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Loading... Mister Pip (original 2006; edition 2007)by Lloyd Jones
Work InformationMister Pip by Lloyd Jones (2006)
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I saw this pass through the library a year ago or so, and I thought it looked interesting. But since Great Expectations figures so heavily into the plot, I didn't want to read it until I had read Great Expectations. So yeah, I read Great Expectations so I could read this book. It was about time I'd read some Dickens anyway, and I'm glad I read it. Reading this book, I learned about a horrible piece of history I'd never heard anything about, the Bougainville conflict in Papua New Guinea in the 90's. In this setting of fear and violence, Mister Pip takes place. Mister Pip is told from the point of view of a teenager, Matilda, who has become enamored of Pip and his world. It's an escape for many of the children who are read to by the only white man left on the island, Mr. Watts. It's a story of resilience but also of misdirected hostility and senseless violence. What happens in Matilda's village is at times a reflection of the larger conflict in her country and at times a reflection of the plot of the novel she has come to love and use as an escape. I recommend it, with the warning that it delivers some heavy punches to the stomach, and you might be a little wrecked after reading it. Mister Pip by the New Zealand author Lloyd Jones offers a story of how one brave but unassuming man keeps his village together during a time of brutal civil war through his lessons to the town’s children. HIs biggest interest is in the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens with which he mesmerizes the town’s children while the unspeakable horrors of war surround their tiny village. The teacher, Mr. Watts had been an enigma to the town as its only white resident amid a clan of black local residents. He is an unlikely hero, yet provides the emotional rudder for the town’s people as they come into the crosshairs of two competing and ruthless jungle warriors. His love of Dickens invades the hearts and souls of the children, most notably central character Matilda who never loses her interest of passion for Dickens. The war surrounding the village is brutal. The towns people lose all of their possessions to the rebel force which later returns to even destroy their homes. Later in the story, the rival force wrecks even more havoc, scarring the children with nightmarish memories they will struggle with for the rest of their lives. The book is strong in its portrayal of war, of the poverty of native peoples, of the beliefs and superstitions of the people and it portrayal of the violence they endure. The book converts through its story a love of the works of Charles Dickens which he has portrayed through this engaging story. I came across the book while visiting New Zealand where I asked a used book store owner for his recommendation. I was able to read the entire novel during the long airline flight I had after my visit to this gorgeous island nation had ended. Thus I returned home with both gift of a fine vacation, a good book and an author I would not have experienced had I not stopped into that bookstore.
if “Mister Pip” is preachy — and it is — it’s also a book with worthwhile thoughts to impart. Mr. Jones’s ability to translate these thoughts into the gentle, tropical, roundabout idiom of his setting (“braids remind us that sometimes it is hard to know where goodness ends and badness begins”) turns out to be genuinely affecting. Jones covered it as a journalist, and this delicate fable never shies away from the realities of daily life shadowed by violence..... In this dazzling story-within-a-story, Jones has created a microcosm of post-colonial literature, hybridising the narratives of black and white races to create a new and resonant fable. On an island split by war, it is a story that unites....There is a fittingly dreamy, lyrical quality to Jones's writing, along with an acute ear for the earthy harmonies of village speech... Mister Pip is the first of Jones's six novels to have travelled from his native New Zealand to the UK. It is to be hoped that it won't be the last. Has the adaptationWas inspired byAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, on which survival is a daily struggle, eccentric Mr. Watts, the only white man left after the other teachers flee, spends his day reading to the local children from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Penguin Australia2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia. Editions: 1921145579, 1921520248 Recorded BooksAn edition of this book was published by Recorded Books. |
If you're prepared to believe that such a story could be written without the author being guilty of a nostalgic fondness for the alleged civilizing mission of the British Empire, or on the other hand possibly embodying the fantasies of white liberal academia saving the world to assuage its white liberal guilt, you could well identify with Matilda as she finds refuge for her mind in a great work of literature in the midst of a bad personal situation. Yes, many novels have been written on this general theme, because it is surely a not too uncommon real life thing, especially in the sub-population of authors and avid readers, one suspects. This one may not offer much that is new to the genre, other than its unusual setting in Papau New Guinea, but it is well done.
You might also want to be aware that the novel is in fact written in the voice of Matilda many years after the events that unfolded when she was a girl, after she has become a refugee in Australia, gone to university, and embarked on writing a graduate thesis. This might prevent you from complaining that the book's voice doesn't sound like it is coming from a young girl of little education. ( )