Book Review: MISTER PIP by Lloyd Jones

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"I want this to be a place of light, no matter what happens."

Thus spoke the only white man left on Bougainville, on his first day as the only teacher for the island's many school children, as all others had fled due to the fighting in the '90's.

The former actor turned school teacher confesses how ill prepared he is, but goes on to do his best to teach anyway, despite having only one book: GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens (hence the title).

This is a terribly moving account of how teachers leave marks on students, as well as the power of stories and books to uplift and inspire people to change. It is also a tragic tale of the human cost of conflict.

I'm not familiar with the religious affiliation of the author, but to me, this gem of a book fits under the category of "Catholic literature," with the themes of the dual nature (fallen and divine) of man, the search for grace's light in the most evil of times. There is much to reflect on, and this reader found herself genuinely mourning and rejoicing with the characters. For a book only 200 pages long, its impact is earth-shaking and, I suspect, life-long.

Author Lloyd Jones was a journalist during the Bougainville Civil War, and wrote about the island he visited, as well as the atrocities he heard about while covering the news. It grieves me that this is the first time I have heard of the Coconut Revolution.

"We know the devil because we know ourselves. And how do we know God? We know God because we know ourselves."

While this book has received many awards, including one for being the best YA book, I would highly recommend this for mature readers as things turn ugly real fast in the last third. One of the book's themes is how quickly one's entire life is changed, in a single moment, and it was like that for me. It went from heartwarming to heartbreaking, in the space of a heartbeat. And despite my initial curiosity about the 2012 Hugh Laurie film adaptation, this is another unforgettable book I prefer not to watch onscreen, out of a healthy sense of self-preservation.

"We have received a handy reminder that while we may not know the whole world, we can, if we are clever enough, make it new." Isn't this what teaching, what LIVING, is all about?


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