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102nd out of 301 books
—
274 voters
Pobby and Dingan
by
Ben Rice
This enchanting tale is at once a beautifully rendered narrative of childhood loss and a powerfully simple fable about the necessity of imagination.
Pobby and Dingan are Kellyanne Williamson’s best friends, maybe her only friends, and only she can see them. Kellyanne’s brother, Ashmol, can’t see them and doesn’t believe they exist anywhere but in Kellyanne’s immature imagin...more
Pobby and Dingan are Kellyanne Williamson’s best friends, maybe her only friends, and only she can see them. Kellyanne’s brother, Ashmol, can’t see them and doesn’t believe they exist anywhere but in Kellyanne’s immature imagin...more
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published
January 16th 2001
by Knopf
(first published 2000)
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A novella with imagination, set in the opal-mining country of Australia. A young girl has two imaginary friends, and everyone around her supports her, except her brother. When her father is accused of "ratting," or poaching someone else's land, she can't find her friends anymore and becomes very very ill. Her brother decides to help her find her "friends" even though he thinks she's crazy. Poignant and authentic; I am happy I found this lying on the shelves in the library.
Kellyanne has two imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingnan. Ashmol, Kellanne's brother, thinks she should just grow up and forget about her friends. One day Kellyanne's father takes her friends to work in his opal mine with him. When he returns home, she asks where they are. Horrors!! They are lost and presumed dead.
Kellyanne starts to wither away from heart sickness and worry. Ashmol concerned for his sister rounds up the whole town to look and try to find his sister's imaginary friends. Ashmol tur...more
Kellyanne starts to wither away from heart sickness and worry. Ashmol concerned for his sister rounds up the whole town to look and try to find his sister's imaginary friends. Ashmol tur...more
1 like · like · see review
“Pobby and Dingan aren’t dead. They never existed. Things that never existed can’t be dead.” However, things that never existed can disappear and this is the basis of Ben Rice’s first novel. A London native, Rice sets his novel in a fictionalized version of the real life opal mining town of Lightening Ridge. Rice has filled the mining town with unique, but essentially shallow, characters to interact with his protagonist, Ashmol Williamson. Ashmol is the son of a miner and takes after his father...more
Came across this book on a list, I think it was on Kirkus, detailing the small books one should not miss. I loved this little story, about a 8 yr. old girl who lives with her family in New South Wales, Australia. Her father was digging for opals and the little girl had two imaginary friends called Pobby and Dingan. Reminded me of the saying that if a tree falls and no one is near does it still make a sound. If not everyone can see the imaginary friends does this mean they do not exist? This is a...more
7 likes · like · see review
Pobby and Dingan are just Kellyanne's imaginary friends. It's kind of annoying how everyone humors her, but whatever. Or so thinks Ashmol, Kellyanne's older brother, at the outset of this short and charming novel.
Set in an Australian outback mining town, "Pobby and Dingan" takes a dark turn when the children's dad pretends to take the imaginary friends down into his opal mine one day. He forgets to bring them back, and Kellyanne becomes frantic, stops eating, grows ill and begins to fade away.
As...more
Set in an Australian outback mining town, "Pobby and Dingan" takes a dark turn when the children's dad pretends to take the imaginary friends down into his opal mine one day. He forgets to bring them back, and Kellyanne becomes frantic, stops eating, grows ill and begins to fade away.
As...more
I would never have heard of this book if I hadn't gone to a fancy pants lunch at The Ivy's sister restaurant Sheekey's in 2001 with author David Lodge, a literary agent, a PR guy and a website guy :) It was my prize for winning a 'First Chapter' competition judged by the brilliant author David Lodge (although I hadn't heard of him before, so as my friend pointed out when I was nervous beforehand, he liked me before I heard of him ergo I win)...quite a surreal experience but the literary agent (f...more
Jun 07, 2012
Andreea Obreja
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
children; children-literature lovers
The book was kind of cute, very detailed and full of imagination. I only have a problem with the way it was written. It reminds me of Nicholas Spark's novels: great story-line ideas (ideal for movies) but no talent for actually writing them. This wasn't so bad. It was understandable somehow: the narrator is a young boy, maybe at the beginning of his teens - you cannot ask for so much depth... (It could also be the translation; maybe I'll try reading it in English next time)
Still, I believe this...more
Still, I believe this...more
This book ponders the question, "What is real?" Set in Australia, Pobby & Dingan is about a brother and his sister and her imaginary friends. A quick, easy, sometimes sad, othertimes amusing story.
