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Pigeon English

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 4,174 ratings · 675 reviews

Lying in front of Harrison Opoku is a body, the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his crazy basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner.

Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidence...more

Hardcover, 263 pages

Published July 19th 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published January 1st 2011)

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Impac Dublin Award 2013 Long List

32nd out of 154 books — 36 voters

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2012: The Over 35s favourite books of 2012

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Jan 24, 2012 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: booker, coming-of-age, humour, funny

A novel with a very strong message yet the telling is very soft, innocent and sweet. It’s like listening to the flapping of the wings of a butterfly: the sound it creates is almost inaudible yet its impact can cross oceans. This novel was one of the 5 shortlisted novels for Booker 2011 but in the final deliberation lost to Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending. But in my humble opinion, this is better. Probably the reason why it went to Barnes was: this is Stephen Kelman’s first novel while Juli...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Petra X rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book is about a kid from a Ghanian family living on a rough council estate in London and his experiences after seeing a murdered child. It's told in a very authentic voice, the writing very emotive - the bullies hurt me, the murder worried me, I felt for the family still at home in Africa and I hoped he'd get through, still the same go-for-it, full-off-life kid. There was one irritating note which was that there was a pigeon whose voice could only be 'heard' by the reader. It really spoiled...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Marialyce rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sept-2011, the-books-i-hated

.....and the reason this has been nominated for the Mann Booker award is??????

A good concept gone totally wrong.....

I have to say that I have never been a fan of a child narrator. I think it takes an especially gifted author to speak authentically as a child unless that author is a child himself.

I didn't care for the absolute jumpiness of the story, written as though the narrator was on something and in somewhat hyper text pieces that were interjected. The characters did not appeal to me and a...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Blair rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booker-prize, read-on-kindle, contemporary

Harrison Opoku, an 11-year-old boy whose family have recently arrived in England from his native Ghana, is the narrator of this sad and funny hybrid of a coming-of-age tale and and a murder mystery. At the beginning of the book, a boy Harri vaguely knows is stabbed and killed, and he and his friend Dean set out to catch the murderer. Their mission forms the backdrop for Harri's lengthy observations on life in England: the social hierarchy of his school, a first crush on classmate Poppy, home lif...more Harrison Opoku, an 11-year-old boy whose family have recently arrived in England from his native Ghana, is the narrator of this sad and funny hybrid of a coming-of-age tale and and a murder mystery. At the beginning of the book, a boy Harri vaguely knows is stabbed and killed, and he and his friend Dean set out to catch the murderer. Their mission forms the backdrop for Harri's lengthy observations on life in England: the social hierarchy of his school, a first crush on classmate Poppy, home life with his mum and sister in a London tower block, and his terror and admiration of a local gang - the Dell Farm Crew - who rule the surrounding estate. The title has a dual meaning - it refers to Harri's 'pidgin' English, peppered with schoolboy slang and misunderstood words, but also to the pigeon who visits Harri on his balcony, a creature he sees as his friend. The pigeon also serves as a second narrator, in brief interjections which add an intriguing (if ultimately disappointing) edge, suggesting that the bird is somehow watching over and protecting Harri.

Harri is a beguiling and very funny narrator, and Kelman has done a brilliant job of creating an entertaining narrative voice that's also thoroughly believable as that of an 11-year-old boy. I was quite surprised to learn that Kelman is white and British, though not at all surprised that he apparently grew up poor. The book practically exudes a particular kind of masochistic working-class nostalgia, and the setting and its details jump off the page. The story captures perfectly the wonders of childhood and innocence, even in such a bleak environment, in a way that made me remarkably nostalgic for my own schooldays. It's by turns endearing and scary in its depiction of how quickly the children of today are forced (and expected?) to grow up.

