“I'm trying to read this ... I just keep having to start over, just hasn't grabbed me yet ...”
Angelique B wrote this review 23 hours ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I wanted to like this more than I actually did. ”
Heather B wrote this review 6 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“The characters in this book are so compelling. i learned a lot and couldn't wait to see how the story unfolded. Tough in some parts.”
Deb P wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“A young girl in a forgotten island where war has installed itself.
This is the starting point for a brilliant story written by Lloyd Jones.
Matilda’s the young girl that narrates the whole story, with the help of her unexpected teacher she strolls through the XIX century England, using as a guide the novel of Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations”.
This book tells us about courage, friendship and loyalty, it also points out the enormous atrocities that the human being is able to do, and it reminds us all that even though you can’t live through books, you can always find shelter in them, a place to hide when reality is so awful that either you escape it, or you lose yourself.
But the true aspect of the book, the one in which Matilda will find herself thinking constantly is the ability of a person to be himself, not the one that everybody pressures us to be, but to be true to our feelings and opinions and to stand by them, even if it means that by doing that we will be against everybody else.
I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
A recommended reading for all of those that, like me, think a book is more than just a story, a book can be a friend. And I bet that in the end you’ll be friends of Matilda… and of that mysterious character called Mr. Pip.”
“recommend”
Lisa C wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Liked the theme -- not the ending!”
Carolyn M wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Very good book, not too long, but a well told story”
Julie P wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Wonderful coming of age story about how a story becomes reality, and lives intertangled become both clear and confused. ”
Cyndie B wrote this review Sunday, October 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Review by Lavana H.
“This I such a beautiful piece of literature in its own right, and its link to Great Expectations makes it even more so. The characters are vivid, easily seen and understood. They leap off the page into the room to live their story right here with us, and what a story it is. Full of conflict, terror, sadness, mental illness, great literature, war, vicious violence, hatred, enemies, and deep love. Such a little book, but each and every word counts. Each word is fully necessary to the story, with nothing left out and nothing extra. Exquisite writing.
So what is this story? This is the story of the effect of a war on one young girl and her parents in a small village on a tiny South Pacific island. Lloyd Jones paints a picture both personal and large. Because of the siege on the island the school closes, but Mr. Watts, an eccentric island neighbor assumes the role of teacher and his main source of curriculum is reading Great Expectations to the children. The children devour the story and it extends to even affect their parents in ways that are not immediately evident. Even if you have not read Great Expectations, you will enjoy the many references to it, and the meaning that it has in these people’s lives. ”
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