This was one of the most heart-wrenching books I have ever read. I am now completely converted to the fiction of Michael Morpurgo. He also happens to be a favourite author for the IGCSE and IB boards which I am being trained to teach currently, and so I will make sure that I read more of his books in the coming days and weeks.
It will now be impossible for me to avoid him. He is an exceptionally brilliant writer of inspirational, animal, and school prose.
He creates this old-world charm of the 1970s, 1980s and my favourite 1990s which I adore. Reading his ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ is like walking into a time machine and going back to a time when there were no irritating smartphones, no instant WhatsApp messaging-cum-harassment, no online shopping, no pandemics, no global warming, no incessant perpetual rains 24/7 and 365 days of the year, and most importantly, no strong men politicians-cum-despots trying to erase the smile from our face daily through communalism, racism, regionalism, casteism, sexism and whatever you may have next.
I felt one with the protagonist Michael as he spent his early school days playing a simple game of football or soccer with his male friends in an abandoned muddy field. I felt one with him as he spent his days sailing with his humble and non-ambitious family, fishing and feeling the cool sea breeze upon his face and blowing through the flimsiness of his T-shirt.
I felt one with him as he did his math homework after school and then simply went to play till dinner time or till the sunset, with his football friends, not on a pristine and expensive turf costing lakhs of rupees, but on a simple mud-watered swampy ground where getting muddy was more important than playing the game. I felt one with him when he would spend his early mornings doing paper rounds for the Indian newspaper seller living across the street from where he lived. That simplicity of life, that dedication to one’s job to gain a monthly allowance, and that sweet patience of spirit made me nostalgic of a time that has long passed me by.
I miss those days of the 1990s, when I too used to play in the mud with my school or vicinity friends, either a good game of fun-basketball or cricket – scraping my shin and having a blast getting dirty or chasing squirrels a plenty, and climbing trees till we reached a screech owl’s nest, who would then hoot us back down for our insolence. I remember cycling like the protagonist Michael for hours together with my building and school friends, having races for fun and then reading Goosebumps or the Famous Five or the Secret Seven or the Hardy Boys and trying to mimic the stories contained therein while we still sat upon our BSA cycle seats.
I miss birdwatching with my binoculars and Kodak camera. I miss swinging for hours in the playground of my school humming the Josie and the Pussycats theme songs as it was shown on Cartoon Network of the 1990s. I miss playing amateur baseball, serious but fun badminton, and doubles at throwball. I miss making sandcastles in the sands of the Patwardhan Park playgrounds and throwing small pebbles in the sea with my estranged dad at Jogger’s Park while watching the sunset.
I miss those fascinating and evergreen shows on Cartoon Network, the Kermit Channel, POGO and the Hallmark Channel that we kids of the 1990s loved.
I miss Captain Planet, The Centurions, The Adventures of Johnny Quest, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby Doo, Top-Cat, Yogi Bear, Cow and Chicken, Ed, Edd and Eddy, SWAT Cats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He Man and the Masters of the Universe, Wishbone, Ghostwriter, and so much more. So much more and such a long-long time ago that I cannot remember any more, but I can still remember how truly happy and blissful I was back then.
I have forgotten the names, but I remember the feeling.
The book ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ had that type of feel to it. That old world type of feeling which I want back so badly that it hurts.
The book was exciting, a feel-good book, a fun-read, adventurous, suspenseful and yet so blissfully old school that it could make any Millennial or Gen-X kid cry. The ending is heart-breaking, but it could not have been done any better. It had to be that way, because that was the way we handled things back then; we analysed life with our hearts and not with our brains or our groin. And I can tell you, some of us born before the year 2000 have really got hearts that bleed in the right places all the time and every time to our constant determent, but we still show up with our hearts wherever we go. That is what Michael and old Kensuke were like. They were people with hearts of gold that still bled for the love and betterment of the other.
My favourite scene in the book was when Michael’s father decided to give up everything and take the plunge to travel around the world by sea. I rarely see dads or parents like that nowadays and I therefore loved that. I also loved the way he called Michael ‘Monkeyface’ as an endearment. It reminded me of my elder uncle who used to call me the same till when he was alive and with me…was it only 7 months ago that he passed away!? Seems like we’ve been separated for eternity.
My favourite character in this book was Michael because I was a carefree lad (okay lass!) like him many years ago too. I did not experience life as a kid. I lived life as a kid and I had a heart – that was awfully soft in many places. Too soft at times for my own good. I resonate with him a lot, especially when he was asked to remain quiet about his adventures for ten years. I would have done the same when I was a kid. Maybe I would do so even now, but I doubt that. The world and especially kids today have grown so cruel and vicious that other than their own selfish needs and wants, they cannot see anything else or beyond. We have stimulated their brains to focus upon their pleasure principle perpetually. They now think through their groins and loins and base passions, and not their hearts, their spirits, and their souls.
They ruin lives and kill their own fellow people. They start it all from the beginning and then carry that behaviour into adulthood – leading to the world you see before you today. The world of smartphones, and really stupid people. Period.
The book gets 5 stars from me.
The nostalgia created by the book gets 100 stars!