apartment mate, a White having sex with a White woman, when all along she was under the impression that he quite liked her...
In appearance, all small episodes, but they add up to leave her pretty much unhinged and terribly sad.

This prompts her parents to send her to Jamaica; but sadly instead of methodically weaving a story of her Jamaican ancestors, Andrea Levy rushes helter-skelter from chapter to chapter with hardly any cohesion.
At the end of it all, we are left with a horde of characters and the feeling of 'who are these people' and what is their connection to Faith?

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of Andrea Levy, I can't believe it is only now that I have read this wonderful book! I have fallen in love with all the characters, and the story of Faith and her family, both in London and, later on, in Jamaica. There is a lovely humour throughout, warmth in all the relationships, and I am missing them all already. Andrea Levy is a huge loss to literature 😔

[Belinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see this was Levy's first book, which certainly explains the disappointment I have with it as well as the pleasure I took in the descriptions and the fluid writing style.

It took awhile to get into the story. I liked it best when Faith starts narrating how she relates to her brother, Carl. I liked the moments when she noticed that even her best friend's family see her as different, her visit to Simon's parents home, the realisation that she is THE token black dresser at her workplace.
You can see her confusion and her lack of belonging by the time you get to the chapter where racist idiots ransack and attack a bookshop and the owner.
So then - only then - do the parents finally send her to Jamaica.
Which is good to begin with, I enjoyed the stories, the scenes of everyday life there, but then Faith kind of gets lost under all that telling.
Spoiler alert here:
Finally there is the story (told by Victor, her cousin in Jamaica) about how Faith's parents rang and begged Aunty Coral to host Faith because she seems lost. She hangs out with white people, she's living with men and a girl with loose morals, she has lost jobs, got above her station, never cared about her roots.
What?
I got that Faith wanted to know about her family tree and would ask, but her parents constantly evaded questions about anything. She doesn't seem close to her father and even says she had never been alone with him until he visits her flat and dislikes it.
She has a degree (how is this "above her station"?) and goes flatting, which is normal considering the parents brought her up as English and not Jamaican.
So why do they basically betray her like that?
Or perhaps it's in keeping with the family history, sisters arguing, mother's beating their own daughters but loving the whitest (sometimes adopted) kid in the family etc. To me it reads as if the kids that were valued were the ones that were most like Faith - very English - or white. Which doesn't make any sense to me as Faith is meant to be finding pride in being a Jamaican.
The end, the return to the UK, was just a splutter. Why bother with it?

So worth a read? Yes, it's an interesting perspective, but don't expect to understand Faith at the end of it.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked this book! It's fluid, interesting and easy to read. You get sucked into the story of Faith Jackson a Black British young woman with parents who emigrated from Jamaica. This is the story of Faith really discovering who she is and where she comes from. A completely relateable story as we all have that life defining experience when we stop and question, who am I really? Where did my family/ancestors come from? It's about Faith seeming to live in a sort of confusion or shadow of another's history until she is sent to Jamaica to her Aunt Coral to learn essentially who she really is and where her family came from. It's an amazing experience. She feels at home and suddenly culture shocked at not feeling so much the minority in a place where people look more like her. She gets her bearings and before she knows it it's time to go back to England. And..... the reader doesn't know what next? This is a great book and as an African American myself, I related to it on so many different levels. HOWEVER, the book was set up into three parts, England, Jamaica and England again. The author took such great detail engaging the reader in the first part of England, to turn the next page and see it is titled Jamaica, was exciting. Jamaica, started off as such a great adventure. The reader is right there on Faith's shoulder experiencing this sort of "going home" for the first time. The chapters are detailed with interludes featuring family trees and family history stories. The reader thinks, this is great! But then not sure if it was the author becoming tired with the writing of her own book or if there was some severe editing on the publishing level but it became extremely rushed. Details and names were compiled in a way that was confusing. There was less detail on Faith's experience in Jamaica, when it seems as this should have been the high point of the book. Faith was supposed to be discovering herself. There should have been an equal amount of detail as her life in England but there was not. This was disappointing. The only thing more disappointing was the fact that the last and third part of the book entitled England was one page. One page? The reader is left to guess at our main character's outcome once her plane hits British soil. The theme of this book seemed to be Faith's discovery of self but if it was rushed through the actual experience and then we know nothing about what happens when she goes back to the world she grew up in and how her discovery changed her...what was the whole point? Bright star..fizzled in the end. BUT still a good book.

