The book is set in the 1980's and 1990's during the Bougainville Civil War in Papua New Guinea.

The story is told from the point of view of young Matilda whom we assume is around 10 or 11 when the book starts.

It tells of her war story, her relationship with family and friends, and her teacher, a white man who has an obsession with Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations".

People who like to read fiction stories, but are based on real life events. People who like to learn something about history whilst reading a fiction novel.

The writing style of the author, which was unusual to read but engaging. I also liked the main character of Matilda. I think the author did a good job of creating this character even though she is a young black girl and the author is a middle aged white man. The character I think is appealing to the reader and we want her to succeed and prosper in the story. It was interesting to learn about the Bougainville Civil War which I had never heard of, and looked up.

The ending was quite good from the point of view that it "wrapped up" the story effectively. I hate stories which just end abruptly leaving you as the reader to draw your own conclusions. It's a cop out.....

The fact that the book was quite depressing, throughout the book I expected something good to suddenly happen, for the tide to turn, but the book continued to grow steadily darker. The fact that is was based on real events made it all the more depressing, as it made you realise that although the characters are fictional, these kind of things really happened. The book has unexpected plot twists in it, but they are all miserable ones. The supporting characters I did not find very strong or relateable.

Travel to Papua New Guinea

Depressed

It is an interesting story and it is well written. Told in the first person, the main character is engaging and well developed. It has some twists, you don't necessarily know what is going to happen.

It is quite depressing. Apart from the main character, I didn't really feel very attached to any of the other characters.

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Created Apr 30, 2020 at 2:28pm • Submit your own review...