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0 of 1 members found this review helpful.Mr. Pip
“This is a great novel. My entire book club loved it. But it helps to have read Great Expectations first.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-11. -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Storyteller
“"I got this book recently, after seeing it stare at me in the bookstores for over a year. And I had a hard time getting into this novel. I'd read a couple of pages, leave it. Come back a few days later, reread and so on. Then, once I got to a certain chapter, I knew I would finish this novel.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-09.
A Blockade of Bougainville is the setting of this short novel, and Matilda, a young girl counting the days since her last school day is our wondrous story teller.
Pop Eye is the only white in Matilda's village and when he sees that all the other whites, school teachers, doctors have left the island he takes the stage as Matilda's teacher.
Going to school in the midst of all the turmoil gives the children a little bit of routine in their lives, and haveing Mr.Wats (PopEye) as their teacher proves to be very entertaining. He reads to them Great Expectations by 'Mr.Dickens' and Matilda and her peers are soon so engrossed in Pip's live. Great Expectation gives them the chance to see a life different than theirs, without the choking of their little island, without the rebels, and without the redskins.
I finished the novel and have this hankering to reread Great Expectations. But I know that certain events in this story will forever be lodged in my mind." ” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Caught in a Moment
“"Mister Pip" is told by Matilda, who was born and raised on a tropical island not far from Australia. Although the story begins in the early 1990s, when Matilda was 13 years old, most people on the island knew little of the outside world - the islanders had only come into contact with the 'modern' world in her grandfather's time. When Matilda was 11, her father went off to an Australian town for work; she and her mother were on the verge of joining him when the book opens. Unfortunately, their plans are scuppered when war breaks out on the island. The 'rebels' declared war on the copper mine and the company - which, in turn, brought in its own soldiers. The company planned to choke the rebels into submission and started by setting up a sea blockade. Before long, the power supplies are gone, hospitals are being raided for medicines and 'company' people start leaving...
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-29.
Mr Watts was the only white man in Matilda's village who stayed. For many years, he had been known as Popeye and was married to Grace, who'd been born and raised in Matilda's village. They'd always kept themselves slightly apart - they lived in the old minister's house, hiding behind its overgrown garden, and had no children. He also appeared a little eccentric : he wore a white suit every day, regularly wheeled Grace around on a trolley and occasionally wore a red clown's nose. However, after the war broke out, he became one or the most important people in Grace's life.
With no teachers left, Mr Watts stepped into the gap. With what's happening, though, the school isn't as well-resourced as it should be and a copy of Dickens' "Great Expectations" becomes the classroom's only textbook. Matilda is enthralled, even though she doesn't always understand Victorian England. (On top of that, she has no idea what marshes are, and the whole class find the idea of a frosty morning incredible). Unfortunately, Matilda's mother and Mr Watts don't quite see eye to eye - with the book and Mr Watts' lack of faith providing the two biggest points of friction. As the classroom's star pupil, Matilda finds herself in an awkward position.
An easily read book, though - while it's not a sad or depressing book - there are a couple of shocking and sad moments, thanks to the war.” -
3 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Beyond My Expectations
“Mr Pip ,by LLoyd Jones, is an onion of a novel. By that I mean it is layered in an intricately woven manner to encompass a myriad of themes. At first it is a deceptively simple tale set on the lush tropical island of Bouganville where the native population,isolated and blockaded, are facing a civil war of deprivation and horror.Into the mix comes the only white inhabitant who remained after others fled,Mr Watts. He steps up to take over the abandoned schoolhouse and thus becomes the Pied Piper of Bouganville. Through his storytelling of Dicken's Great Expectations he provides a safe haven for the war stricken children . They immediately succomb to the power of the written word and are transported to Victorian England where they meet Pip who in some ways is like each one of them. Imagination takes them away from the immediate horror of civil war. Mr Pip becomes a savior of sorts especially to Matilda, the young Narrator. But Mr Watt's hold on the children causes issues with the parents who see his approach as a threat to religious beliefs and cultural allegiance. These differences of culture and dogmatic approach lead to a stand off between Mr Watts and Dolores, Matilda's mother. This clash will create unlikely heroes as the war encroaches and moral decisions must be made. There is great symbolism here for a world where races and cultures face major changes in an ever more global world. When the only copy of Great Expectations disappears and the soldiers demand to see a fictional Mr Pip,(who they believe to be a real spy) there are terrible reprecussions. Storytelling becomes the weapon of choice at first, as it soothes the savage rambos who are really just misguided school children at heart.The seven nights of Mr Watts' storytelling are a heroic vehicle to stall until an escape plan is put into effect. But storytelling has created a great dilemma too, as there is no real Mr. Pip to offer up to the demanding redskins who appear savagely and without warning. I will not divulge any more of the plot but suffice it to say that Great Expectations causes major life changing effects as Matilda moves into a future off the island. The novel is a homage to literature, to teachers who change destinies, to clashes of cultures and racial divides, to the horrors of war ,to the power of the written word , to the empowering value of imagination and to the religious and moral values that sometimes must collide and clash before there can be compromises. This small novel offers huge issues to ponder . Mr Jones has exceeded many expectations with this novel.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-07. -
0 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Mister Pip
“Well written and captivating! An unusual story of survival and the power of "stories." This story about a young girl and her ability to believe and learn from a Dickens story is well worth the read.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-04.