The problem with authentic-sounding child narrators is that, after a while, they become exhausting and a little annoying (just as you'd get fed up if you had to listen to a child telling the equivalent of a 300-page story, complete with random and irrelevant diversions). I did find Harri tremendously engaging as a character, and laughed out loud at his observations - especially about school - and misinterpretations on a frequent basis. But I thought the story would have been so much better if a variety of viewpoints had been used: if, as well as Harri, we'd been able to hear from his mother, some of the older gang members, Lydia and Miquita, one of the teachers, the police, even the murdered boy. The contributions we hear from 'the piegon' are very well-crafted, so Kelman obviously has the ability to pull this off. There are so many fascinating characters in the book, all of whom undoubtedly would be able to cast a very different light on its events, and it seems a shame to confine the narration to one young character. Harri's naivety and optimism is an effective filter for the brutal circumstances that surround him, but this only works up to a point before it limits the story and becomes quite frustrating. I kept thinking of Simon Lelic's Rupture, which used multiple narrators to explore the issues surrounding a similarly shocking event - a school shooting - with far more effective results.

The ending is also problematic. Without giving away what happens, it's very blunt, unsatisfying and somewhat anticlimatic following the gradual building of tension throughout the prior chapters. I can understand why the author chose to end the book like this, but I felt cheated more than shocked (and I presume the latter was the intended reaction). I also felt the central mystery, initially introduced as the linchpin of the plot, was never satisfactorily resolved and the abrupt change of direction felt like the author was dodging the responsibility of having to deal with this.

In the end, this is a beautifully crafted and convincing narrative which unfortunately feels incomplete without another voice, another perspective, or a properly conclusive ending. Kelman has done enough here that I am pretty certain I will be interested in his future work, but Pigeon English feels like exactly what it is: the debut novel of a young author. I can understand why some complained about this (among others) being on the Booker Prize shortlist, because honestly, it's not on that level at all - although the author may be, someday.(less)

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May 08, 2011 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hometown-glories-uk, just-been-cutting-onions, e, hometown-ya

Told from the perspective of Harri, an eleven year old who recently moved from Ghana to an inner city council estate, this novel perfectly depicts the horrifying reality of gangs and knife-crime in London.
When a boy is murdered outside a fast food restaurant, Harri and his CSI-obsessed friend Dean take it upon themselves to investigate the crime themselves. However in an estate which is run by the Dell Farm Crew and where the police can't be trusted, Harri's innocent investigations lead him int...more Told from the perspective of Harri, an eleven year old who recently moved from Ghana to an inner city council estate, this novel perfectly depicts the horrifying reality of gangs and knife-crime in London.
When a boy is murdered outside a fast food restaurant, Harri and his CSI-obsessed friend Dean take it upon themselves to investigate the crime themselves. However in an estate which is run by the Dell Farm Crew and where the police can't be trusted, Harri's innocent investigations lead him into dangerous territory with devastating consequences.

This book fascinated me, not just because of the realistic portrayal of gangs but also because of Harri's descriptions of his day-to-day life and how radically different his life in the UK is in comparison to his old life in Ghana. Kelman did a stellar job setting up the differences between Harri's culture (especially when describing his mother's beliefs that he picked up and his father's situation back in Ghana) and the culture he is plunged into while in London, where most of his friends are also from different countries and are going through similar things as Harri. London is now a complete cultural melting pot and Kelman perfectly depicted this, with humourous and sometimes shocking consequences.
It is Harri's wide-eyed innocence that makes this book so endearing and a riveting, fascinating read. Harri is definitley one of the best and most authentic narrators I have read for a while. He is intelligent, loveable, always funny and has a great way of observing his surroundings that create, even if his language is simplistic and sometimes misused, a perfect picture in your mind.
I have read a few reviews that have said people were initially put off by the fact that book was narrated by an eleven year old.... but trust me, Harri will win you over. There are some real laugh-out-loud moments, especially when he is talking to his friends at school and his sister, Lydia.
Considering every time I turn the news on, there is a new report of a gang killing (not just in London), 'Pigeon English' was a frighteningly real portrayal of urban crime and the innocent people who get caught in the crossfire.

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May 25, 2012 ·Karen· rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: brits

I would have liked to hear more from the pigeon.

No, actually that's not true. Harri's repetitious, boring style grates very quickly and I thought to begin with that the voice in italics would be a bit of relief. Which just goes to show that I'm not much good at thinking. The voice in italics turned out to be a pigeon. Come on. In the words of Big John McEnroe - you cannot be serious.

