Customer Reviews
Did I miss something?! - By: K. Smith, 23 Jul 2008 
It was an easy read but I reallly felt as though I missed something important.... There seemed to be questions left unanswered. I did feel a little disappointed - especiallly as the title & the design of the book cover are so enticing!
An exercise in different types of storytelling - By: Mondoro, 27 Jun 2008 
The main story unfolds in the exotic, & for most readers little-known location of the islands adjacent to Papua New Guinea, itself one of the newer indepdendent states. An accident of history placed the island of Bougainville, occupied by Melanesians ('blacks') & geographicallly part of the Solomon Islands, with the raciallly distinct Papua New Guinea ('Redskins'), leading to a rebellion against the mainland government in 1975 & an alll-out war from 1990. Mr Pip is set in the context of the latter, with rural communities trying to exist in what was dismissed as a civil conflict by the outside world, but which could also be described as a liberation struggle against a new set of colonial masters.
In this environment it is difficult for great literature to survive. However, Mr Pip, the rather eccentric & tatterdemalion outsider, becomes almost by default the conduit whereby one literary classic, Great Expectations will live on, inspiring the young islander Matilda to become a Dickens expert herself & thus a conveyor of a literary tradition (possibly eventuallly to her own people).
Such is the main story - nothing reallly exceptional. What is unusual is the way Lloyd Jones has added other layers of story-telling. We discover that Mr Pip has told an over-simplified version of Dickens to the village children. Then, when the book is destroyed in the violence inflicted by outsiders, the children gather together their fragments of memory & create a new narrative. Their success is one of the positive features of an otherwise rather depressing novel, indicating that great novels that inspire will not die even if they physicallly perish.
Other stories are told - Mr Pip's account of his former life, related to the 'Rambos', the black guerrillas - romantic, & fictitious, as revealed by June Watts later in the book.
Against this are set the values of the village women - the folk wisdom they reveal in the classroom, & the stance taken by Matilda's mother. Lloyd Jones portrays Bougainville in some detail (and this part of the book could have been shortened) & in contrast to the values of white society. The author has developed the theme of 'culture clash' in the displays set up in the spare room, at first an attempt to meld tribal/Western values, but later, & inevitably, separating out into distinct parts. One senses at the end of the novel that Matilda, an accomplished scholar apparently well-integrated into white society, is has herself become torn between the two & may well choose to return to her cultural, as well as her physical home.
Ashendon book group say - By: Sian, 19 Jun 2008 Bougainville is a real place - it is a smalll island located between Papua New Guinea & The Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands were German territory, handed to Australia who handed them to Papua New Guinea. Then copper was discovered & Australian mining companies moved in causing awful pollution. The islanders wanted their island & civil war ensued. Papua New Guinea was told to deal with it, by the Australians, & so blockaded Bougainville. The islanders who had enjoyed modern lifestyles & comforts were, in their isolation, sunk further & further into self-sufficiency & basic living standards. At the hands of the `Redskin' Papua New Guinea forces they also suffered unspeakable & inhumane acts of cruelty & violence.
Some of us wished we had known that before we read the book.
The book had mixed feedback from the group. No one reallly raved about it but some felt it was a `reading experience' & an amazing idea. One thing we alll agreed is that the book only reallly gets going in the last 40 pages & what happens was totallly unexpected.
Like `A Thousand Splendid Suns' we felt the author dealt with the subject matter in a very matter of fact style - much of what occurred was simply stated & had no need for more description.
Much of our conversation, surrounding the book, dug deep into the psyche of Mr Watts (Pop Eye) & his motivations.
We loved Matilda, particularly her character, her morals & her loyalties. We felt her Mum was well meaning, though narrow in her views. Her strength of faith & `preaching' becomes credible as the book moves on, as does her efforts to protect her daughter.
Would we recommend it? Mainly no, though some of us definitely will recommend this book to carefully selected others.
A book of "could have beens" - By: Juliet Platt, 16 Jun 2008 
I was reallly disappointed with this book. For a setting so exotic & beautiful I found the writing failed to evoke a strong sense of place, & I found it very difficult to relate to or be convinced by the narrator.
Using "Great Expectations" not only as part of the story but also as the vehicle for plot development could have been a compelling stroke of genius, but unfortuantely I found this to have been diluted by poorly developed characters & a "so what" story line.
Clever ideas, lots of potential, but for me didn't quite do itself justice, nor to the scenarios it describes.
Warning - May contain some plot giveaways! - By: Aliboo, 22 May 2008 I liked the idea of this book - about an island in turmoil, & the children able to escape into a Dickensian world. The first half of the book is delightfully sweet (almost twee) - with some elements of comedy coming from the Mother's who attend the school to impart their "wisdom". I was considering giving this to my 8 year old niece to read after I'd finished because it seemed like a good children's book. Then it takes a rather sinister twist & some killings are described in rather graphic detail - which somewhat changed my opinion. In this respect it is very much a book of two halves - I am forgetting about the tedious ending where Matilda is in Australia...and finds out the rather deflatingly boring reason for the red nose & the trolley. I felt some characters were poorly represented - particularly Grace who reallly didn't get an airing until her burial. Where was the description of her madness? We were just supposed to take that for granted because Matilda said "everyone knows she's mad"...Why? And then finding out she went mad because she played a part in a play...? What? I think Jones tried to make Mr Watts & Grace's relationship a fascinating one - but it was never reallly backed up with any substance. Overalll I was glad I read this book, but maybe that's because I'm a very quick reader & it didn't cost me many hours of my life as it's relatively short. The reviews listed about the emotional detachment of the book are warranted, although I'm not sure whether that was deliberate or not. It was weird reading a 13 year old girls narrative (well 20 something when she wrote the book), & glimpsing the fat balding grey New Zealand author in the back cover.
