LoveReading Says
April 2012 Guest Editor Paul Torday on Pigeon English...
I loved this novel of an innocent Ghanaian child who comes with his mother to England and then gets caught up in the gang life of a suburban wilderness somewhere in south London. What I most admire about the book is the way the author gets across the voice of the child narrator. The tension between the young boy’s innocence and the gang language he learns to speak without really understanding the awful bleakness of gang culture, make this a very moving and convincing read.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011.
A story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, Pigeon English is a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls. It's also deeply funny, moving, idiosyncratic and unforgettable and introduces a major new literary talent.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About Pigeon English
Man Booker Prize Finalist: A ';winning and ingenious' novel about an eleven-year-old immigrant boy trying to solve a murder (The Plain Dealer). Lying in front of Harrison Opoku is a body. It is the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his incredible basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner.
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Pigeon English Synopsis
Man Booker Prize Finalist: A ';winning and ingenious' novel about an eleven-year-old immigrant boy trying to solve a murder (The Plain Dealer). Lying in front of Harrison Opoku is a body. It is the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his incredible basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner.
Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidencefingerprints lifted with tape, a wallet stained with bloodand lay traps to flush out the killer. But nothing can prepare them for what happens when a criminal feels you closing in.
Recently emigrated from Ghana with his sister and mother to South London's enormous housing projects, Harri is obsessed with gummy candy, friendly to the pigeon who visits his balcony, is quite possibly the fastest runner in his school, and is clearly also fast on the trail of a murderer. ';[A] work of deep sympathy and imagination,' Pigeon English is a tale of friendship and adventure, as Harri finds wonder, mystery, and danger in his new, ever-expanding world (The Boston Globe).
';Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with:
- a funny book, a true book, a shattering book.... If you loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or Emma Donoghue's Man Bookershortlisted Room, you'll love this book too.' The Times (London) '
- Convincingly evokes life on the edge ... The humour, the resilience, the sheer ebullience of its narratora hero for our timesshould ensure the book becomes, deservedly, a classic.' The Mail on Sunday '
- Continually surprising and endearing... There's a sweetness here that's irresistible.' TheWashington Post '
- Funny and poignant... What might be described as Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Trainspotting.' Toronto Star '
- Since Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, there have been certain rules observed when children play detective. Stephen Kelman throws them all out... The mystery is secondary to the pleasures of listening to Harri.' The Christian Science Monitor
About This Edition
Stephen Kelman Press Reviews
'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'
Emma Donoghue, author of Room
'A powerful and impressive novel ... Kelman knows the world of boys - their language, their humour, their thoughts - and Harri's voice is dazzlingly authentic. Utterly convincing and deeply moving, this is a book that we should all read'
Clare Morrall, author of The Man Who Disappeared
'Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book ... If you loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or Emma Donoghue's Man Booker-shortlisted Room, you'll love this book too'
Erica Wagner, The Times
'One of the hardest things in fiction is to write from a child's point of view - Kelman does it brilliantly'
Alex Clark, Guardian
About Stephen Kelman
Stephen Kelman was born in Luton in 1976. After finishing his degree he worked variously as a warehouse operative, a careworker, and in marketing and local government administration. He decided to pursue his writing seriously in 2005, and has completed several feature screenplays since then. Pigeon English is his first novel.
Author photo © Jonathan Ring
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