Mister Pip

By Lloyd Jones

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Average Rating: (See all 6 reviews) Format: Hardcover, 256 pages Published In: United States, August 2007 Intense, beautiful, and fable-like, Joness "Mister Pip" is a remarkable work of fiction that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the power of literature to transform lives. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. (Literary Fiction) Publisher: Dial Press ISBN: 0385341067 EAN: 9780385341066 Dimensions: 19.61 x 13.67 x 2.41 centimetres (0.32 kg)

After all the hype and publicity for this Booker Prize nominee I expected a lot more than what this book delivered. Set on a Pacific Island during civil war, the story slowly builds to a dramatic and brutal climax, and then peters out to a ending that neither satisfies the reader or makes a convincing conclusion.

Mister Pip presents a snapshot of island life during a turbulent period though the eyes of a young girl. Her education is through a battered copy of Great Expectations. The incredible contrast of Dicken's England and Island life is staggering, and the feelings the girl has for Pip and his world show the power of great literature to reach across barriers of time, space and culture. Mister Pip is an engaging and enjoyable read.

If you enjoy reading, I think you will really like this book. It celebrates the affect a book can have on people's lives. The little girl who lived the life of Pip from Dickens' tale is a character never to be forgotten. The descriptions of the poverty of the village,the cruelty of the warfare going on there and the lives of the villagers are most skillfully drawn.The schoolmaster who introduced the children to Great Expectations and the mother of the little girl who stands up for what she believes is right are memorable. This is a most readable book and a story you won't forget.

I would recommend this book as it is beautifully written however it is not quite what I expected... It is a pretty dark story and, in places, very disturbing. It is a timely reminder of the destructiveness and cruelty of war - in this case civil war. 'Mister Pip' shows only too well the very best and the very worst traits of man.

Mister Pip is one of the best pieces of original fiction that I have ever read. Lloyd Jones weaves a masterful novel of life on a tropical island during a civil war from the eyes of a young girl. The illusion of life on a tranquil island is shattered with a civil war breaking out over the nation, but as the fighting continues, life in a small village for a group of teenagers is help together by life of one Mister Pip from Charles Dicken's Great Expectations. A thoroughly genuine and thought provoking read truly worthy of the commonwealth writers prize.

This is a story about an insightful, intelligent 'Island' girl on the verge of adulthood. The story takes place on an island, somewhat like Bouganville-New Guinea during some kind of coup. The girl is starting to see the world in her own way and is forming her own ideas but she has to keep so much hidden from her overbearing, overprotective and old-fashioned values mother. By default the only white man on the island - an eccentric fellow with an island wife who has gone nuts, becomes their teacher and probably for lack of anything else to teach, he shares with them his love for the book Great Expectations. It's not surprising with the feelings of uncertainty about the future, isolation from the outside world and what must be a great deal of sheer boredom in the 'down times', the children escape into the world of Pip. The story follows the inner thoughts of this deep-thinking girl. This is an incredible book - like any book that nearly wins the Man Booker Prize should be! It is incredible that this novel was written by a middle aged New Zealand male - you wonder how on earth he is able to write a character like this so effortlessly. And it's great that the novel has nothing to do with NZ - i.e. he doesn't have to use his insider NZ cultural ticket to create believable characters.