Mr Pip
Book: Mr Pip
Author: Lloyd Jones
Matilda is thirteen and has a fertile imagination. Left on the island of Bougainville with her mother, Matilda craves company. The school is closed, there is no electricity, no medical supplies, and life is dictated by the rising and setting of the sun, which brings the only rhythm to each uncertain day. Enter Mr Watts, the last white man on the island, nicknamed by the children ‘Pop Eye’ because of his eyes that appear to ‘leap from his face’. ‘Pop Eye’ steps in to teach the island children with only the aid of one book; Dickens’ Great Expectations. It is here in the character of Pip that Matilda finds her refuge.
The last few chapters in which we are taken into the present feel unnecessary and did distract from the sentimental, tender narrative that had been created throughout the rest of the book. Nevertheless, Jones cleverly challenges our notions of the value of fantasy, enrapturing us with the beautiful voices of the island so we find ourselves engulfed in Matilda’s world. If you wish to escape into a foreign world this term, this is the book to read.
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