Fiction Tuesday - Pigeon English

This is a London story told through the eyes of young Harri Opku from Ghana. The narrator has such an interesting voice. This story is fresh and unique.

The author Stephen Kelman has a way of putting us there at a murder in the beginning of the story. Soon we are intrigued as to how Harri and his friend will solve this horrific moment of his classmate.

Its the journey that perhaps matters most, and how one perceives it.

happiness.

There’s a million words for a bulla. When i came to my new school, do you know what’s the first thing Connor Green said to me?
Connor Green: ‘Have you got happiness?’
Me: ‘Yes.’
Connor Green: ‘Are you sure you’ve got happiness?’
Me: ‘Yes.’
Connor Green: ‘But are you really sure?’
Me: ‘I think so’
He kept asking me if i had happiness. He wouldn’t stop. In the end it just vexed me. Then I wasn’t sure. Connor Green was laughing, i didn’t even know why. Then Manik told me it was a trick.
Manik: ‘He’s not asking you if you’ve got happiness, he’s asking you if you’ve got a penis. He says it to everyone. It’s just a trick.’
It sounds like happiness but really it means a penis. Ha-penis.
Connor Green: ‘Got ya! Hook, line and sinker!”
Connor Green is always making tricks. He’s just a confusionist. That’s the first thing you learn about him. At least I didn’t lose. I do have a penis. The trick doesn’t work if it’s true.  

—Harri in Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English

This book is on many GOOD READS list.