Plot so thin as to be utterly transparent, two narrative voices that are properly vexing, this doesn't have an awf...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Ellie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, africa, fiction, literary, children, crime, socio-political, 2012-individual-challenge

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman is the story of a young boy, newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, making his way through the mean streets of London. Eleven year old Harrison Opatu is filled with gusto-for life, for language, for experiences of all kinds. He is filled with the magic of childhood. His relationship with his sister Lydia feels real and authentic. His mother is trying her best to support her children as a nurse while keeping them safe and instilling good values...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Shelley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booker-prize, debut, read-2011

I like a book that plays with language. You might want to start by having a quick look through the glossary before reading. The narration by an 11-year-old was a bit aggravating to start, but I was feeling the love for him midway through. Love for him and all the vulnerable people and animals (yes, pigeons) trying to eke out a life in this world.

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Aug 06, 2011 Kiki Marriott added it

The protagonist of this book, Harrison Okupu, a boy recently brought from Ghana to a new life on a London sink estate with half his family , voices most of this novel in Pigeon English, (unlike his adopted pigeon friend who writes in educated prose, the other narrative voice).
This book has been showered with praise, much to do with the authentic voice of the narrator.
As the mother of two eleven year olds, (and even giving leeway for the child's abrupt and difficult cultural adaptation), I found...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Howard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book very quickly, as I was drawn in by the story and the central characters, and it is a very easy read, being written in the voice of an eleven-year-old boy. A few odd words and expressions, presumably from Ghanaian English, crop up so frequently that their meaning soon becomes familiar.

The book gives an insight into the lives of children growing up in areas where gang rivalry and knife culture – casual violence in general, it seems – are prevalent. I am lucky in that I have no ide...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Hannah Wingfield rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I heard about Pigeon English through the Guardian’s Saturday Review supplement, and placed a library reservation almost as soon as I had read it was an adult* novel with a child protagonist. As regular readers of this blog may be aware, child (and teenage) protagonists are one of my favourite things to find in a novel, and that coupled with the protagonist being a boy new to the UK, meant this was a “must read” for me. I love young protagonists and/or protagonists who are new to “modern life” (e...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Diane Yannick rated it 4 of 5 stars

An insightful story that will stick with me. It's very easy to categorize gang members as evil. It's harder to realize that many kids are unwilling members who are only trying to survive the environment that they're thrown into. Harri, an eleven year old boy, is the narrator. After coming from Ghana to the UK, he must learn to survive on the streets that surround his tenement. His family had to be separated and Harri misses his dad, baby sister Agnes, and his grandmother who are still in Ghana....more

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Dec 04, 2012 Tyler-rose (The Reading Pile) rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't know where to being with Pigeon English. I'm not as impressed with it as I had hoped to be when I accepted it for review. The concept of it is amazing and I was really interested and excited to begin reading about the 11 year old, Ghanaian boy, Harri. I thought the tale that Kelman had come up with was going to be interesting and fun to read about. Then I opened the book.

The mix of English and Ghanaian phrases (asweh (I swear), hutious (scary), Gowayou (Go away)..) made the novel hard t...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Snotchocheez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Asweh, I spent hell of donkey hours reading this, got ants in my pant getting through the pigeon parts (hutious! Made me go red-eyes proper), wore out my bo-stylez trainers (Diadoras) walking back and forth laughing full stop and getting all stomachy over the mad crazy adventures of Harri and his sister Chlamydia. For real. Advise yourself!!! Totally fine good book, better than X-Men, innit.

(but for realz for real, a very impressive first novel by Stephen Kelman. Pigeon English's obvious (to me)...more
Asweh, I spent hell of donkey hours reading this, got ants in my pant getting through the pigeon parts (hutious! Made me go red-eyes proper), wore out my bo-stylez trainers (Diadoras) walking back and forth laughing full stop and getting all stomachy over the mad crazy adventures of Harri and his sister Chlamydia. For real. Advise yourself!!! Totally fine good book, better than X-Men, innit.

