Mr. Pip

Mr. Pip

If you’re curious about how the act of reading stories to your children can create a lifetime sanctuary of comfort, look no further than Mr. Pip.

If you want to be swept away by words wrapped, as if they were ribbons, around the shadows of body, mind and soul, read Mr. Pip.

Lloyd Jones, the author, has a remarkable talent for revealing in words what can only be felt by the heart.

It’s a short book. The cover, with the blue sky and white sand beach, gives the appearance of a great, exciting summer read that will sweep you away. I was captured on the first page:

We never saw him smile. And on those days he wore the clown’s nose you found yourself looking away because you never saw such sadness.

From there, the book unfolded, and took me to the island of Bougainville in the early 1990s, where a civil war is taking shape. At first, my mind quickly jumped over the bits of history Mr. Jones offered. I was more interested in Mr. Jones’ way with words. But Mr. Jones, took me by the hand with his metaphors and his imagery, and walked me down into the ugly places of war and revenge, before I even realized where I was headed. He’s quite a clever writer, that Mr. Jones. And now, I have an awareness about this civil war; a tragedy that barely captured the attention of the rest of the world.

Mr. Jones knows his history. And, he knows the soul of the written word.