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Pigeon English

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There are three aspects to this debut novel that are probably going to make or break the average reader's reaction to it. The first is that it is largely plotless -- instead it follows an 11-year-old immigrant from Ghana as he makes his way around the impoverished London estate new home. The second is that it is narrated in his broken, or "pidgin" English. And the third is that at the start and end of some chapters, it also features some first-pigeon narration from, well, a pigeon. To sum up, it's really an interesting book and a tear-jerker strangely, for one so politically relevant. But a warning - it might annoy some American readers with a lot of unfamiliar words and different accents. These words are also unfamiliar to a lot of British people not living in that area but there are so many accents and dialects in the UK - English is a less homogenous language than in the US maybe - that it doesn't really annoy anyone. The book is especially recommended to those who haven't forgotten the way the police and judiciary treated the murder of Damilola Taylor, whom this book is obviously about, may the little boy RIP. Lydia is Harri's older sister in Year 9. A member of Dance Club, Lydia befriends Miquita and Chanelle and enjoys normal adolescent behaviors, like gossiping and watching television dramas. After the murder, Lydia is conscripted to destroy evidence and is threatened by Miquita. Despite her fear of the Dell Farm Crew's retribution, Lydia protects Harri as best she can, despite being a child herself. Mamma

Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book' The Times Leave us be and there'll be no trouble. Be kind to us and we'll return the favour when the time for favours comes. Until then, peace be with you.” If Agnes dies I'll just swap places with her. She can have my life. I'll give it to her and I'll die instead. I wouldn't mind because I've already lived for a long time. Agnes has only lived for one year and some. I hope God lets me. I don't The only friends a man needs, his bat and a drink. One to get you what you want, the other to forget how you got it. You’ll see what I mean one day. Just stay good for as long as you can, eh? Just stay the way you are." Julius, AprilPersonally, while I tend to prefer plot-driven fiction, I can live with minimal or no plot if there is something to connect with. And in this book, 11-year-old Harrison (aka "Harri") Opoku is such a lovable, naive, child that I couldn't help but connect with his irrepressible spirit. Like Harri, moved from Africa to an alien first-world country at around age 10-11, and found it to be a similarly bewildering and hostile place. Others may find Harri to be too precious or unbelievably innocent, but I fell for him hook, line, and sinker. And to be fair, the book is not entirely plotless, there is a murder mystery to propel things, along with a minor romantic subplot. 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. I read it right after I bought it. It was on the train. The train takes one hour and twenty minutes to get to Waterloo. And then I was on the bus. And then another bus. And all the time I read this book. It was pretty good. It was all about a kid named Harri. Harri lives in the council towers in London. He is from Ghana. He moved to England with his mother and his sister Lydia. His father, his grandma and the baby stayed behind. If Agnes dies I'll just swap places with her. She can have my life. I'll give it to her and I'll die instead. I wouldn't mind because I've already lived for a long time. Agnes has only lived for one year and some. I hope God lets me. I don't mind going to Heaven early. If he wants me to swap places, I will.” Miquita is Killa’s girlfriend and a friend of Lydia and Chanelle. She is violent and fiercely loyal to the Dell Farm Crew, which leads her to burn Lydia with a hair straightener and…

Harri is the first person narrator for most parts except for those that are spoken by the pigeon that visits him on their flat located on the 9th floor. While I admired the purity and ebullience of Harri’s narration, I was amazed on how Kelman handled the parts of the narrative by the pigeon especially those with open and close quotes. Kelman’s approach is fresh and inventive, playful and spontaneous. The pigeon has its own voice that provides contrast to that of Harri’s. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments From Autumn 2015, Stephen Kelman's deeply funny, moving idiosyncratic and unforgettable novel will be an AQA GCSE English Literature set text. About This Edition ISBN:

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The book has been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, though what the two books mainly share, in my opinion, is a child narrator whose tone is different from more mainstream narrators. I was reminded more of The Catcher in the Rye, whose narrator, Holden Caulfield, is also left to his own devices, lost in an environment which can neither contain nor protect him. Holden, too, speaks his own (1950’s) lingo full of clichés, which can grate a bit when he says ‘phony’ or ‘it killed me’ for the umpteenth time, and perhaps for this reason some readers have failed to see how compassionate and fragile he is. Likewise Harri. And both novels are essentially coming-of-age novels that don’t succeed; abortive bildungsromans. This type of experiential learning inherently involves a process of trial and error, which can prove challenging and even dangerous, as Harri is sometimes punished for misunderstanding the customs and expectations that exist in London. For example, when the Dell Farm Crew say they have a “job” for Harri, he says that he doesn’t need a job, not realizing that X-Fire is assigning him a task as a trial for whether Harri can join their group. Although X-Fire forgives Harri’s ignorance in that instance, Harri is later punished for not showing enough respect and deference to the Dell Farm Crew. For young, vulnerable immigrants like Harri, assimilating into a given culture and understanding its language, customs, and social norms, is not just a courtesy, but can—under certain circumstances—be a matter of life and death. Aspden, Rachel (13 March 2011). "Fiction (Books genre), Knife crime (News), Damilola Taylor, Gangs (Society), Books, Culture, Stephen Kelman". The Guardian. London. As the victim's nearly new football boots hang in tribute on railings behind fluorescent tape and a police appeal draws only silence, Harri decides to act, unwittingly endangering the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe. Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7, races through his new life in England with his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat around him.

Auntie Sonia is Mamma's sister who resides as an undocumented citizen in London. Auntie Sonia works a series of odd jobs, such as housekeeping, and burns off her fingerprints to avoid deportation. Auntie Sonia suffers domestic abuse from her partner, Julius, a gangster who sells fake visas and collects debts. After Julius breaks Auntie Sonia's nose and foot, she escapes London. Terry TakeawayYesterday I bought a book. It was called Pigeon English. It only cost 50p from the cancer shop. I don't think it has cancer though. I bought it because the cover was bo-styles. There was also a bit about an award. Harri is the protagonist and narrator of Pigeon English. He is an eleven-year-old schoolboy newly arrived in London from his home in Ghana. Harri's family in London consists of his mother, who works in a hospital maternity ward, and his older sister, Lydia. Harri's father, a carpenter, and his baby sister, Agnes, remain in Ghana until they can save enough money to immigrate. 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. Altaf is a Somali boy also in Year 7 at Harri’s school. He is very quiet and doesn’t have many friends, in part due to prejudice against Somalis, whom the other kids claim are… The story of Stephen Kelman's debut novel Pigeon English is the unlikeliest of fairytales. Not, however, for its protagonist, Harri Opoku, an 11-year-old Ghanaian immigrant caught up in gang warfare on a south London estate, but for its author. After being discovered on a literary agency's slush pile, Kelman's manuscript sparked a bidding war between 12 UK publishers and was finally secured by Bloomsbury in January 2010 for what his agents described as a "high six-figure sum".

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