The story:
The story is told by Angela Jacob, a young black woman, born and brought up on a council estate in England. The chapters alternate between Angela's childhood - from the first time she has her hair straightened to her first experiences of avocado and pizza - and her grim present where her father is dying of cancer. The switch between memories of the man who brought her up, to the reality of a man desperate not to die, engulfs the reader in a maze of emotion. Mr Jacob's progress through the NHS of the late 60's and encounters with professionals who don't care, is full of emotions.



Extract from book:
"...My dad was from Jamaica - born and bred. He came to this country in 1948 on the Empire Windrush ship. My mum joined him six months later in his one room in Earl's Court. He never talked about his family or his life in Jamaica. He seemed only to exist in one plane of time - the present. There is an old photo of him - grainy black and white that shows him dressed in an immaculate tailored suit with wide baggy trousers, wearing a shirt with a collar held by a pin, and a proper tie. His hair is short and well groomed. He is standing by a chair in the grounds of what looks to be a beautiful house. The photo looks like my dad as a 'Great Gatsby'- type millionaire. When I asked my dad about the photo that fascinated me, he would grudgingly admit that it was where he lived. But when I pressed him to tell me more he would shrug and tell me not to bother him. Or he'd suck his teeth and ask me why I was interested. He would ask this in the manner of somebody who does not want an answer - of somebody who would like you to leave them alone.
My dad had a job with the Post Office. He'd been in the same job for as long as I knew him. But I couldn't tell you what he did or who he did it with. I'm afraid I can't tell you if he enjoyed his work - if he longed to go every day because it brought him fulfilment and happiness - or whether he dreaded every morning and watched the clock until he could leave. I can't tell you because I don't know. My dad was a man and men didn't talk about their work. It was a secret between him and his wage packet. If you asked him what he did at work, he'd shrug and say that he worked for the Post Office.
My dad called my mum 'Mum' and my mum called my dad 'Dad'. I was about ten years old before I know their actual names - Winston and Beryl. My dad didn't like anyone to know his name. It was another secret. If we said it in public he would look embarrassed and tell us not to say it again. And if we said it too loudly at home he would tell us to be quiet. As for my dad's age - well that was shrug-shoulders age, that was absolutely-none-of-my-business age, that was don't-bother-me age. ..."

About the author:
Andrea Levy was born in London, England in 1956 to Jamaican parents. Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Every Light in the House Burnin' (1994), is the story of a Jamaican family living in London in the 1960s. Her second, Never Far From Nowhere (1996), is set during the 1970s and tells the story of two very different sisters living on a London council estate. In her third, Fruit of the Lemon (1999), Faith Jackson, a young black Londoner, visits Jamaica after suffering a nervous breakdown and discovers a previously unknown personal history.
Small Island, her fourth novel,(2004), is set in 1948 and through the stories of both English and Jamaican characters it explores a point in England's past when the country began to change.

Buchdaten:
EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN' by Andrea Levy
Sprache: Englisch
Taschenbuch - 250 Seiten - Review
Erscheinungsdatum: 23. Februar 1995
ISBN: 074724653X
Preis: € 11,63



More works from the same author:

hier online bestellen Fruit of the Lemon	hier online bestellen Small Island