Enthralling. Evocative. Gripping. Shocking. Alluring. These and more are the adjectives I would use to describe Lloyd Jones' coming-of-age novel, Mister Pip. There are not too many books to which I would apply such adjectives to, but from the beginning, this Commonwealth Prize-winning book kept me riveted.
Set against the backdrop of a bloody civil war in the beautifully-named Bougainville Island, Mister Pip is narrated by Matilda, a young girl of 14, whose life is changed forever by the war, the appearance of Mr Watts or Pop-Eye, the only white man on a black island, who becomes her teacher, and their reading of the Dickens classic, Great Expectations. Pip is the protagonist in Dickens' novel, and he is a powerful presence in Jones' novel too. Mr Watts reads aloud Great Expectations to his eager class. His reading of the novel causes a tense conflict between Matilda's devil-fearing mother and Mr Watts's own assertion of the devil's non-existence.
What follows through the novel is bit complex for me to explain. Because Jones has masterfully interwoven one story into another such that you scarcely know if you are in Dickens' world or yours. Yet, in both you are made painfully aware, as a reader, the crassness of human beings, and how that same crassness can elevate the spirit in us. Between the 'rambos,' the rebels, and the 'redskins,' and the florid beauty of the island, we are treated to some exquisitely drawn characters who touch you, talk to you, and leave a piece of them in your mind. And there was one passage in the book that shocked me like no other book has. Shocked me out a lull of reading gentle words on a Saturday afternoon. Left me blood-shocked.
To answer that famously irritating question : what is the book about? Is it a book about survival? Yes. Is it a book about love? Yes. Is it a book about war? Yes. Is it a book about redemption and forgiveness? Yes. Is it a book about the magic of reading? Yes. Is it a book about standards, principles and morals? Yes. Is it a book about sacrifice? Yes. I was inspired enough to begin reading Great Expectations.
Mister Pip is no doomed story about vanquished hope. It offers solace. Mr Watts encouraged his young wards to listen to their voice, to convince them that it is that voice that makes us unique, after we have lost everything, we still have a voice. We have imagination. We can read and thus it is that literature can elevate us. I cannot agree more. Read Mister Pip. You will find a voice worth reading.
Verdict: Riveting literature.
Rating: 5/5
Watch the book trailer for Mister Pip here:
No comments:
Post a Comment