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Liked It2 of 2 members found this review helpful “I've never read a Lloyd Jones book and started to read Hand Me Down World about the same time as I heard an interview with him on Radio Four's Front Row. It was interesting to hear him talk about his approach to telling the story of Ines (as we know her) through the eyes of others whom she meets...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Did not like the style, people did not seem real.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A haunting tale of a mother's love for her child, this story is revealed piece by piece by by all those who have come in contact with a young African woman as she makes her way from Tunisia to Berlin to find her stolen child. ”
WHPL Readers wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Did not like the style, people did not seem real.”
David G wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Interesting plot of African women's journey to find her child. Told from different perspectives never lets the reader close to 'Ines' . At times story is not credible - ”
Marlene R wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A bit slow-going at first, as I was trying to get into the multiple-perspectives/stories aspect of the narrative. Once I did that I could groove on how the stories intermingled and often contradicted one another. Heart-rending central theme, and some shocking characters, make this a sweet read.”
Jay R wrote this review Sunday, January 1, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great story - very multi-layered. It says in the blurb that when you finish you'll have to re-visit all that has gone before and I did. The one I read was paperback with a different cover.”
Coralie Walton wrote this review Tuesday, June 28, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Raise your hand if you enjoyed Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. Me too!! Well, good news for all of us, Jones has a new novel, Hand Me Down World. This book is out now in the U.K. and due out in the States in September.
Happy wrote this review Friday, June 17, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Hand Me Down World is the story of Ines search for her kidnapped baby son. Ines works as a maid in a resort in Tunisia. In addition to their domestic duties the staff at this hotel is expected to provide sex for the guests. When Ines becomes pregnant after an affair with a German tourist she is tricked into signing away all rights to their son by her lover and his wife. Ines does not accept this cruelty as fate. She decides that she will venture into the world of which she knows nothing, get herself to Berlin and reclaim her child.
Taking a page from mystery writers like Wilkie Collins and Agatha Christie the first half of the novel is told by various characters by way of their statements to the police. At this point the reader has no idea why the police are investigating Ines and the varying accounts give disparate points of view of the events. This uncertainty regarding Ines (not her real name) is echoed through the novel. Jones allows the hotel manager, human traffickers, fellow immigrants, a snail collector, a British film researcher, an Italian truck driver and a blind German to all have their say in defining Ines prior to allowing her to speak for herself but does that make Ines a more reliable narrator? Along the way these witnesses inadvertently reveal how they have been contained by their own worlds.
Ines is a complicated character. She is a victim and a victimizer. Having her introduced to us by third party testimony is the genius of this novel. By doing this Jones keeps both Ines the Heroine and Ines one of the millions of iinvisible, poverty stricken citizens of the world intact. He also feeds our need to solve the mystery of contradictions that is Ines.
It's easy to feel sorry for a woman trapped in a low paying job in a country where she has little or no prospects. It is more difficult to empathize with a woman who uses sex to manipulate men. Is it that her sad life experience has schooled her to believe that her sexuality is her only hope of finding her son? Or is Ines a self serving individual who uses sex to control? Someone who is 'no better than she ought to be' as my Aunt Isabelle would have said. Most of the witnesses, but not all, see Ines as a demure woman and a good worker but we know that Ines carries a knife and has stolen money. There are even hints that she may be involved in a murder.
There are some moments in Hand Me Down World that press credulity and occasionally the statements made by the witnesses come off almost as ~~~shudder~~~ short stories. Heaven Forbid! However the all too realistic plight of Ines and the very large talents of Lloyd Jones carry the day. This is a novel that will stay in your thoughts. The misuse of Ines by people with money smacks of modern colonialism, Ines situation, her background, the mysteries of identity and the clever way Jones has laid out the story make Hand Me Down World a thought provoking page turner.”
“Fantastic read, multi narratives, many different unreliable viewpoints. Story of a young African mother's journey to reclaim the infant son stolen from her. ”
MrsA wrote this review Sunday, June 5, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a very contemporary exploration of the lengths some people will go to for the love of a child. All characters in this novel are fascinating, and they each have their own stories to tell, but the central character has an amazing strength that almost defies belief. ”
Louisa M wrote this review Sunday, April 17, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This latest novel from Lloyd Jones is the compelling and intriguing story of "Ines", an African hotel worker who travels illegally to Europe to find her son. This story is told through the narratives of the various characters she comes into contact with on her journey (as they hand her down from one to the other, the idea which provided the title), and then from her own perspective. In this manner the novel focusses on how people treat each other, and also on how they shape their world according to their own preoccupations.
AE Lynch wrote this review Thursday, March 10, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This novel tells its story in a hyper-realistic manner, never resorting to sensationalism, and avoiding an over-the-top climax. The depiction of maternal love in the novel manages to be moving, yet restrained; Jones conveys the desperation of Ines's search, and her yearning for her child, yet does so without resorting to sentimentality or unrealistic emotional displays. Similarly, Ines is an illegal immigrant in Europe, yet is never patronised or demonized.
The movement of the story through Europe is similarly well illustrated: Jones allows the characters to vividly describe the scenes of their own Italy, Austria, and Germany. An example is the alpine hunter and guide, who subtly portrays their surroundings through discussing its suitability to partridge hunting.
The most fascinating aspect of Jones's novel is the narration. Using the first-person narration of the different people that Ines comes into contact with on her way to Berlin (ostensibly the testimonies that they give to the inspector who has been following her journey), proves an arresting manner in which to tell her story.
The difference in the voices and styles of narration showcase Jones`s talents, as each of these sections are interspersed with each of the character`s own preoccupations and concerns. From the African co-worker who tells of her time working with Ines in simple English, to the defensive and self-serving truck driver who makes excuses and reasons away his every action, to the blind Ralf, who describes his world in how it sounds and feels. Each of the accounts also provide a different perspective on Ines's own character, as each narration seems to see her in a slightly different light. There is a snail collector who pities her and aids her in a manner close to how she would a frightened animal, the American food critic who is reluctant to help her because she is an illegal "alien", and there is Hannah, who only refers to Ines as "the black woman".
It becomes apparent as you move through this novel that each version of events is not necessarily reliable (in a post-modernist fashion), and that each character is seeking to present themselves in the best possible light. Some of the narratives contradict each other, and when Ines comes to tell her own version of events it contradicts many of things we have read previously. This of course also reminds us that we can't take her version of events for granted either, adding another fascinating layer to this novel's depth, and ensuring that you will want to start again from the beginning almost immediately.
This narrative approach manages to convey both the isolated nature of existence, through each character`s subjectivity and illustrating how we can never really know them, and humanity's attempts to bridge this isolation, through the depicted relationships and rare instances of actual connection. The ending is also inconclusive, allowing the reader to decide with which version of existence the tale has resolved itself.
Ultimately, this is a compelling story, told in a fascinating manner, and will leave you thinking for long after it's finished.”“Very good story ,unusual told from the viewpoints of observers and later from thr viewpoint of the chief protagonist, who portrays what a mother is prepared to sacrifice in pursuit of her kidnapped child.”
Helen W wrote this review Monday, February 28, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