(but for realz for real, a very impressive first novel by Stephen Kelman. Pigeon English's obvious (to me) point of comparison would be Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time, but only on the surface. (For what it's worth, I think this is a little better than Curious Incident, which I liked just fine). For our narrator is the eleven year old, Year Seven student, and recent Ghana émigré Harri Opoku, a good natured kid who just wants to fit in with his friends in one of the impoverished slums of London. He keeps busy playing crazy made-up games with his chums (like Suicide Bomber, Zombie, and one that involves throwing rocks at buses for hella points) barely staying out of trouble, and kinda half-way dreaming of being able to front with the local bad-ass gang. From the get-go, though, Harri and his friends nearly witness one of their classmates get chooked (stabbed) to death outside of Chicken Joe's restaurant. Their mission (when not messing around playing Suicide Bomber, Zombie, or bugging the crap out of their sisters) is to solve the murder mystery and get reward money.)

Harri's voice, totally annoying and nearly undecipherable at first, sticks to a cadence that ultimately becomes infectious and totally believable (despite its pidgin-y qualities) as the novel exposes its gritty street-life realities. (it helps to realize, as Mr. Kelman reveals in the end Acknowledgements, that the story is based on a real-life kid growing up in the projects.

I really enjoyed this book. Despite the gritty backdrop, the gutter-England-English and the intense subject matter, there were many genuinely funny lines, and it nearly always rang true. I share though the prevailing opinion of many of my fellow Goodreads critics that Mr. Kelman makes a BIG misstep by interspersing the thoughts of a pigeon (!) along with Harri's narrative, trying too hard to give extra dual-meaninged significance to the title (and draw allusion, maybe, to Jonathan Livingston Seagull). Lose the pigeon- (not pidgin-) speak, and this book is terrific. Bo-stylez, even).
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Oct 18, 2012 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-reads, contemporary

This not a review, but a challenge: Is anyone out there willing to compare "Pigeon English" (debut novel, short listed for the Booker, child narrator, strong reviews) with "What Came Before He Shot Her," a novel that immerses itself in the same world and explores the same challenges, but is written by Elizabeth George, possibly the most acclaimed mystery writer of our time, who took a wild chance on a book that many panned because they "expected" it to be a "Lynley" mystery.
In my opinion, George...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Caitriona H rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and Man Booker Prize in 2011 and I saw Stephen Kelman in conversation at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that year. Compared to the literary big names punching their weight around he was unobtrusive. Reading Pigeon English now, albeit a year late, his brand new energy in this book has much more impact than I anticipated.

Harrison Opuku is from Ghana and he is 11 years old and he likes the inner city pigeons. In particular, one...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Carly Dodd rated it 3 of 5 stars

Stephen Kelman's debut novel Pigeon English is a raw and real look into inner-city London's dark daily life. Narrated by the profound Harrison Opoku - an eleven year old boy recently emigrated from Ghana, Pigeon English reveals the depth of violence and twisted justice which so quickly becomes apparent in the London youth.

Following the death of a fellow youth and student - a bloody and seemingly meaningless stabbing - Harrison and his friend Derek take on a vague sense of duty an begin investig...more Stephen Kelman's debut novel Pigeon English is a raw and real look into inner-city London's dark daily life. Narrated by the profound Harrison Opoku - an eleven year old boy recently emigrated from Ghana, Pigeon English reveals the depth of violence and twisted justice which so quickly becomes apparent in the London youth.

Following the death of a fellow youth and student - a bloody and seemingly meaningless stabbing - Harrison and his friend Derek take on a vague sense of duty an begin investigative reports on the scene. In their simplified childish way, they set up watch, interrogate suspects and look for clues and evidence.

Though the novel holds aspects of crime scene investigation, it is in no means a Murder Mystery by genre. Instead, through these investigations, Kelman reveals the beauty of a young boys mind, and the simple honesty with which he lives his life. Both gentle and loving in his displays of caring for the pigeon which lands on his balcony one day, Harrison is an expressly loveable character whose affection and protective nature for his little sister Agnes (residing in Ghana with their father) is both inspiring and heart warming.
"I pretended like all the oranges rolling everywhere were her happy memories and they were looking for a new person to stick to so they didn't get wasted.”

