Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
This was a sad but well written story about a girl in Papúa New Guinea whose life was heavily affected by a teacher that introduced her to dickens, but also destroyed by the rebels. The writing was very compelling and would especially appeal to fans of charles dickens. However, in terms of topic, it does have a heavy white savior complex that I was not on board with.
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book really made me think about human behavior in terrifying situations. It also made me think about the power of literature and the meaning that literature holds for us each individually. I will say I found it a bit unbelievable that kids and teens would find Great Expectations so fascinating, but I never liked Dickens much. And the ending of the book helped with that a little.
I read this two years ago and liked it at the time, but it hasn't sat well with me since then. I'm no longer interested in books where a white guy brings "culture" to indigenous people. I'd rather read indigenous people telling their own stories.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An interesting take on the role of the Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, in the context of an unspecified island location, wracked with violence, civil war and death. It felt like it could have been written about a period at the beginning of the 20th century at first but it's clear as the novel progresses that it's much more contemporary. The book really became most interesting when the main character begins to look back as an adult, but at that stage, it sweeps quickly over what happened in between and, in my view, missed a trick. It helps to be familiar with the Dickens' novel, to follow much of the allusion.
I always feel a little bad for rating a book 1 star when I didn't actively hate it (and most other times, let's be honest). But as it stands: I did not like this book and I would not have finished it, if it wasn't so short.
I'm of the opinion that anyone is allowed to write about anything, so when I say this book about a young black girl from Bougainville immediately read like it was written from a middle-aged white man, I mean this purely as a literary criticism. So yeah, the white man who becomes her teacher and reads Dickens to her, does smell a bit of a white savior. But I'd ignore this if I really was into the story. But I wasn't. It never really clicked or came alive to me. The prose itself is simple, does its job. I just didn't buy the characters or the story of a young girl and a whole class being so enthralled by "Great Expectations". It probably didn't help that I hated(!) that book myself. So yeah, then there's a little horror and a bit of death, and I felt nothing. Just not my cup of tea.
I'm of the opinion that anyone is allowed to write about anything, so when I say this book about a young black girl from Bougainville immediately read like it was written from a middle-aged white man, I mean this purely as a literary criticism. So yeah, the white man who becomes her teacher and reads Dickens to her, does smell a bit of a white savior. But I'd ignore this if I really was into the story. But I wasn't. It never really clicked or came alive to me. The prose itself is simple, does its job. I just didn't buy the characters or the story of a young girl and a whole class being so enthralled by "Great Expectations". It probably didn't help that I hated(!) that book myself. So yeah, then there's a little horror and a bit of death, and I felt nothing. Just not my cup of tea.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Setting: Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea
Author: Born in New Zealand
Mister Pip is a novel set in the tropical island of Papua New Guinea. It is in the 1990s and the island is struck by a civil war. All the white people have left, except for one - Mr. Watts. Matilda, the main character, narrates the story of how Mr. Watts takes up the task to teach school children. His classes consist of reading out loud [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161110563s/2623.jpg|2612809] by Charles Dickens and the adventures of Mr. Pip fascinate the children. However, not everyone approves of the novel (including Matilda's mother) and the islands inhabitants is affected by cruelty of a civil war.
The book itself is very poetic and beautiful. The descriptions are sometimes gorgeous and Jones also bring about the cultural differences between the islands inhabitants and Mr. Watts. Matilda's voice seem honest and innocent but at the same time, since there is a war going on, you catch glimpses of the horror that is to come. The novel didn't fail in both touching me, making me smile and shocking me and making me want to cry.
This could have been an amazing read and even a 5 star. It had the language, the plot, the characters and everything that a good book need. The reason why I gave it 3 stars however, is because of the inconsistency. The second half of the book felt rushed and different and whilst I'm sure the author did so on purpose, I felt that it was out of place and perhaps too sudden. I'm also a bit critical about the stereotypical views that are brought forward regarding the characters.
