Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Nothing in Stephen Kelman’s Booker-shortlisted novel suggests to me that he is a cynical man (quite the opposite in fact), so it seems churlish to marvel at the perfect timing of this summer’s riots for him and his book. For while Sky News has barely finished rolling the breaking story that we are an island of two nations (the Rich and the Poor), here is a powerful tale of life among that less fortunate tribe.
 
Pigeon English is narrated by Harri, a ten-year-old who has just moved with his mum and teenage sister from Ghana to England. Harri is a bright, sunny boy from a loving family, but this is scant protection against the petty, meaningless, and murderous chaos of a North London estate. Soon he is overwhelmed by a world where bullies steal dinner-money at lunchtime and trade guns by night.

As a character, Harri is well-drawn. His enthusiasm is powerful and commands genuine sympathy.  His relationship with his sister (half affection, half warfare, all love) is just right. Kelman has clearly spent a lot of time observing the idiom of children like Harri and the dialogue certainly sounds convincing.

There are some details of the book I’d quibble with. The short sections narrated by a pigeon who “befriends” Harri should have been cut. It probably seemed clever to have a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the big issues but I found these passages redundant and their sentiments trite. They are also dangerous: to imply there a guardian spirit watching over Harri undermines the message running through the novel that the estate is a place of loneliness and moral squalor.

Gradually, devastatingly, this nihilism threatens to ensnare Harri’s soul. His mother tries to keep him firmly rooted to a sense of right and wrong. But even this frail shelter is ultimately swept away.

For me, Pigeon English carries one important message. We cannot buy a just society. Pour as much money as you want into an estate like Harri’s – it will be swallowed by hopelessness. We can try to transmit social justice through tax credits. But it is not just money these people need, it is love.