Mister Pip

Really enjoyed this book. Made me laugh out loud at some points and sad at others. Thoroughly recommended

Brilliant (0/0 people found this helpful)

I loved this book. From the first page I didn't want to put the book down. Before I had finished the book I had to look again at the author's details because I felt that I was reading an autobiographical account. The story of Mathilda is expertly woven with the story of Great Expectations like a tapestry and becomes the story of parallel lives. In parts it becomes shocking. I can see why the ending may disappoint - but the truth is - we never know what the future holds so there could be no dramatic ending, but even this relates to the story of PIP. Congrats to the author on a wonderful story.

A fine concept that falls down with flat prose (1/1 people found this helpful)

It is 1990 and fourteen year old Matilda is living in a remote village on the Papuan island of Bougainville. Deep in the bush, she and her fellow villagers are remote from a civil war that grips the island, although the periodic appearance of rebel soldiers is a reminder of the horrors they all face. In these troubled times, Mr Watts, a local teacher and the only white man around keeps up morale through his teaching. But everything is not as it seems, and Matilda's bland retelling of events (presumably while in her twenties) lulls the reader into a false sense of security.

I really wanted to like this book and the idea behind it is a nice one. However, Lloyd Jones doesn't quite bring it off. The central premise is that Mr Watts keeps the village's children going through his powerful telling of Dickens' Great Expectations. But he never really gets articulates the power of Watts' teaching; instead we get a periodic dissection of one of English literature's finest books, which tells us nothing.

The flat prose presumably gives Matilda `her voice', but there is nothing enchanting or particularly beguiling about it. Even the intermittent moments of action and savagery are told in a flat, matter-of-fact way. After a while it all becomes a bit dull and you start counting the pages still to go.

Indeed, the narrator's emotional detachment is the strangest thing about this book: at times it feels as if you're reading the work of a French existentialist, rather than what is sold by the publishers as some sort of modern fairy tale. Everything seems so matter of fact. Events are retold, but there's little analysis. I won't give away the dreadful conclusion to life in Bougainville, but Matilda's culpability is dismissed in a paragraph, and her father's is not considered at all.

In sum, this is an adequate novel, possibly a worthy Booker nominee, although the judges would have got it very wrong to give it the winning accolade. If you expect something life affirming or great, however, this is the wrong book.

a coming of age in the shadow of civil war (3/3 people found this helpful)

Matilda is delightful as the teenage narrator. This is in part her coming of age story. Matilda lives on a Pacific Island, where because of the civil war, the school has been closed and only one white man remains in Matilda s village, the rather eccentric Mr Watts. Mr Watts admits to being no teacher but chooses to reopen the school using Dickens' Great Expectations as his teaching tool. Matilda and the other youngsters are enthralled by Pip's tale, its background so alien to their own. Mr Watts also invites the parents of the children to share their knowledge with the children. Matilda's mother is suspicious of Mr Watts and his lack of faith, her treasured possession being her Pidgin bible. Matilda is torn between her mother's faith and the inspirational Dickensian world of Pip being opened up for her by Mr Watts.
The tale gets darker as the shadow of war comes closer to the village. At first it is tales of the "redskins" (government troops) dropping rebels out of helicopters out at sea or onto the treetops. Then the village is visited first by the rebels, known as rambos, and then by the redskins, with tragic consequences.
The last thirty pages adds little to the story, telling of what Matilda did after leaving the island. A pity, had the book ended earlier it may have merited 5 stars.
If you liked this book you may enjoy Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, which has some very similar themes.

Uplifting - confirms the power of literature (0/1 people found this helpful)

Oh, I did so enjoy reading this book, which is one of my favourite reads of the year. It's an uplifting story of what different cultures can offer one another, told through the narrative constructed by Matilda, a girl on an island. She studies Great Expectations with her teacher, Mr Watts, because it is the only teaching text available to him. It reinforced my appreciation of Great Expectations and offered me lots of insights besides. It was just what I was hoping it would be after I heard about it as a Richard and Judy contender - it might have been clever and academic, but the writer, Lloyd Jones, avoided that danger and made it accessible and entrancing. I wish I could read it again for the first time, and I am definitely going to look out for the rest of his work now. Jones has a simple style which conveys complex ideas in dazzlingly attractive prose. Wonderful.

Lloyd Jones

Reader Reviews:

Recommended (0/0 people found this helpful)

Brilliant (0/0 people found this helpful)

A fine concept that falls down with flat prose (1/1 people found this helpful)

a coming of age in the shadow of civil war (3/3 people found this helpful)

Uplifting - confirms the power of literature (0/1 people found this helpful)

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