We took our children half way around Australia and of course first stop was Coober Pedy. We were advices to visit the cemetery by the owners of RIBA underground caravan park and like dutiful tourist off we toddled. There are a lot of characters in this very outback town and their sense of humour can be enjoyed at this site. The making of the movie from this book had only recently occurred and the cemetery still sported plastic flowers everywhere, left over from one of the very moving scenes depi...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was a "Chicago Book Club" book -
We picked it because we needed something short and this book is being taught at some of the Chicago Public Schools... I have heard that is sort of a replacement for To Kill a Mocking Bird on reading lists, although not because of the subject, but because it's a new modern classic?? I am not sure about that, I am just mentioning it because I thought that was interesting.
It's about a family living in a small town near the opal mines in Australia. If you read a...more
We picked it because we needed something short and this book is being taught at some of the Chicago Public Schools... I have heard that is sort of a replacement for To Kill a Mocking Bird on reading lists, although not because of the subject, but because it's a new modern classic?? I am not sure about that, I am just mentioning it because I thought that was interesting.
It's about a family living in a small town near the opal mines in Australia. If you read a...more
A delightful little (94 pp.) book narrated by an Australian boy of indeterminate age (older than 8 but younger than 16), who tells how the imaginary friends (Pobby & Dingan) of his younger, 8-year-old sister died and thereby--through the narrator's efforts on behalf of his dying sister--brought the community together, redeemed the children's family, & taught them all about believing in what they could not see. Though it couldn't be more different from The Gospel of Judas, both, in their...more
Pobby and Dingan are two imaginary friends who go missing. The longer they remain missing, Kellyanne (their friend) becomes sicker. Ashmol, her brother, doesn't believe in either Pobby or Dingan, but in order to help his sister get well, he goes around both hunting for and recruiting the others in the small settlement in New South Wales to find the lost friends. Until he believes, and thus finds them, does the situation resolve. While it is a short novel, there are truths within its pages that m...more
WARNING - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
A charming little story that surely echoes the child within us all. ‘Everybody knew everybody in Lightening Ridge’ and they even knew Kellyanne’s two imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan. So when the two friends go missing the whole town turns out to search for them.
An absolutely captivating tale about the power of childish imagination, where reality meets fantasy, and the importance of faith.
When their father takes Pobby and Dingan to work with him, ‘He was trying...more
A charming little story that surely echoes the child within us all. ‘Everybody knew everybody in Lightening Ridge’ and they even knew Kellyanne’s two imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan. So when the two friends go missing the whole town turns out to search for them.
An absolutely captivating tale about the power of childish imagination, where reality meets fantasy, and the importance of faith.
When their father takes Pobby and Dingan to work with him, ‘He was trying...more
If I had to use just one word to describe this book, it would be "puzzling." My introduction to it came from one of my favorite songs, "Pobby to Dingan," by the Japanese rock/ska/punk band Shaka Labbits. Even without a translation, the song conveys a subtle sense of drama, mystery and poignant determination that prompts a desire to know its story. So when I dug into the song's title and discovered the book, you know I had to read it.
Though its atmosphere is strange and often deeply affecting, I...more
Though its atmosphere is strange and often deeply affecting, I...more
Charming novella set on the Lightning Ridge opal fields. Narrator Ashmol is the cocksure son of a miner; his sister Kellyanne is a more fragile child, devoted to her imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan. When the fantastic duo go missing and Kellyanne becomes ill, Ashmol sets out to "find" the missing friends, in the process drawing the entire town into Kellyanne's fantasy.
Meditations on the importance of make-believe can tend towards the twee, but Pobby and Dingan is grounded by Ashmol's pragmat...more
Meditations on the importance of make-believe can tend towards the twee, but Pobby and Dingan is grounded by Ashmol's pragmat...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Sep 24, 2008
Yvonne Cowell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE! (except little ones)
Recommended to Yvonne Cowell by:
My Nan
Amazing. Emotional. Impressive. Those are only three of the fantastic elements of this spectacular book. Pobby and Dingan live in Lightning Ridge NSW, the opal-mining town. You're probably wondering what happens to Pobby and Dingan in this book, but nothing much happens to them. They're imaginary.
Or are they?
This short novel is based on trust, loyalty, faith and belief in something whether it is visible or not.
Kellyanne Williamson is a beautiful little girl who touches nearly all of the hearts...more
Or are they?
This short novel is based on trust, loyalty, faith and belief in something whether it is visible or not.
Kellyanne Williamson is a beautiful little girl who touches nearly all of the hearts...more
This is a strange little novella. Set in the opal mining fields of New South Wales, Australia, the story concerns the imaginary friends of young Kellyanne, or rather, the disappearance of Kellyanne's imaginary friends. How, you might ask, can imaginary friends disappear? That is the first hurdle you will encounter in this tale; if you can get past that, you might enjoy this. Kellyanne's brother, Ashmol, sets out to find the titular friends and convince the townspeople that they should join in th...more
Ashmol is the brother of Kellyanne. She doesn't have any friends, other than her two imaginary friend pobby and dingan.