[Phyllis | Mocha Drop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faith Jackson is the daughter of hardworking, conservative Jamaican immigrants and grows up in a moderate middle-class environment. She, like many others, assimilates into a society that does not fully embrace those that are "different." All her life, she has grappled with some form of scrutiny and eventually develops a blind eye and deaf ear to racial slurs and stereotypes that she experiences routinely, even from her "best friends." For example, as a child, she is openly teased by white schoolmates that her parents journeyed to England via a banana boat. Faith discovers with much embarrassment that in fact, it is true. Despite prodding questions to her parents about their past life or relatives in Jamaica , they remain tight-lipped and dismiss her inquires with abrupt answers or sucking teeth. Talk of the past seems to be a taboo subject, so Faith eventually stops asking at a very early age.

Unfortunately, Faith swallows the British culture, music, and mindsets whole because it is all she has. Under the guidance of her parents, she adapts and employs survival techniques: she learns to smile, dress appropriately, talk properly, and project a non-threatening persona, but there is never any guidance for dealing with racial injustice or prejudice against non-whites. Having recently graduated from college, she is struggling with racial discrimination at her workplace. Couple job stress with a local hate crime, Faith's overload of internalized angst forces her into an emotional "breakdown" stemming from years of frustration, pain, and anger with no outlet or coping skills to handle such prejudices.

Her parents enlist the aid of Aunt Cora, her mother's sister in Jamaica , to entertain Faith for a two-week holiday abroad to rest and forget about things for a while. Upon setting foot in the Kingston airport, Faith experiences instant `culture shock' that eventually leads to an epiphany of sorts. Time spent in the company of Aunt Cora and her Caribbean kinfolk yields answers to questions she pondered all her life. She finds understanding, unconditional love, inner peace, and a sense of pride and confidence that was absent before. Finding strength and solace in her roots, the once embarrassing banana boat passage eventually becomes an event that no longer causes shame but inspires admiration and reverence.

Fruit of the Lemon is a wonderful multi-generational saga that spans two continents and explores the importance of belonging and sense of history. Although the novel chronicles Faith as she struggles to find her place in the world, it goes much deeper by examining the need for identity and racial pride. Faith may be the protagonist of the story, but Levy delivers so much more. She gives the reader a multitude of full-bodied, complex characters, realistic situations, and a page-turning plot sequence. I absolutely loved the unveiling of her ancestor's personal histories! Their loves, desires, and attitudes were cleverly shaped by societal views, the complex histories of the slave trade and British colonialism in Jamaica . Her handling of dialogue which captured the rhythmic Jamaican patois-laced expressions and the straight-laced British phrasing is superb. Her writing is fluid and vivid -- I could picture the characters, scenery, and the moods and vibes perfectly.

Although it is still early in the year at the time of this review, I believe this book will make my Top 10 list of 2007 releases. This is my first read from this author and it will not be my last. I intend to pick up her earlier works soon. This novel is highly recommended for those who enjoy literary reads with African Diasporic themes.

[Freya Rushbrook-Bates · Rating 3 out of 5]

good and lolled out loud a couple times but took a month to read so obvs couldn’t hold me down (but who can!)

[Dorottya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, so good - emotional personal (hi)story with social commentary that is not over-explained? Give it to me please.

It was so... precious. This novel is basically about a 20something second generation Jamaican-English girl dealing with some life crisis travelling back to Jamaica to meet some relatives of her mum's who stayed in Jamaica and listening to some family stories / going to family functions and experiencing life in Jamaica. It does not sound really interesting and not a lot happens in this novel. But it was so engaging for me, still. I am a sucker for emotional personal musings... and in this case, it was combined with the overarching theme of racism, colorism and racial identification, which was examined from so many angles... it showed the modern world's casual and non-casual racism and ignorance, different attitudes of being "black" and radical activism (borderline reverse racism and demeaning people of color of not being "black enough")... but also, historical racism and colorism (with, for me, especially shocking cases of people of color, darker people regarding their lighter colored friends or family members as more valueable). This novel feels really modern and "today" in a lot of its themes and messages, even though it was published 20 years ago.

But at the same time, it was really fresh and not too high-brow. I liked its understated humour and in some parts, especially with the scenes about family reunions and older people trying to "reason" with the younger generation, I could see myself, even though I am a Caucasiam European woman (with older generations stubbornly viewing their traditions as better, even though sometimes it is just about certain hairstyles and whether it is acceptable for a woman to weat pants to a wedding).