In contrast, the youth's desire for destruction, brutality and violence, and Harri's own fascination with the local gang, reveal the intensity of youth and the ease with which they as a society can slip into such immense horror and destruction: "Killa got a screwdriver out of his pant. I saw it with my own two eyes... I could even see the killing thoughts in the air, they were sticking to us like crazy moths after thunder. They wanted to kill us, you could tell." Through these dichotomous emotions Kelman weaves the intricate tapestry of emotions which drive youth culture.

The voice through which the story is told - most predominantly that of Harri, is honest and real, and often times simple - childish excitability certainly comes though - but with a profound depth and beauty which transcends all age and circumstance.
His analysis of people, is so childishly simple that it reveals truth so often missed by adult mindsets. In his observation of Mr Frimpong, Harrison reveals the pureness of his heart:

“Mr. Frimpong is the oldest person from church. That's when I knew why he sings louder than anybody else: it's because he's been waiting the longest for God to answer. He thinks God has forgotten him. I only knew it then. Then I loved him but it was too late to go back.”

This passage also reveals a reoccurring theme within the novel and specifically within Harrison of a fascination with death. The memory and 'spirit' of "The Dead Boy" permeates and presides over the story, weaving its way in and out of day to day chores, guilty looks, and moments of personal triumph. Harrison is fixated on his memory - a boy he wasn't particularly close with - and continually dedicates his moments of happiness to the boy's memory or spirit.

In the same way, gang members and bully figures are forever fixed on death and revenge, carving death threats in apartment doors and chanting for blood during street fights. There is an animalistic quality alive in each youth and each person which Kelman carefully explores within the confines of brutal gang culture, forcing it to collide with innocent hearts and pure minds in a violent clash of interaction and emotion.

A turbulent and reflective novel, Pigeon English uses the simplicity of style and heart to pierce the heart of the reader even as it drags them into a world of shockingly hardened young criminals perpetuating the dark inner-city life of London.
Funny, sickening and triumphant, Stephen Kelman's debut is a fine example of voice and heart in a plot-driven, increasingly sic-fi literary world. (less)

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Aug 02, 2012 Andrea Mullarkey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes I like to read books nobody is talking about so I can champion them and find them new readers. And sometimes I just want to read the book everybody else is talking about. Pigeon English was one of those books. It’s the story of 11 year old Harrison Opuku, an immigrant from Ghana living in a London housing project. It’s a first person narrative and I had the distinct sense I was watching the world through Harri’s eyes. He has very clear ideas about the world and how it works, though of...more

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May 27, 2012 Margaret Cruickshank rated it 5 of 5 stars

For was brief time while reading this book, I didn't think I could finish it. Only because for a bit in the middle it felt somewhat repetitive and somewhat bleak.

However, that didn't last, and I must tell you I fell in love with the boy at the center of the story. I loved his innocence and his daydreams. I adored the imagination that derived from it. I was amused and charmed by his way of expressing himself, which is a mixture of Ghanian and rough inner-city English. Harri is an 11-12 year old...more

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May 08, 2012 Nyawira Muraguri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pigeon english is a journey written from a voice that is rarely heard. Harri, the protagonist, is an eleven year old from Ghana living in a rough council estate in London.

His interactions with the new culture is both humourous and heart breaking. It is hard not to fall in love with Harri's innocence. You will see his world from his eyes; feel his relationships as if your own and get to understand him more with every word he speaks.

The book also brings to the fore the social challenges all aroun...more

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May 06, 2012 Sherri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Originally printed in Britain, this book now appears on the American scene to great literary acclaim and is even shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Harri, short for Harrison comes from Ghana and lives in England. He is an 11 year old boy trying to make sense of his new world and his new English words.

