The Pigeon-Guardian Who Speaks

Spied Stephen Kelman's 'Pigeon English' lying in the shelves. Had completely forgotten it was bought months ago. It paints a grim picture of South London, of immigrants trying to make a decent living in the city, and balancing family life without the violent streets spilling into their hearths. (Read reviews here, here and here.)

Not too sure if Kelman can convincingly write in the voice of an 11-year old immigrant from Ghana, Harrison Opoku, but at least the picture of life in an inner city housing estate doesn't seem to be inaccurately portrayed. Clearly, I won't know, and can only use my imagination and what I've seen during brief visits. But I understand the family worries and the social issues. Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old recent arrival from Nigeria, bled to death in a stairwell in Peckham, after being attacked by two 12-year-olds. Police appeal for witnesses drew silence. So our protagonist decided to start a murder investigation of his own, and from there on, the web of stories spanning entire family and the neighborhood was revealed.

This book is extremely enjoyable in the sense that the pace doesn't slacken, and the issues addressed are put forth in plain language that everyone understands. Then the ache hits when you realize how sheltered and safe you are compared to these kids. Quite a stirring read.

Dean says to wait until Monday before we tell the police. We need to get all our evidence together and work out what to say. Dean has to decide what games to get with his Playstation and we have to tell our mammas. They'll have to come to the police station with us for if the cops don't believe our story. Dean says we might get a tour, I hope they show us the torture room. They'll just hold Killa's head in a bucket of water until he admits it. In England you get TV in jail and the pool balls even roll straight. It's better than being dead. We just have to stay alive until Monday, then everything will be alright.

We followed the protagonist's foray into pseudo-forensic investigation, inspired by tv series the likes of NCIS and CSI. The murder happened in March, and a couple of months later, Harrison made some sort of headway in his investigation. Towards the end, he evaluated his evidence collected, and as a reader, we hoped for the best for him. Allow me to indicate a bit of a spoiler here- the ending is exactly like it has to be.