The Housing Lark is a fascinating story about a group of working class individuals struggling to find better and affordable housing. However, the trappings of poverty make their goal impossible to achieve.
Samuel Selvon enacts this tension in their lives while adding elements of comedy and witty one liner that serve to build these characters' personalities. He shines a light on migrant communities in London that are often overlooked and underrepresented in all walks of life. The short nature of the book works to assert the urgency of the situation that these characters are faced with.
Each character has been equally developed, and the author shies away from overshadowing any character. He opts to take us through each of their individual lives and their plights. This detailed character development brings the characters alive in such a unique way.
The author tackles racial injustice in a more intimate way when one of the characters is racially profiled and falsely imprisoned. These characters are however not without flaws, as they exude a level of toxic masculinity that distracts them and derails their plans to acquire a house.
The Housing Lark is a vibrant and comical take on the lives of immigrants in the 1950s London. The cultural struggle between the diverse pool of immigrants and the highly elite British is evident, as they both find it hard to understand one another.
