Pigeon English

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Auntie Sonia burned her fingers to get the fingerprints off. Now she has no fingerprints at all. It's so if the police catch her they can't send her away. Your fingerprints tell them who you are. If you have no fingerprints, you can't be Advise yourself, and do not go lightly into this read. It is authentic and original and touching but also a bit exhausting. I just watched her. It was very relaxing. I had to keep proper still. I had to be extra quiet or I'd ruin it. I didn't want it to stop. Terry Takeaway is an ex-army alcoholic and known thief who lives in Harri's neighborhood. Terry Takeaway owns an unusually friendly pit bull, Asbo, and protects Harri and Dean from the Dell Farm Crew. Julius One of the most urgent and important books of the year, Pigeon English is full of tragedy and despair but also shot through with a fragile but unwavering strand of hope.

As well as describing the estate's own "pidgin", "Pigeon English" refers to a feral pigeon Harri comes to believe is watching over him. In the novel's weakest passages, Harri's street-smart observations give way to portentous prose in which this pigeon-protector reflects on magpies, poisoned grain and the fleeting nature of human existence: "I owe it to all of you, a cheap act of confederacy against the drip-dripping of ill-captured sand." The attempt to shoehorn yet more significance into a narrative already heavy with "relevance" falls flat. That is the situation of Harrison “Harri” Opoku, the 11-y/o Ghanaian boy who goes to live in a housing settlement in London together with his mother and elder sister, Lydia. Due to poverty, they have to leave Ghana where his father, grandmother and a newborn baby, Agnes remain. One day, Harri sees a dead body of a classmate who has been murdered. He and his friend, Dean, decide to find out who the killer is because of the gift prizes that will be given to anybody who can provide clue to the killing. In England Harri makes a lot of friends. I liked them. I wish the book was about them. He also has a pigeon. He rescued it, and then he sees it all the time. Sometimes the pigeon talks to him.Julius is Auntie Sonia's violent and abusive partner. He is known for his baseball bat, called "the Persuader," which he uses to beat people who are late repaying their debts. Julius sexually harrassed Auntie Sonia in front of her family and beats her. Poppy Morgan I didn't care for the absolute jumpiness of the story, written as though the narrator was on something and in somewhat hyper text pieces that were interjected. The characters did not appeal to me and although I am sure Mr. Kelman tried to make them real, they just seemed like a cutout of the typical middle schooler of today. The gist of the story seems to get lost quite a bit as the kids name call, use the word hutious ad infiitum and adore the usage of four letter words. I realize that these elements are like rites of passage for young people these days, but it just did not ring true nor endear the characters to this reader. The writing is also weird. It's all jumbled, and the sentences are short. It makes you go red-eyes and want to throw the book out the window at first. Then it starts working. It really drags you in then. It's like the person writing can't write. Except he can. The pigeon bits are full of big words that make no sense. They look pretty though, all big and full of letters. Harrison finds the dead body of a friend-knifings are increasing in this neighborhood. He and his friends decide to use all the knowledge they have gained from television and shared misunderstandings to solve the case.

Both the two of us knew it. We watched the lie go up big and slow between us, then it burst like a spit bubble. They always burst before too long.” Simultaneously accurate and fantastical, this boy's love letter to the world made me laugh and tremble all the way through. Pigeon English is a triumph' Julius is the rich man who dates Auntie Sonia. He frequently totes a baseball bat, which he calls “the Persuader,” and physically abuses Auntie Sonia, who eventually flees the country to escape from him… Auntie Sonia is Harri’s aunt (presumably on Mamma’s side, although this is never explicitly specified). She is honest, kind, and generous, and gives Harri and Lydia gifts. She has travelled all over the…

Reviews

Harri's surroundings bristle with half-understood menace, most obviously from the alcoholics, dealers, petty criminals and teenage members of the Dell Farm Crew gang who shadow the estate. But gradually his sister, aunt and even his mother, forced into moral compromise in her struggle to give her children a better life, are implicated in the violence that pervades estate life. What your problem is, you're all just a raindrop. One of an endless number. If only you'd just accept it, things would be so much easier. Say it with me: I am a drop in the ocean. I am neighbour, nation, north, and nowhere. I am one among many and we all fall together.

I really enjoyed this. Harri, the eleven-year-old protagonist, is a (possibly illegal) immigrant from Ghana, living in the projects in London. The book is full of a mixture of slang and beliefs from Ghana and his new community. Like most children, he doesn't fully understand what is going on around him, and has no grasp of the danger and violence he is surrounded by. I think that makes the story more compelling than it would be if the author hit me over the head with it.

About Stephen Kelman

That's when Poppy kissed me. I didn't have time to get ready. She just kissed me there and then, right on the lips. It felt lovely. I wasn't even scared this time. It was warm and not too wet. I didn't get any tongue. Her breath smelled like Orange Tic Tacs.” I like Man Booker books. I like reading them. But every once in a while, I can't help but think some of them are just overrated. I should probably write a long detailed review of this book; it really deserves it. But I am not the most articulate person and I don't feel I could give it it's due praise in words that would convey how I felt about it. Killa is a Year 11 student at Harri’s school and a member of the Dell Farm Crew. Killa dates Miquita, Lydia's friend, and burns her hand with a lighter. The text reveals that Killa likely murdered the dead boy as revenge for disrespecting the Dell Farm Crew at a school basketball game. Miquita He and his friends come upon a crime scene where an older teen boy is stabbed to death and the remainder of the book very loosely and sloppily becomes a bit of a comedic drama about his thinking processes, amateur sleuthing and his world views. This young boy is a fast runner, full of mischief, sweet, imaginative and very funny. This story is somewhat interesting but often repetitive and too loosey goosey.