[Shivanee Ramlochan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excerpted from the full review:

"While reading ‘Fruit of the Lemon’, it became quickly apparent to me that I was in the hands of a startlingly evocative writer. Levy rarely ‘lays it on thick’ – there is none of that overindulgence, poorly executed, in exposition, description or plot progression. The ingrained racism Faith endures uneasily in England, her incremental malaise and mistrust of her own complexion, are subtly enforced at every turn, ‘til we feel like buckling beneath the pressure, ourselves.

Caribbean readers will not, I think, be disappointed by Levy’s depiction of Jamaica. Not being of Jamaican ancestry personally, I cannot claim a countrywoman’s expertise, but the testament of the life and people of the island never, not once, caused me to furrow my brow and say, ‘Eh?’ Odds are, whether you are from Jamrock, or Trinidad, or Barbados, or anywhere beneath our persistent and particular sun, you will recognize trademarks of your own growing-up stories. You will steups (loud and irritated sucking of one’s own teeth, referenced several times by Levy) at the description of a relative just like the one who drives you mad. You will sigh when Faith learns the saddest stories of her origins from her Jamaican family, because that sadness, that mad, mad history lies dormant in your family too, just waiting to be prodded uneasily to life again."
You can continue reading my full review of 'Fruit of the Lemon' at Novel Niche! :)

[Chris B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, Levy's 3rd novel, is like her previous books in containing elements of her own life (studying textiles at college, working for the BBC, visiting Jamaica for the first time).

'Faith' is a daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents in London - "bastard child of Empire" as she describes herself late in the book. The first half of the book describes her travails establishing her place in white English society, while the second half tells of her first visit to Jamaica and her discovery of her family history.

Beware 'reviewers' who carelessly mistake this for Levy's first book, and/or who mark it down because they don't 'understand' Faith's struggle or her motivation, and/or can't follow the family trees scattered throughout the text, or who don't 'understand' the ending (which reflects Faith's parents' original arrival in England).
Another wonderful book;

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fruit of the Lemon is Levy's third book and last before her break-out with the novel, Small Island. In an interview with the Guardian, she categorized her first three novels as a her "baton race" and I suppose this is evident throughout the novel. Stated herself, " Anyone reading my books could say, 'Well, she got a dictionary there,' and 'She got a thesaurus at this point.'" Despite all this, I found the book wholly enjoyable. In particular, Faith's parent's Jamaican patois is entertaining and convincing, the dynamics of modern racism are explored rather gracefully, and the vividness of Jamaica is well represented. My favorite passages are those that delve into Faith's family history as she discovers her rich past and herself. Overall, quite a nice book that I recommend.

[Nancy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a family consisting of parents who came to England from Jamaica and their two children, who were born in England. The parents have never spoken much about their family back in Jamaica, so their son and daughter don't know much about their relatives. When the daughter is having problems with her job, her supposed friends, and her life in general, she decides to take a trip to Jamaica. It is through her trip that the reader learns the whole story about the different people in the family. It is somewhat of an eye-opening, genealogical odyssey for her, and she has a different world view when she returns to England. It is a good story with many messages about family and secrets.

[Jenny Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about discovering one’s roots. The hero is a London girl whose parents emigrated from Jamaica. All her life she’s been conscious of her differences, experiencing a vague tension that only occasionally becomes blatant racism. When she is in danger of becoming overwhelmed by it, her parents send her back to Jamaica. There she finds a place where she fits, and a whole lot more branches to her family tree. It’s light, funny, clearly observed, never shallow, and well worth reading.

[Stephanie ((Strazzybooks))]

DNF @ 61%,
and telling myself it's okay to officially quit if I haven't finished it in 8 months,

[Polly March · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Let those bully boys walk behind me in the playground. Let them tell me, ‘You’re a darkie. Faith’s a darkie.’ I am the granddaughter of Grace and William Campbell. I am the great-grandchild of Ceceila Hilton. I am descended from Katherine whose mother was a slave. I am the cousin of Afria. I am the niece of Coral Thompson and the daughter of Wade and Mildred Jackson. Let them say what they like. Because I am the bastard child of the Empire and I will have my day.”

