MR. PIP

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It's a hit!

I was given this book about 2 months ago and for some reason had held back on reading it.
I'm sorry I did because having started it I found it very... (show more)

I was given this book about 2 months ago and for some reason had held back on reading it.
I'm sorry I did because having started it I found it very hard to put down. It is such an unusual book. Written around Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, it made me really feel that I was on the island with Matilda. I thought that Popeye was a wonderfully mysterious character and there had to be a big story behind his life and I kept hoping that it would be revealed. It was.
The violence was horrid. At first I thought the violence would be restricted to that done to the dog, but then there seemed to be an inevitability about the whole thing.
I found the last third of the book somewhat less than satisfying. I would have liked the father's character to have been coloured in more. Why did he never return to the island? etc.
But a brilliant book. Really look forward to reading another book by Lloyd Jones if this is an accurate example of his writing (show less)

 

 

by Mitch Coote

No, it's a flop!

A bit simplistic and tame given the serious violence and political tensions of the story. Granted the story is told through the eyes of Matilda, a ... (show more)

A bit simplistic and tame given the serious violence and political tensions of the story. Granted the story is told through the eyes of Matilda, a young girl no more than 13 when the book begins, yet somehow the severity of the situation on their small island is underscored by the innocence and childlike nature of the main character. Even as Matilda grows older there is something missing emotionally missing throughout her story. The emotions felt forced and unnatural whether it be joyous, fearful or sad.

I wanted to feel more compassion and empathy for the characters but the lack of character development prevented me from doing so. Also, the author could have spent a little more time explaining the war or rebel fighting that was taking place on the island. I never fully understood who was fighting who, what or why. I probably wouldn't recommend this title to others. (show less)

 

 

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  I liked this. In the first part of the book, I felt like I was on the island with Matilda. It was an accurate description of the tension between a mother and her teen daughter...the hiding of facts, feelings and actions on both parts (for very different reasons). The idea that a book can transform a person..as an escape from reality, to change your identity/existence, or to change your outlook on life...is appealing. The shocking turn of events that occurs was hard for me to absorb; they... (show more)

  I liked this. In the first part of the book, I felt like I was on the island with Matilda. It was an accurate description of the tension between a mother and her teen daughter...the hiding of facts, feelings and actions on both parts (for very different reasons). The idea that a book can transform a person..as an escape from reality, to change your identity/existence, or to change your outlook on life...is appealing. The shocking turn of events that occurs was hard for me to absorb; they happened so fast and were recounted so dispassionately that it was jarring. Matilda's subsequent journey beyond the island was interesting, but it seems that so much time was spent getting TO that point that her travels and discoveries afterwards just seem like an afterthought. I would have liked to have known more deeply just exactly how all those realities (the learning of the history of PopEye and the travels to Dickens' England) changed her and her perceptions. The story just seemed like it ended too quickly..almost as if the author got bored with writing it. But I would recommend this book..it was a quick and enjoyable. (show less)

   

   

  by Kathy Harrington Kraemer on Apr 13, 2009 at 01:21AM

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  A unique story, set in a beautiful tropical island in the 1990's. Political strife has left the village with no teacher, and Mr Watts, an eccentric and only white man, steps in. He reads the class "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, with very unexpected results. Beautifully written from first person perspective, we hear the tale through Matilda's ears and eyes, a 13 year old native girl. She is a wonderfully character who will be remembered for a long time. This novel has ... (show more)

  A unique story, set in a beautiful tropical island in the 1990's. Political strife has left the village with no teacher, and Mr Watts, an eccentric and only white man, steps in. He reads the class "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, with very unexpected results. Beautifully written from first person perspective, we hear the tale through Matilda's ears and eyes, a 13 year old native girl. She is a wonderfully character who will be remembered for a long time. This novel has some laugh-out-loud humour, and runny-nose-crying scenes. Truly a "reader's novel", and if you love Dickens, that will only enchance the story for you. (show less)

   

   

  by Kim DiLello Klein on Sep 22, 2009 at 01:01PM

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