Pigeon English - Couverture souple

Kelman, Stephen

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0547737424 ISBN 13 : 9780547737423

Editeur : Mariner Books, 2012

Synopsis

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on a London housing estate. The second best runner in the whole of Year 7, Harri races through his new life in his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him. With equal fascination for the local gang - the Dell Farm Crew - and the pigeon who visits his balcony, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of inner-city survival. But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to try and keep them safe. A story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, Pigeon English is a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

"Intelligent, observant." — The New Yorker

"If your patrons liked Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and if they rooted for Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire, they will love Harri Opoku." — Library Journal, starred review

"In turns funny and tragic . . . Its message is universal." – Huffington Post

Advise yourself! Jump into Pigeon English and experience the jubilant, infectious voice of Harrison Opoku—a boy awed by the city, obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to everyone he meets. See why he is bo-styles. How being the fastest runner in Year 7 makes him dope-fine. And how crazy things get when Harri and his best friend launch their own investigation into the murder of a classmate and one of the Dell Farm Crew’s hutious criminals feels them closing in on him. You’ll want this book to last donkey hours, and you’ll see why Harri is truly a “hero for our times.”*

"Like Room . . . and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . . . Pigeon English is a novel for adults told in the remarkable voice of a child. In this fine company, Kelman's novel stands out." — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Since Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, there have been certain rules observed when children play detective. Stephen Kelman throws them all out." — Christian Science Monitor

Revue de presse :

Advance praise for PIGEON ENGLISH:

"Simultaneously accurate and fantastical, this boy’s love letter to the world made me laugh and tremble all the way through. Pigeon English is a triumph." -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room 
 
"Pigeon English is a powerful and impressive novel. Harri is an intelligent child with irresistible charm. His exuberance and natural resilience transcend his desolate surroundings and offer the reader an unexpected hope and belief in the nobility of the human spirit. Kelman knows the world of boys – their language, their humour, their thoughts – and Harri’s voice is dazzlingly authentic. Utterly convincing and deeply moving, this is a book that we should all read if we want to understand the ugly world that we have somehow managed to create on the edges of society. I wasn’t sure if I would have the courage to read it, but I was won over within the first few pages." -- Clare Morrall, author of the Booker shortlisted Astonishing Splashes of Colour  and The Man Who Disappeared

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Mariner Books
• Date d'édition: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0547737424
• ISBN 13: 9780547737423
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 288