The story is told in Ashmol's voice. They live in an opal mining town in Australia.
Life is normal until pobby and dingan go to work with their dad in the mine and don't return.
The story is odd, but thought provoking which is why I liked it. It's interesting to see what brings people together.
The story is told in Ashmol's voice. They live in an opal mining town in Australia.
Life is normal until pobby and dingan go to work with their dad in the mine and don't return.
The story is odd, but thought provoking which is why I liked it. It's interesting to see what brings people together.
This short little tale of imaginary life (and death) in the Australian outback is both sad and uplifting at the same time. Forever accompanied by imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan, little Kellyanne is happy with her life - until her father takes both of them to work in the mines. Forced to try and see what his sister has always could, older brother Ashmol explores what happens when the realms of reality and fantasy coexist.
Mar 11, 2009
Brian
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone!
Shelves:
fiction
A funny, charming, poignant little novella bursting with imagination and generosity. Pobby and Dingan shares much in common with one of my favorite films, Lars and the Real Girl, but does it even better. At only 93 pages, it is amazing what Rice is able to accomplish emotionally through the nearly pitch-perfect adolescent narrative voice of Ashmol Williamson.
One of my new all-time favorites.
One of my new all-time favorites.
A lovely little book -- a novella, really -- I think it took me only an hour or so to read it. The tale of a boy who reluctantly succumbs to his sister's insistence on the existence of two imaginary friends has a unique tone -- light, wry, and moving -- but the reasons for his acquiescence, his efforts on behalf of these "friends," and the story's outcome make for a touching and unexpectedly layered story.
I just couldn't relate to it, though I know that behind (finding) a child's imaginary friends there's an entire life philosophy - if it's hard to see smth, it doesn't mean that thing doesn't exist or if you don't find smth it doesn't mean you should stop looking for it. OK, so the story is simple, innocent, childish a.s.o. Anyone can spare an hour or so to read it.
P.S. Dear author, Ashmol tries too hard to sound like Holden.
P.S. Dear author, Ashmol tries too hard to sound like Holden.
This book is not a book but more of like a novela. A short little thing you can read through in maybe a day or two. It's surprisingly good and the author manages to straddle and dance in the gray area between categorizations. It's difficult to simply place this book in one area and is best described as a "story." And it indeed is a touching story about childhood, imaginary friends, illness, and precious stones.
Jul 07, 2010
bookczuk
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to bookczuk by:
aceofhearts
What an utterly delightful little book. I had an imaginary friend as a child. His name was Rudi and he was my husband. I was 3. He only showed up when I was in the bathtub. My brothers used to tease me.
Now I have an imaginary friend. I'm 53. Her name is Ruthe (or bumma). She's my mom and she's still teaching me how to live a good life.
Now I have an imaginary friend. I'm 53. Her name is Ruthe (or bumma). She's my mom and she's still teaching me how to live a good life.
I read this first as one of the stories in an Australian themed issue of Granta magazine. Later it came out as a book - a short little book - and I bought a few copies because I liked it so much. It has to do with childhood fantasy and faith, difficult family situation, and salvation. Striking, uplifting, a story of failure yet triumphant. A good read.
I loved, loved, loved this book. A brother who goes out in pursuit of his sister's lost imaginary friends - very much my kind of book. I thought it had a great message about believing in things you can't see, and putting your pride aside to do the right thing, without beating you over the head with it or sounding pedantic. It was also short and sweet. I highly recommmend it.
This is a very important book to me, it details just how crucially important and yet just how dangerous a vivid imagination can be. Having the accent and slang written in is interesting, but it is not so extreme as to make the book unreadable, it simply allows the reader to get a feel of Ashmol's life and mind.
This is not a book that I would have chosen to read but it was recommended to me by a work colleague so I tried it. I really did enjoy it. It's a lovely little story (very short, I read it in 2 hours) and I think it shows that just because you can't see something, it doesn't mean that it cannot be believed in.
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Ben Rice (born 1972), is a prize-winning British author.
Rice was born in Tiverton, Devon, educated at Blundell's School and read English literature at Newcastle University and then Wadham College, Oxford, before studying Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
His novel Pobby and Dingan (later filmed as Opal Dream) was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award in 2001 (as well as being shortlis...more
More about Ben Rice...
Rice was born in Tiverton, Devon, educated at Blundell's School and read English literature at Newcastle University and then Wadham College, Oxford, before studying Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
His novel Pobby and Dingan (later filmed as Opal Dream) was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award in 2001 (as well as being shortlis...more
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Jan 11, 2009 04:19pm