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

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This was a book chosen by my book club. Once again it's a book I wouldn't have read left to my own devices but, as is usually the case, I’m glad I did. With the story told through the prism of July’s memory, we are led to question how much of the story is accurate. At times she recalls events, despite not personally bearing witness to them. July is presenting a collective memory of events that happened to a group of people - she fills in gaps, embellishing tales while drawing on the experiences of others. Did you feel, or question, while reading, if there was any unreliable narration from July? Ultimately, does it matter? The Jamaican setting gives a rather different feel to the American novels about slavery. In Jamaica the white population was very small and relative newcomers. This led to relationships on the plantations shifting in different ways; with both sides having the ability to harm each other. About: With a mission to inspire and educate by celebrating the music that many have now coined the “Great American Songbook”, The Great American Songbook Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is unique in its focus and ambitious in its efforts to become the authority in regards to the history, culture and continuing artistic legacy of America’s original popular song. Learn more. I really wanted to like Andrea Levy’s The Long Song. The subject matter is interesting—the last years of slavery in Jamaica in the 1820s-30s—and Levy’s outstanding 2004 novel Small Island was one of my favourite British novels of the 2000s.

The Long Song by Andrea Levy | Fiction | The Guardian

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.” Andrea Levy was the author of six books, including Small Island, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and the Whitbread Book of the Year.She thankfully agreed. Then forsook the pleasures of cooking her cornmeal porridge, fish tea, and roasted breadfruit, of repairing and sowing our garments and other tasks which, in truth, were quite useful about our busy household, to put all her effort into this noble venture, this lasting legacy of a printed book. After the book was released, research by a family member proved just how personal The Long Song truly was. “It was all done and then my niece found out a lot about our own family history,” Levy explained. “She found out that my great grandfather was born a slave. His mother was a housekeeper on a plantation called Mesopotamia and her mother was a field slave called Minnie. We found out that my great, great-grandfather was from Gainsborough in Britain, his name was William Ridsguard and he was the attorney on the plantation, and he had a child with his house keeper...that child, Richard Ridsguard was my great grandfather.” 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.

The Long Song - Extracts and reviews Andrea Levy - The Long Song - Extracts and reviews

I loved Levy’s narrative structure in this one, as she really makes you think about storytelling as an act and how much we can trust written accounts. It’s written as though July herself is writing a book of her life, and through sections ‘written’ by her son Thomas we can see how July might want to censor or alter her own narrative. We have 9 read-alikes for The Long Song, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member. Jan 21 news There is a three-part PBS Masterpiece adaptation premiering tonight and going on through 14 Feb. The Long Song was filmed in the Dominican Republic, a setting that offered grueling hot days, but also surprising beauty. “It looked like a film set,” Hayley Atwell said. “When we were at that plantation house and there would be a sunset, there was a moment when we just stopped filming for a second, and everyone went onto the veranda…just look at these purples and oranges. The plantation was on this kind of hilly land and it looked like a carpet of neon green. It didn’t look real at all. It was a very lush place.” The Guardian: ‘I started to realise what fiction could be. And I thought, wow! You can take on the world’So I was able to assure my precious mama that I would be her most conscientious editor. I would raise life out of her most crabbed script to make her tale flow like some of the finest writing in the English language. And there was no shame to be felt from this assistance, for at some of the best publishing houses in Britain—let me cite Thomas Nelson and Son or Hodder and Stoughton, as my example—the gentle aiding and abetting of authors in this manner is quite commonplace. Despite hating the main character, July, as I think she was a spoiled brat who didn't appreciate what was given to her, I couldn't help but feel pity towards her. She did lead a hard life, as her choices were taken away from her even before she was born - although some of the choices she could make where not the best ones. But one must not judge, specially if never having been through a similar situation.