A neighboring boy is murdered and Harri and his friends become enamored with sleuthing out who has done it. Throughout the book they take fingerprints from people they suspect and talk about how...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Sandie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Prepare to fall in love. Harrison Opuku bursts off the page and into the reader’s heart. Harri is eleven, a recent immigrant from Ghana. He is now living in England with his mother and sister; his father, grandmother and baby sister left behind until the family can afford for them to come also. Living in the projects, Harri is amazed at all the new things he sees. The subway is an amazing item that he can’t quite believe work. He thinks it is bo-styles; the word for the ultimate cool. He is thri...more Prepare to fall in love. Harrison Opuku bursts off the page and into the reader’s heart. Harri is eleven, a recent immigrant from Ghana. He is now living in England with his mother and sister; his father, grandmother and baby sister left behind until the family can afford for them to come also. Living in the projects, Harri is amazed at all the new things he sees. The subway is an amazing item that he can’t quite believe work. He thinks it is bo-styles; the word for the ultimate cool. He is thrilled by remote control cars, cell phones, and new trainers. Harri’s best skill is his running; no one can catch him when he runs. He is the kind of boy who is open to all experiences, taking them in and finding the good in everything around him. Harri tends to like everyone; even the pigeons who flock around the housing projects, occasionally getting inside. Where others see a mess that should be cleared away, Harri sees a friend.

But not everything is positive in Harri’s world. Gangs abound, and as a newcomer, he is tested for inclusion. Daily life is full of insults and casual violence, and Harri is sometimes tempted by these acts. Worst of all, a boy who is the star of the basketball court, is murdered on the streets. The motive? No one knows for sure, maybe even just for his dinner. Harri and his friend Dean decide that they will find the killer. Full of facts gained from CSI shows, they attempt to lift fingerprints and find DNA, sure that they can find the culprit and bring him to justice.

Stephen Kelman has created a character that readers will not soon forget. The language is spot-on for a child growing up in modern England in the housing projects. The language is sometimes rough, and the facts that are commonplace knowledge breathtaking, but through it all, the sweetness of Harri’s personality shines through. Kelman himself grew up in the housing projects of England and worked as a careworker, a warehouse operative, in marketing and in local government administration before focusing on writing. Pigeon English has been nominated for the Booker Prize and readers will not be surprised by that fact. This is a stunning, excellent book; the fact that it is a debut novel is almost unimaginable. This book is recommended for all readers. (less)

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Mar 22, 2012 Stefani rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british, depressing, crime

I might have enjoyed this book a bit more had I not felt like I was paging through my 5th grade diary the entire time. The narrator—an 11-year-old Ghanian immigrant named Harrison—isn't what you'd call precocious exactly, but he's sweet and uncorrupted despite the urban blight surrounding him. While the other boys in the council houses are busy sticking each other with sharp objects and threatening each other with violence, Harrison is deeply concerned about pigeons, stray animals and his father...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Alistair rated it 2 of 5 stars

It was okay, about summarises it.
The trouble with books which have been shortlisted, or awarded something, is that you approach them expecting to be impressed. I wasn't impressed. I didn't dislike it, it was not bad, I just wasn't impressed.
Good things:
- I like a child narrator. I think it's probably an easy way to get sympathy for your main character. On the whole, I liked his figure of speech, though it was not in itself enough to keep me interested.
- It made me think a little about what life...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Harrison Opuku and his mother and sister Lydia are recent immigrants from Ghana to a housing project in London. When an older boy is murdered in the neighborhood and the police have no leads, Harri and his friend decide to investigate the death, using techniques picked up from television shows such as CSI. Harri's world is filled with threats of violence from the Dell Farm Crew (a local gang), his attempts to stay out of the trouble that is so easy to find in London, his dreams of being the fast...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars

A schoolboy from Ghana living in a London Council estate, coping with his new life and the reality of inner-city living, including the recent stabbing of a local boy. A thought-provoking read, told in a child's voice - in a similar style to 'Room' or 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' - but with a distinctively London edge. Benefiting myself from some familiarity with Ghana (and London), I enjoyed the authentic use of dialect ('obruni', 'bogah' 'goawayou', 'I go sound you'), tho...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Ali rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third of the booker shortlist for 2011 that I have read.