Fruit of the Lemon, published in 1999, is Levy’s third novel (Every Light in the House Burnin’ - 1994, Never Far From Nowhere - 1996) and follows a similar theme to it’s predecessors. Much like her first two novels, the story is set, for the most part, in north London, with a working-class, black family at the centre whose parents had emigrated from Jamaica. Similarly, we are introduced to this central family which features (at least) one daughter who aspired to higher education and (at least) one sibling who does not. The parents, meanwhile, are presented as being more interested in keeping their heads above water than in issues of race, racism and class inequality; deftly showcasing the generational divide between first and second generation Black Britons.

In Fruit of the Lemon, we are introduced to the story of Faith Jackson, who slowly comes to realize that calling Britain home leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. Growing up in London, Faith has taken scant interest in her parents’ homeland, nor has she experienced the full force of the widespread but subtle racism characteristic of 1980s Britain. Only after she enters the work force and suffers at the hands of ignorant white superiors, and later witnesses a National Front attack on a black woman, does she begin to suspect that the nation she assumes she belongs to may not really want her: ‘The lemon flower is pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.’

As a reader, the subtle microaggressions she is faced with from her friends and peers is presented so plainly that you feel you are experiencing these social ambiguities alongside her. Indeed, Levy doesn’t try to drag out the point or teach a moral lesson; she weaves in these interactions for the reader so that we are allowed to experience rather than merely watch Faith’s growing disillusionment. Whilst white friends interpret shared moments differently, Faith begins to see the way her world is racialized. In Levy's words: 'Faith realises she's black.'

Interestingly, this is much like Levy’s own experiences (with her father actually arriving in England on the HMS Windrush), and it wasn’t until Levy took her own race awareness training when she was 26 that everything changed. This is why Levy has cemented herself so strongly within this canon of Black British voices - she understands acutely what these experiences are like and therefore how to authentically communicate this to a wider, multicultural audience.

However, a note for future readers: This novel is split into two halves, and I had spent much of the first half wondering where this story was going as there was yet to be any mention of Jamaica. This caused it to drag a little for me, but had I been more aware of the structure I don’t think I would have had this experience. Nonetheless, the first half does an interesting job of dealing with Faith’s growing disorientation in her native England, whilst the second half chronicles her slow regaining of confidence in Jamaica.

When in Jamaica we follow Faith as she meets her distant relatives and pieces together her family tree. Whilst the illustrations of her family tree growing and expanding with each interaction were really helpful, I did find myself getting a little bit lost with all the new names and relationships introduced in such quick succession. This also offers a shift in tone which takes us away from Faith’s own perspective narration, and takes on a slightly more rushed feel - though still enjoyable to uncover this new history. I also found the discussions around colourism in this section really interesting, and offered another dimension to Faith’s journey of self discovery.

This is Levy doing what she does best: exploring and presenting the stories of young Black women born of Jamaican parents who were part of a new burgeoning demographic, Black Britons. Whilst this was probably my least favourite of her first three novels, and Small Island is certainly her stand out work, I would still recommend this for those looking for a light but thoughtful read and especially those looking to expand their reading demographic.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I became an Andrea Levy fan after reading “small island” for my A levels. I loved the book, I loved the way it looked at internalized racism and how a country can look so promising from the outside and then end up disappointing you. This book is not that, it’s much more personal and more slice of life. Still, it’s very enjoyable. I think where the book shines is when it retells the casual racism the main character has to live with. I’m pretty sure every country other than America loves to pretend they’re not racist because they’re ‘not America’ but that’s an incredibly low bar to have and also, racism exists everywhere in the world! I found the family’s story a little confusing with all the different names and the charts certainly helped. I did feel like some stories could’ve been cut for the sake of simplicity but overall a pretty good book.

[Robert Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lemon flower is pretty,and the Lemon flower is sweet ,but the fruit of the Lemon is impossible to eat.

The novel,Fruit of the Lemon,is somewhat of a comedy as Faith Jackson gets her first job at the BBC television,her parents had come to London from Jamaica .As Faith encounters ingrained British racism. Her parents plan to retire to Jamaica. After a violent attack on a black woman working in a bookstore. Faith has a breakdown and she is sent to Jamaica,on the island Faith meets her relatives and learns of her family tree.
Faith has an answer for the racists : "I am the bastard child of England and I will have my day ”

[Helen Cairns · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. Faith is the daughter of West Indian immigrants who had arrived, literally on a banana boat, in 1948. Against a wave of racial prejudice they manage through hard work and determination to build a good life for their children. Their past is rarely spoken about. The priority is to fit in. This leaves Faith ill-equipped to deal with adult life as a black woman. Eventually, she has a breakdown and is sent for a holiday to Jamaica. As she encounters her large Jamaican family and experiences life in her ancestral home, Faith grows to understand her parents and herself.