Quotable Quotes
"I had found a new friend. The surprising thing is where I’d found him - not up a tree or sulking in the shade, or splashing around in one of the hill streams, but in a book. No one had told us kids to look there for a friend. Or that you could slip inside the skin of another. Or travel to another place with marshes, and where, to our ears, the bad people spoke like pirates."
"At night we listened to gunfire. There were no battles. This was the loose gunfire of rambos drunk on jungle juice trying to scare the redskins. They took aim at the stars and blasted up through the tree-tops."
"You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wall paper is in flames. "
"I suppose it is possible to be all of these things. To sort of fall out of who you are into another, as well as to journey back to some essential sense of self. We only see what we see. He was whatever he needed to be, what we asked him to be. Perhaps there are lives like that—they pour into whatever space we have made ready for them to fill."
"I had discovered that the plainest house can crown a fantasy or daydream. An open window can be tolerated. So can an open door. But I discovered the value of four walls and a roof. Something about containment that at the same time offers escape."
"Dreams are nervy things—all it takes is for one stern word to be spoken in their direction and they shrivel up and die. "
"We were young. Everyone was young in those days. That’s the main complaint you hear from people who are getting old. You stop seeing young people. You begin to wonder if there are any left and whether there were only young people when you were young."
Author: Born in New Zealand
Mister Pip is a novel set in the tropical island of Papua New Guinea. It is in the 1990s and the island is struck by a civil war. All the white people have left, except for one - Mr. Watts. Matilda, the main character, narrates the story of how Mr. Watts takes up the task to teach school children. His classes consist of reading out loud [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161110563s/2623.jpg|2612809] by Charles Dickens and the adventures of Mr. Pip fascinate the children. However, not everyone approves of the novel (including Matilda's mother) and the islands inhabitants is affected by cruelty of a civil war.
The book itself is very poetic and beautiful. The descriptions are sometimes gorgeous and Jones also bring about the cultural differences between the islands inhabitants and Mr. Watts. Matilda's voice seem honest and innocent but at the same time, since there is a war going on, you catch glimpses of the horror that is to come. The novel didn't fail in both touching me, making me smile and shocking me and making me want to cry.
This could have been an amazing read and even a 5 star. It had the language, the plot, the characters and everything that a good book need. The reason why I gave it 3 stars however, is because of the inconsistency. The second half of the book felt rushed and different and whilst I'm sure the author did so on purpose, I felt that it was out of place and perhaps too sudden. I'm also a bit critical about the stereotypical views that are brought forward regarding the characters.
Quotable Quotes
"I had found a new friend. The surprising thing is where I’d found him - not up a tree or sulking in the shade, or splashing around in one of the hill streams, but in a book. No one had told us kids to look there for a friend. Or that you could slip inside the skin of another. Or travel to another place with marshes, and where, to our ears, the bad people spoke like pirates."
"At night we listened to gunfire. There were no battles. This was the loose gunfire of rambos drunk on jungle juice trying to scare the redskins. They took aim at the stars and blasted up through the tree-tops."
"You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wall paper is in flames. "
"I suppose it is possible to be all of these things. To sort of fall out of who you are into another, as well as to journey back to some essential sense of self. We only see what we see. He was whatever he needed to be, what we asked him to be. Perhaps there are lives like that—they pour into whatever space we have made ready for them to fill."
"I had discovered that the plainest house can crown a fantasy or daydream. An open window can be tolerated. So can an open door. But I discovered the value of four walls and a roof. Something about containment that at the same time offers escape."
"Dreams are nervy things—all it takes is for one stern word to be spoken in their direction and they shrivel up and die. "
"We were young. Everyone was young in those days. That’s the main complaint you hear from people who are getting old. You stop seeing young people. You begin to wonder if there are any left and whether there were only young people when you were young."
The historical backdrop of this book is really interesting but I don't know if the book really held me enough from an emotional standpoint to really appreciate the horrifying brutality of where the book goes.