Pigeon English is a quick read, the narrative voice of an eleven year old boy from Ghana is instantly engaging and carries the reader effortlessly into his world. A world of council estate high rises, gangs, trainers, and the aftermath of a senseless death. There is a pigeon in the story - who narrates a few passages - this I didn't feel added anything to the story at all. I'm not even sure what the reader is supposed to take fr...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Lakis Fourouklas rated it 5 of 5 stars

If someone asked me to describe this book in just a few words I’d say that Pigeon English is this year’s Room. And that because the narrator is a young boy here as well, but not one kept in captivity, but an immigrant that arrives to London from Ghana with his mother and older sister, and having to live in a housing project, which feels like a ghetto, is trying hard to adapt to this new reality.
Harrison Opuku is a boy gifted with lots of imagination and love for the others as well. A kid, like...more If someone asked me to describe this book in just a few words I’d say that Pigeon English is this year’s Room. And that because the narrator is a young boy here as well, but not one kept in captivity, but an immigrant that arrives to London from Ghana with his mother and older sister, and having to live in a housing project, which feels like a ghetto, is trying hard to adapt to this new reality.
Harrison Opuku is a boy gifted with lots of imagination and love for the others as well. A kid, like the kids used to be, before the digital era arrived with all its side effects: hard and tender at the same time, poor but satisfied with his life, a big dreamer, but above all someone who cares about other people. The hard facts of his life so far may have made him a bit more mature than other kids of his age, but the cruelty of this world did not manage to take away his goodness. If he becomes strong headed and hard every now and then he does so in order to survive, and he’d never try to bring harm to anyone; at least not intentionally. Harri, if nothing else is someone who knows how to love. He loves his mother, who’s trying quite unsuccessfully to put the fear of god, or rather of her, into him, to give him discipline; he loves his sister, Lydia, who every now and then seems to be somehow losing it; but most of all he loves Agnes, his little sister who’s stayed behind in Ghana, and who’s going through a serious illness. And he sure loves his dad, and misses him, since he was left behind too.
Harri, however, doesn’t only care about playing all day or just for his family. He also cares about the people around him, especially if something bad comes their way; anything bad. And that’s exactly what happened to a boy his age, who was killed for his lunch. Harri, having his friend Dean by his side, is determined to find out who the killer is, since the police doesn’t really seem to care that much, and bring him to justice. Of course it will not prove so easy to accomplish this mission, due to the lack of experience and founding. However, using tricks they pick up from CSI and their very special binoculars, the boys will set out on a journey of discovery. During it Harri will come to learn and understand more about the country that’s now his home and will also start creating new words, while throwing in a few aphorisms for good measure, every now and then as well: “I do know the shape of a mother’s grief”, “Grown-ups love sad news, it gives them something special to pray for”, “Laughing is the best way to make them admire you”, “That’s why people wave to each other, because it makes them belong”. Wearing his new shoes, which are definitely Bo-styles, he’ll also come to realize that he’s the best runner at school and that will prove handy in a number of occasions.
The narration though, even it has at its epicenter Harri’s everyday life, is also used as a tool to criticize the modern English society. A society where crime became a way of life for many kids, where the people living in the poor areas feel and are excluded from the equal opportunities that everyone talks about but no one is working hard enough to establish, and where the authorities do not do too much to stop things that are considered disgraceful when happening in the third-world countries, from taking place on their own turf.
Kelman seems to have taken over the body and the mind of his narrator, so his voice sounds more than convincing. Harri is an eleven year old kid and he sounds exactly like that. He may have been through a lot already, but his soul remains pure, childish; but also kind of sly and curious.
This is a great novel about growing up and coming to terms with the world around you, and is highly recommended to anyone who’s interested in good literature.
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Oct 02, 2011 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, fiction, literary-fiction, kindle, owned, ya

Eleven year old Harri has recently arrived in London from Ghana with his Mum and sister Lydia. Living on a council estate in the city, he is fascinated with his new surroundings. He is mesmerised by the fact that trains travel underground and loves the view from his high-rise tower block. But his naivety has a darker side too and he doesn't realise the danger he is in when he starts to investigate the murder of a local teenager and the Dell Farm gang start to notice him.

I should start by saying...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Gina Roitman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman House of Anansi Press

In his auspicious debut novel, Pigeon English, Stephen Kelman catches us unawares, drawing us into the chaotic and compelling world of Harrison Opoku. Eleven year old Harri has emigrated from Ghana with his mother and older sister to the mean streets of East London, a neighborhood that has been grinding down immigrants for hundreds of years.

Stephen Kelman, an unemployed 33-year-old, sent his manuscript on spec to a few agents more in hope t...more

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