Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Mister Pip was a Booker short listed novel written by antipodean novelist, Jones. We were lucky enough to get it as a book group selection. Fortunately, it’s quite short so I managed to get through it quite quickly.

Its set on the island of Bougainville, located near the Solomons, at the beginning of the 1990s. It tells us about Mathilda, a 15 year old girl who lives with her mother in what seems like an idyllic existence.

Unfortunately, that’s change recently because the Island’s inhabitants have been waging civil war against their rulers over control of the copper mine which provides a source of wealth for the authorities.

While the war isn’t particularly obvious at first its always there in the background and you just know that it will play a big part later on in the story.

As a consequence of the war, the school’s been closed recently. Mathilda is sad at this,,so she is glad when Mr Watts AKA popeye AKA Mister Pip takes it upon himself to reopen the school and make sure the kids gets some form of education even though he isn’t a teacher.

Mathilda’s excited and then bewitched, as Mr Watts begins reading to the class from Great Expectations by Dickens. This becomes very formative for Mathilda who becomes very involved, much to the chagrin of her mother. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t like Mr Watts, because he is atheistic,

As well as reading the book, Mr Watts invites locals into the classrooms to try and teach the kids about different aspects of their lives.

Its at this point that the book changes tone when the government troops arrive at the village and start asking awkward questions. Unfortunately, when they ask who Mr Pip is, nobody can find the book to show them but they threaten to come back to find out later.

The rebels also make their presence felt but are quite happy to listen to Mr Watts read to them.

I won’t go on and reveal more about the book because the SO is going to read it and I don’t want to spoil it.
I think this is a wonderful book that is amusing and sad in different measures. It’s also quite tragic and makes us think about the injustices of civil war. I urge everyone to read it