[Caroline Halliday · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s giving high school english book. it was fine. the best parts were the flashbacks told by her relatives, and there weren’t a lot of those until the end.

the end left a lot hanging, but internally, it seemed all was resolved. the ending gained it an extra star.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the writing style of this book, and I enjoyed the individual chapters, but it never came together for me as a whole. The story of a Jamaican woman living in the US and surrounded by white friends. She goes to Jamaica and learns the history of her family.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed listening to this; fantastic narrator and great book

[John Newcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book and miss Andrea. It tells the story of Faith whose parents were of the Windrush generation, her success as an English girl and her eventual need and voyage of self discovery to Jamaica. I guess it is semi autobiographical but none the worse for that.

[Nicholas Cairns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartwarming and eye-opening. The characters (particularly the Jamaican relatives) really stood out. I laughed out loud more than once.

[Mujda · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The lemon flower is pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.'

Having read Small Island first, I can see why it gets the praise of literary glory & maturity-of-writing than this earlier novel. But I really enjoyed this one. It felt and read lighter, much lighter and humorous than Small Island (which was pretty heavy on all things life and history).

This is a story about discovering your family tree, situating yourself in relation to the wider world & trying to keep yourself calm in the process of all this soul searching.
Set in the 70s, Faith, the black female protagonist moves out of home and begins to work. Her seeming inability to confront the systemic racism of her workplace set her up as irritating and kind of naïve. But I guess that might be a harsh presentist judgement considering where she was and at what time of British history. But she does grow throughout the novel, making her less irritating. Yet I liked that she keeps her awkwardness even till the end, as opposed to getting this linear upward mobility from ostracization to a happily-ever-after integration (which is pretty typical of the classic bildungsroman, but in this case the postcolonial subject ruptures that usual [white life] trajectory making it nicely realistic for those of us who are not white).

The portrayal of family figures was pretty humorous. It has trademark growing up stories that make you reflect on your own parents/family and the cultural traits that you love and the ones that drive you crazy or are embarrassing. Humour is sprinkled throughout the whole book, mostly in the form of shrewd witty observations. Like arriving at Kingston airport, losing her baggage, massive boxes instead of those Nice Small Manageable Suitcases that White People use at airports. The depiction of how long the wedding took made me laugh out loud like no end.

I liked the contrast of Faith and her brother Carl, second gen, with her parents as first gen immigrants & the friction that inevitably causes.
Such as the bit about their dad & mum coming into contact with Carl’s girlfriend who takes it upon herself to educate the family about the systemic racism in England, the ‘triple yoke of oppression’, being Black as opposed to black and being proud about rice and peas. Quotation: “She still here?” Dad whispered, looking around himself like a stalked deer.” Really funny, but also signals at that generational difference. Our parents migrated here for the education, the economic prosperity etc and how that focus, amidst the heavy racism, eclipsed feelings of social exclusion and political advancement “We just got on with it. Your dad and me work very hard. And the good Lord bless us.” Whereas those who were born here, have a different attitude to such race relations, one that is willing to challenge.

Finally, I really liked the family tree drawings throughout the novel. With each new chapter a new part of the tree was added and as the story progresses, the tree becomes much more entangled, interconnected, and just bigger. It was pretty nice to reflect on that, how genealogies and transcontinental familial connections colour our history so brightly, a refresher from the rigid categorial thinking of statehood and nationality we box ourselves into frequently.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a delightful reading experience on numerous levels. First, it is a genre that American readers have yet to delve in fully. I decided to read more African Diaspora literature, and this fits. The main character is British-born with Jamaican parents. There's that dynamic in the text; not simply a difference in generation but also a difference in spatial awareness that migrants migrating within an Empire experience with their Mother country-born children. It goes deeper than this. Second, it delves into British racism. American readers know American racism, but this book helps us understand that Black people experience racism just the same in England. Though it may be different, it is still racism. Third, even as an African-American reader I connected with the themes. I know racism, and I also know the concept of a Black homeland with its problems but also its richness. Being from an American city with an African American majority allows me to connect with the Jamaican experience of the main character. This novel literally made me sing with all the references to hymns in the second part of the text. I laughed out loud as the Jamaican characters made their colloquial remarks and insights. I highly recommend this novel, and I shall choose it for my book club in the fall for my students.

