Mister Pip

     Author                        Lloyd Jones

     Country                      New Zealand

     Genre                          Historical Fiction

     Publication Date        2006

     Pages                           256






This is an intriguing and enthralling story to say the least. Set in Papa New Guinea, on the island of Bougainville; against the backdrop of the nation’s historic civil war in 1991, this is the story of the 13 year old Matilda who lives on the island with her mother and hopes to have a better life in the future.

Through this short and poignant story, Lloyd Jones very artistically portrays the everyday struggles of the ordinary man, the desperate need for survival against all odds and the constant hope that the future will be better than the present. At the heart of the story, is the book “Great Expectations” and Mr Watts' deep urge to share his love for the book with the children on the island. And this is what particularly stands out for me about the book. The love for reading or rather for an unexplored world that Mr Watts creates in these children who have nothing better to do with their time, is exemplary. The below quotes are a true testimony to this:

“No one had ever told us kids to look there for a friend.”

“Mr Watts had given us another piece of the world. I found I could go back in as often as I liked.”

Matilda’s love for Pip (the central character of Great Expectations) and for the book in general is endearing.  She starts associating with Pip and with that harbours the hope that one day, things will change for her, just as they had changed for Pip.

“What did I hope for? Just hope itself, really, but in a particular way. I knew things could change because they had for Pip.”

The two characters that stand out for me in the book are that of Mr Watts and of Matilda’s mother. Mr Watts is shown as a simpleton, but a man of true character. Despite what the villagers hold against him, he doesn’t budge from teaching the children or from protecting them and the village. Matilda’s mother is a slightly more complex character. A huge believer in religion, she constantly misunderstands Mr Watts and his teachings, to the extent that she puts the entire village in jeopardy due to that. While on one hand, one would detest her for this, on the other hand, her true strength of character comes to life in the end when she ferociously protects her daughter at the cost of her own life.

“He said to be human is to be moral, and you cannot have a day off when it suits. My brave mum had known this when she stepped forward to proclaim herself God's witness to the cold blooded butchery of her old enemy, Mr Watts.”

This quote, for me, has a very deep meaning as it right says that being human means being moral and there cannot and should not be even one instant when one is not so.

The end of the book, as Matilda moves to join her dad in Australia signals the new life, the better life that she used to always hope for. As she matures and learns more about the world around her, she falls in love with Dickens and for her Dickens is the same as Mr Watts.

“My Mr Dickens has taught every one of us kids that our voice was special.”

“Pip is my story and the next day I would try where Pip had failed. I would try to return home.”




 

A Strangeness in my Mind

     Author                       Orhan Pamuk

     Country                     Turkey

     Genre                         Fiction

     Publication Date       Dec 2014

     Pages                          624

This is my first book by this award winning author and I can’t say anything more than the fact that I have enjoyed this immensely. The simplicity of his writing, the depth of his messages and the strengths of his characters will stay with me for a long time.

Set in Istanbul, against the backdrop of the wave of communism, this is the story of Mevlut and his life as a boza seller. Through the book, Orhan Pamuk very skilfully traces Mevlut’s transition from a young man who migrates to the city with his father to an old and mature Mevlut who relies on his boza selling walks as a means of calming his mind after his wife’s death. The simplicity of Mevlut’s life, his true love for his wife, Rahiya and his daughters is truly enchanting and endearing.

One of the central tenets of the book is boza selling.  On one side it reflects Turkish traditions which are being kept alive by boza sellers like Mevlut. On the other hand, the walks associated with selling boza give us a peek into Mevlut’s soul. These walks are nothing less than meditation for him: they are his windows to the world.

“Walking fuelled his imagination and reminded him that there was another realm within our world, hidden away behind the walls of a mosque, in a collapsing wooden mansion, or inside a cemetery.”

The purity of Mevlut’s soul and the simplicity of his life are truly appealing. Despite eloping with the wrong woman, the fact that Mevlut never lets Rahiya even get an inkling of that, is a true reflection of his character. He grows to become extremely fond of Rahiya and looks towards the time spent with her and his two daughters as the highest points of his life! When asked what he would do if he won the lottery, Mevlut simply responds: “I'd just sit at home with my daughter's and watch TV, nothing more.”

My most favourite part of the book is the ending; which is all encompassing and brings the story back to complete the full circle.  Mevlut does what he does best in the last chapter – walks around the city and sells boza. His reflections on life as he does this and the comments from passer-by’s congratulating him on keeping up an old tradition wind the story up beautifully. And no ending would have been perfect without Mevlut’s thoughts turning to Rahiya;

“I have loved Rahiya more than anything in this world”

These are the words that the book ends with and nothing could have done more justice to the ending that these words.

In summary, I have greatly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend this to one & all!