Stephen Kelman

Pigeon English is the story of 11 year old Harrison Opoku, a recent immigrant from Ghana. He, his mother and older sister have recently moved to a flat in a rough part of London, while his father, grandmother and little sister are still in Ghana hoping to move soon, too. When an older boy is stabbed to death, Harri's and a friend decide to do their own version of the TV show CSI and find the killer.

The novel is told (mostly) from Harri's point of view. It is here that I can see why the book show more has been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Through Harri's narration, we end up understanding more than he does about what it going on around him. I think this works in places, and in others have a harder time believing he'd be that naïve, even at his age. His enthusiasm and energy come through, as do his sometimes conflicting desires to be safe/fit in vs to be good/truer to himself. Without his father in the home, Harri feels it is his role to protect, to be the man of the family. Yet at 11 years old and in a tough neighborhood where gangs are a part of everyday life, this is not easy. Not to mention, he's just a kid - he wants to use reward money if they solve the crime to buy a Playstation, he likes to run, he's discovering girls...

There are also interludes narrated by a pigeon that watches over Harri. It took some time for these to work for me, but I slowly came around to the metaphor and the role in the story.

I knew the book had a lot of hype, and that tends to make me wary. That said, it is a good first novel, yes, with its flaws and not a particularly surprising ending, but a voice and story that kept me interested throughout. show less

This Booker Prize longlisted novel is narrated by Harrison Opuku, an 11 year old boy who has recently emigrated to an impoverished south London neighborhood along with his mother and older sister, while his father and baby sister remain behind in Ghana. His mother works long hours as a midwife, and he and his sister Lydia are left mainly to fend for themselves. Harri is a good boy, although a bit naïve in comparison to his classmates and the boys in the neighborhood. He lacks a father or show more other adult male authority figure that he can relate to, and falls under the influence of a local gang of older boys who terrorize younger kids in his school and conduct random acts of violence in the neighborhood, with little deterrence from the adults who live there or the local police, who are generally viewed as incompetent and hostile.

The novel opens with the stabbing death of a schoolboy on a sidewalk near Harri's flat. Harri does not know the boy well, as he is older and goes to another school, but he and his friends vow to find out who murdered him. Inspired by the American television show CSI, the boys use their fledging detective skills to spy on potential suspects and gather fingerprints and other specimens from the crime scene. Harri is generally well liked by his classmates, as he is a fast runner and a good fighter, and he eagerly participates in typical boyhood pranks and games. His home life is a bit dull, as his older sister finds him to be a bother, and he befriends a pigeon who serves as a companion, confidant, and guardian angel.

As the story progresses, the identity of the boy's killer is obvious to the reader, but not to Harri, whose investigation intensifies as he gathers more clues and puts himself in danger.

[Pigeon English] was written in honor of Damilola Taylor, a 10 year old Nigerian boy who was murdered in 2000 in the south London neighborhood of Peckham, along with other children in the UK who experience fear and violence on a daily basis, and is also based on the author's own childhood experiences and people he encountered as a child and young adult. Harrison's voice and character are maddening, lovable, and ultimately unforgettable, and this is one of the better coming of age stories that I've read. The novel's main flaw is the character of the guardian pigeon, whose comments I found inscrutable and whose presence was unnecessary and distracting, which caused me to knock half a star off of my rating of this otherwise superb novel. It is also a very timely one, given the recent acts of violence in impoverished neighborhoods in south London and elsewhere. I doubt that Pigeon English will win this year's Booker Prize or even make the shortlist, but it is a novel that was enjoyable and deserves to be widely read. show less

Toward the end of this novel, I started to feel like I knew what was coming, but I still wasn't prepared for the ending. I won't spoil anything here, but this is an emotional experience from first line to last and one has to pay attention to see what's happening. Kelman has given us a child-narrator through whose eyes we see the immigrant experience; Harri, the narrator, is a boy from Ghana, living in tower (project) housing in London with part of his mother and sister. He interacts with his show more local family, his father and other family members back in Ghana, and his friends and enemies in London while we, the readers, watch from inside Harri's head. The paths of the narrative are often as random as conversations with 11-12 year old kids can be -- Harri's mind jumps from murder to tennis shoes to pigeons and back to death without warning or transition. Some reader's will not care for this narrative style -- as with Emma Donoghue's 'Room', it takes some time to get used to how this book 'reads', not only because of the narration but also because of the African-English dialect terms (hence, pigeon english) and slang patterns that may be unfamiliar -- but those who make the effort to pay attention will be engaged and intrigued.

On the surface, this appears to be a murder-mystery, but the mystery doesn't last all that long and the story becomes much more about life, about family, and about one child growing up in one particular summer in one particular place. As with many coming-of-age stories, there are familiar patterns followed -- fights, discoveries, kissing, etc. all come in to play at one point or another -- but nothing in this novel feels stale or trite, even in those moments when things feel familiar. Those looking for a cozy, resolved story should keep looking, but for others, this sometimes rambling, sometimes plotless, but always quick and interesting novel is well worth the time. Let this one get under your skin a little. show less

I got bored at places through this one, but it's really a marvelous coming-of-age story blended with social commentary seated within gang wars in London. Harri is a Year 7, immigrant from Ghana, fast runner and friend of pigeons. He and his friend, Dean, play detective, hoping they can discover who committed the murder of a young boy in the projects. The story moves between sweet descriptions of Harri's discovery of love (and sex), and his concern for his sisters and mother, his natural show more desire to be "dope-fine" (which means having the right trainers and never showing fear on the playground), and stark presentations of the gang "warfare" around him. Yes, there is a pigeon who also shares his perspective, predictably wiser and more philosophical than the human perspectives. That part didn't quite ring true for me through the novel, but in the end it's a device that works.

It seems that we are surrounded with adolescent narrators these days; Harri will stay with me. His description of the world around him, blending his innocence with a sort of 11-year-old wisdom (you know, the wisdom born of innocence), is really quite captivating, amusing, ironic, and sad.

I recommend this book. I recommend staying with it even when you feel like giving it up. show less