Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones

This was a recommendation from A Good Read: Matilda lives on the island in the South Pacific, where there's some sort of civil war going on. Mr. Watts, an eccentric white man living on the island, assumes the role of teacher, and he reads the children Great Expectations.

I think I'd assumed that the whole book would turn out to be some kind of acted out version of Dickens' story, but it wasn't really like that (or not in an obvious way). Mr. Watts doesn't read the Dickens book verbatim: he paraphrases it to make it easier for the children to understand. But when soldiers come to the village, they hear about "Mister Pip" and demand that he shows himself.

This book had a very similar feel to One Big Damn Puzzler and after a couple of months I'm getting some of the stories mixed up in my head. I didn't particularly like that book, so while I think Mister Pip is better, it suffered from the association.

Not sure I'd bother reading more by this author though.

Completed : 19-October-2015 (audiobook)

[nickoh] [2015 books] [books homepage]