Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Release date: 2008 / 272 pages
Synopsis (from the Washington Post): On an island called Bougainville in the early 1990s, civil war rages. Rebels have taken up arms, and soldiers helicopter in from nearby Port Moresby to reestablish New Guinea’s sovereignty over the island. All the whites have fled except one: Mr. Watts, a New Zealander married to a local woman. He offers to replace the departed teacher and reopen the village school; on the second day of class, he begins to read Great Expectations aloud. Suddenly, the village’s children have a refuge from the incomprehensible conflict engulfing their world.
First line: “Everyone called him Pop Eye.”
Review: Whew! How to review this wonderful, tragic, hopeful, heart-breaking work? What is this novel about… The power of literature, the power of inhabiting a character and allowing that character to inhabit us, the pain of love, the importance of family bonds, the importance of our past, the hope of creating an identity, a future, a life… I could go on and on – the better question is what is this novel NOT about??
First, a thank you to Priscilla who guided me to Mister Pip due to my love of Great Expectations. Somehow, this novel had escaped my radar and what a loss that would have been! My love of Dickens — and of Great Expectations in particular — knows no bounds. I taught it to reluctant 9th graders for over a decade and never, ever tired of it — even those few years I had to teach it twice a year on the ill-fated block schedule. I so loved this novel that I would find myself reading much of it aloud, knowing the power of Pip’s story would eventually entrance my students and hopefully encourage them to continue silently reading at night.
So, Matilda’s immediate connection to this great novel had me with a lump in my throat throughout much of the beginning… But here’s the beauty of this novel — while knowing about Pip and Estelle and Joe Gargery will certainly add to your enjoyment of Mister Pip, you do not have to share Matilda’s passion. In fact, if you felt forced to read Dickens and merely waded through his circuitous prose (he was paid by the word, after all), you will still enjoy this novel on many, many other levels.
However, please note that it was short-listed for the Man Booker prize — so light, optimistic, fluffy it is NOT. For whatever reason, Man Booker choices tend to be brutal — and Mister Pip is that. Plus, the brutality may feel sudden and unexpected (at least to this naive reader). I listened to this on CD and sobbed on one commute, nearly blinded by tears, with a desire to drive into a tree. Seriously. So, please do not be lulled by Dickens’ relatively safe, Victorian world into thinking this will be similar. Mister Pip is set in the 1990′s and embraces the reality of terrorism and the bleakest darkness imaginable.
However, I am so very glad I read this and do recommend it. It would have received my Booker vote, as it seemed flawless in its execution and in the imprint it left on my heart. Anyone else love — or loathe — this?
I haven’t read this, nor have I read Great Expectations, but I’ve heard it’s good. I didn’t know that it was a Booker finalist! That makes me more eager to read it, though depressing it may be.
Thank you for your beautiful review.
I was entralled by this book and found it to be one the best I have read in a while. I was totally transported to island life and the sudden brutality and turns of plot took my breath away. Making characters into family and/or friends is something that fascinated me as a child and still does today (I’m 66 now). Matilda was hard to let go of, as was Mr. Watts. The villagers were a study in human nature…
Thanks again. Mary L-G
Hi Mary! I’m so glad you were as affected by this novel as I was… So powerful! Thank you for stopping by and reminding me how much I enjoyed this work!