FRUIT OF THE LEMON

Book ID/图书代码： 03640905B09408

English Summary/英文概要： Imagine being born and raised in a place but getting continual clues—some subtle and some not so subtle—that you don’t entirely belong there. And imagine simultaneously being told, sometimes blatantly, sometimes tacitly, that the place where you do belong is a faraway island where you’ve never set foot.

That’s the situation facing narrator Faith Jackson, the London-born daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents in Andrea Levy’s 1999 novel, Fruit of the Lemon, now enjoying its first publication in the United States.

Faith, growing up in north London, naturally considers herself English. A recent graduate from art college, she lives in a group house with three English friends—all white—and she gets a quiet kick out of being at the heart of British pop culture, thanks to her job in the wardrobe department of a television studio.

Still, on two fronts, she keeps getting small shocks that undermine her sense of self. There are minor flurries at work, including an exchange with a colleague who laments sympathetically—if not necessarily accurately—that Faith will never get the promotion she wants because of her color. Faith’s reaction to this and other situations like it is to take the high road, put on her “best `I’ve-got-a-degree’ accent” and assure every stranger she meets that she’s just like them. But when she and one of her housemates stumble onto an ugly hate-crime scene, she’s shaken to the core.

At the same time, on the home front, her parents deliver a different kind of blow. They are, they say, considering returning home to Jamaica—not just for a visit but for good. To which Faith can only respond, “Why Jamaica? Why is Jamaica home?”

Everything combines to wear her down to the point where she can’t function. Soon her parents step in and half-coerce her into following the only remedy they can think of—two weeks in Jamaica so she can step outside herself and get a better notion of where she and her family came from.

Her first reaction upon arrival in Kingston is culture shock. (The term, Faith feels, is hardly adequate to “the feelings of panic and terror” she’s experiencing.) Gradually, however, she yields more willingly to her Jamaican surroundings, especially her Aunt Coral’s tales of near and distant relatives in the Jackson family tree.

Fruit of the Lemon falls into two neat halves—the first dealing with Faith’s growing disorientation in her native England, the second chronicling her slow regaining of confidence in Jamaica.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 完美編織跨越海洋與生命的故事…安卓利亞的純熟與靈巧令讀者震顫...

想像一下在你土生土長的地方，你時不時地會得到明示或暗示說你「不」屬於這塊土地。別人有時在有意無意中對你提起你所屬的地方，是那一片從未踏足過的遙遠他鄉。
本書故事中的敍述者Faith Jackson出生在英國倫敦，是牙買加移民的女兒。土生土長在倫敦北部的Faith，理所當然會認為自己是個英國人。剛剛從藝術學院畢業的她和三位白人好友共租一間房，由於Faith的工作是在電視臺的衣帽間，因此總覺得自己身處英國流行文化的邊緣地帶。
Faith常常受到程度不一的驚嚇，長久下來，自我感覺愈來愈差，工作上的挫敗感也越來越強。一位同事告訴她由於膚色種族，Faith永遠不會獲得升遷。對於這種情況，Faith常常滿不在乎且自信滿滿。但當Faith和一位室友意外目睹一場醜陋的犯罪場景後，她的確受到驚嚇。
此外，Faith的父母也給了她當頭一喝。他們在考慮著是否要搬回牙買加，回到屬於自己的地方。而Faith只能滿臉疑惑地問：“為什麼是牙買加？為什麼牙買加才是真正的家鄉？” 所有的一切都不在Faith的掌控中。很快她的父母以半要脅的態度要Faith在兩周內一同回到牙買加，只有這樣她才能深刻瞭解自己的出身。
一到牙買加首都金斯頓，Faith就遭遇到強烈的文化衝擊；但漸漸地，Faith被這個國家深深吸引，尤其是阿姨Coral所講的那些遠親近親的故事更是讓Faith唏噓不已。
Fruit of the Lemon完全可以分成兩個部分，第一部分講述了Faith在英國環境下成長所遭遇的誤解；第二部分則以Faith如何在祖國牙買加漸漸找回自信心為故事主軸。(RH & KC)

Awards/获奖情况：．榮獲2004年柑橘獎（Orange Prize for Fiction）
．榮獲2004年惠特比獎（Whitbread Novel Award）
．榮獲2004年惠特比獎年度書籍（Whitbread Book of the Year）
．榮獲2005年柑橘獎十年之最（Orange of Oranges Prize）
．榮獲2005年不列顛國協作家獎最佳書籍獎（Commonwealth Writers Prize）

About the Author/作者介绍： 安卓利亞出生於英國倫敦，父母是牙買加人，在她30多歲參加寫作研討會後開始小說創作。她熱衷閱讀那些描寫英國黑人經歷的娛樂小說，從而近距離地敏銳觀察英國不斷變化的人口組成，以及英國與加勒比海在歷史上的親密關係。網站：www.andrealevy.co.uk/
作品列表
THE LONG SONG
FRUIT OF THE LEMON
SMALL ISLAND
EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN
NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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