I have just completed my second reading of the book, and I will teach it next week. I now love this book. I'm changing my rating to 5 stars! I hope my students will engage this text, and savor it. I hope they take seriously British racism realizing that Black folk in Britain have had nothing of an easy go of things. I'm ready to listen to them as they respond to my questions on the text.

One more note. Last year June while strolling in a London neighborhood I learned that Andrea Levy had passed away in February. I was shocked. For some reason I hadn't known. I'm still grieving her loss. She has taught me so much about the Windrush Generation and Black experiences in England. I am so grateful that God blessed her with the great ability to tell the stories of Black folk with candor and with large doses of humor. RIP Andrea Levy.

[Sherree Gaskell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Andrea Levy. In part because my life story is reflected in her books but mostly because her writing has a way of wrapping around you and carrying you forward. Fruit of the lemon was sad in that it highlighted the dreadful lives of the children of immigrants in England. The slow acceptance that they are "not really Brits, and not wanted" although Britain is the only country they know. I found myself wincing at the obvious admiration Jamaican people had for the British. Yet sadly, I understood it. Some years ago, on a visit to the island for my Grandmother's funeral, I was shocked to find on her bedside table, a pristine British passport. It had been obtained when Jamaica was part of the British commonwealth. My Grandmother had kept her beloved passport up to date although it contained not a single stamp as she had not left the island her whole life. It was however, surrounded by the pictures of her son she proudly sent to England when he was 17. His British wife and her grandchildren. Her pride and her joy.
I have read some reviews of this book that express disappointment in the last brief chapter of the book. I too wondered where the "end"was. There is no end. The feelings described in the book have not changed. England is still the same. Jamaicans still wish to go there. However Faith's journey is something that can help you if you have her history. It can help you understand who you are and fill your heart again. It can give you a new motherland as it did for Faith.

[Chrissi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fruit of The Lemon is a well written piece of adult fiction. The protagonist in this story is Faith. She lives in England, but she is born of Carribbean parents. Faith’s parents came to England from Jamaica. Faith’s life changes when her parents decide to return to Jamaica to retire. Faith’s life had began to fall to pieces, so it was decided that Faith would go to Jamaica too to stay with her aunt Coral.

Fruit of The Lemon is told by different narratives including Faith’s life in England and also stories related by her family members. Faith learns a lot about her family history as she hears the stories from her relatives. The book is told in two halves. The first half solely focuses on Faith’s life in England and the racism that she encountered.

I thought Andrea Levy had carefully and beautifully portrayed some interesting characteristics of individuals and also stereotypes that we see so often. I’ve seen many times that some people can’t comprehend that a black person can be born in England. I could completely recognise this! Andrea Levy really does carefully show the racism and prejudice that Faith deals with. Faith really is struggling to find her own way and identity in society and I think it’s great that Fruit Of The Lemon sensitively deals with this.

If you enjoy cultural stories that focus on identity and where we call home, I think you’d enjoy this book!

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if Levy wrote this before or after her very successful Small Island, but I felt it wasn't as good. The first few chapters seemed a bit heavy handed, but the book was entirely redeemed by two magnificent central chapters: one in which the heroine Faith, the British-born daughter of Jamaican parents, witnesses a racist attack, and the following one in which she arrives in Jamaica for the first time. These are wonderfully done, vivid and striking, and really make you feel for Faith as she wakes up to who she is. After that it gets a bit bogged down in family history: you can see the points Levy is making, but she makes them too many times. But I'm sure it must ring a lot of bells for people with the same background as Faith!

[Litsplaining · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out the full review on my blog: https://introvertinterruptedcom.wordp...

"Levy’s choice to explore the “hyphenated identity” of her character is something that any BIPOC person can understand regardless of their country or their economic class.

This is because we all eventually go through some metamorphosis that moves us further away from our ancestral “home base,” be it through our economic status or geographical location. And due to this change, we often face scrutiny within our community or outside forces, who either see us as pretenders or as phony in how we present ourselves once we are removed from that home base."

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly these characters didn't interest me at all and therefore I had a hard time keeping them all straight, especially after Faith arrived in Jamaica and Levy spent several chapters telling some of their backstories through the eyes of another. The story dragged and the writing didn't stand out in any way for me. This is not one of my bookclub's more appealing selections - at least not for me.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you lovely Mercedes for making me read my first Andrea Levy. Need to finally get around to Small Island next x