Pigeon English - Stephen Kelman

Pigeon English is one of the shortlisted book for this years Man Booker Prize and it would have to be the first book from the list that I have been disappointed in.
Pigeon English has been compared to Room (which I was also disappointed in) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (which I loved completely) so I went into the read thinking I had a 50/50 chance of coming out with a winner. I think the only real reason for the comparison between the three books is that they all use a child as the key narrator.
The narrator of Pigeon English is Harrison Opuku, a year 7 student living in the housing projects of London. Harrison, his mother and older sister Lydia have immigrated to England from Ghana and the rest of their family, including their father and 1 year old sister remain in Ghana. The book opens with the murder of a boy who Harrison knew in a distant way:

Me and the dead boy were only half friends, I didn't see him very much because he was older and he didn't go to my school. He could ride his bike with no hands and you never even wanted him to fall off. I said a prayer for him inside my head. It just said sorry.

Harrison and one of his friends become fixated on trying to work out who killed the boy through the use of their amateur detectives skills and knowledge. Harrison introduces us to his neighbourhood, his friends and his enemies at school and his family. It is through his often naive, trusting and young eyes that we begin to see what may have happened to the boy who died and what might be going on in Harrison's own family that he is not aware of. The pigeon of the title is in fact a pigeon that lives around Harrison's tower complex, Harrison sees the pigeon as a friend and ally and the pigeon (who can speak english as the title suggests) sees itself as a type of guardian for Harrison.

I loved Harrison and his voice in this book - I loved hearing from him and about him and I loved seeing his perspective of the world. For some reason though this was not enough for me to fall in love with this book and be carried away by the story. I found myself feeling bored in places, and then extremely engaged and interested in others - maybe it was this lack of consistency that made this book a little disappointing for me.

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

There has been a lot of discussion about Wolf Hall both before and after it was selected in the long list for this years Man Booker Prize. I was interested in reading the book as soon as I heard it was going to be released but then I saw the size of it and I became a little put off! The debate that has followed, the reviews (both positive and not so great) from fellow bloggers and my genuine interest in this period of history drew me back in though and I ended up starting the book a little over a week ago.

I have to say I am very, very impressed! This is my first Mantel read but if this is indicative of her writing style in general and her connection to her characters and the story she creates I will be reading others. That's not to say I didn't have some issues in my reading of Wolf Hall - but for the most part I loved the book and really didn't want it to end.

Wolf Hall focuses on the period in Tudor England when King Henry VIII is tiring of his first wife, Queen Katherine, and is setting his sights on the delectable Anne Boleyn. The protagonist of the novel is Thomas Cromwell, a common man who has risen to the ranks of advisor to the King and who plays an influential role in the shaping of England and the monarchy at this time.

Before reading this I felt that I had a fairly good (but still basic) level of knowledge about this period in history and the key players in it - I think this was needed for me to be able to connect with the story in Wolf Hall. Even though Mantel includes a list of characters at the start of the book (all 5 pages of them!) I think I would have struggled to follow along without knowing at least the basic gist. Having said that, I don't think this book is only for those with some knowledge of this time period - Mantel builds her characters and their motives really well - by the end of it you do feel that you know each of the characters as individuals in their own right. No mean feat for the author considering how many people she is following!

Cromwell was not really someone I had thought about in the context of this story before - even though I can see the important role he played I guess I always thought there were far more juicy and interesting people to focus on. I really enjoyed reading about Cromwell's thoughts and actions - albeit fictionalised - in Wolf Hall. I felt connected to the time period and what it might have been like for a man in his position - connected to the King but never really one of the upper classes. The family life of Cromwell is portrayed with sensitivity, humour and reality - I felt I had a sense of where he had come from and why he was the person he was.

At 650 pages this is definitely a big read (which is why I am including it in my Chunkster Challenge 2009!) and I did feel it started to drag a little in the middle section. But this was redeemed by the last section of the book - and I thought the ending was perfect! Left me wanting more and yet I still felt it was concluded beautifully.

All in all a really enjoyable and stimulating read - recommended if you have even the slightest interest in this period of English history.

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (the winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize) was my second last book for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge which ends on the 20th December.

I was so glad after finishing this book that I decided to read it as my India selection for the challenge - a great book!

The White Tiger tells the story of Indian man, Balram Halwai - well, it is actually Balram who is the narrator of his own story - a conversational technique that makes the book so engaging. Balram becomes known as The White Tiger when, as a school boy, his village school is visited by a local school inspector. The inspector is poorly disappointed in the majority of the students at the school but Balram impresses and the inspector tells him he is like a white tiger - rare and special. Balram takes this message to heart and in an extremely difficult and hostile environment he moves from village resident to driver for a wealthy business man in Delhi.

This book engages the reader in Balram's story and his life - I was acutely aware at times that we were clearly being presented with only one side of the story but I think as opposed to taking away from the story this style only made it stronger.

The White Tiger is a brilliantly narrated and engaging story - looking forward to more from this author.