THE HUTIOUS INCIDENT OF THE BOY ON A HOUSING ESTATE

PIGEON ENGLISH by Stephen Kelman (Britain, 2011)

If, like me, you regard pigeons as rats with wings you will find it hard to accept that one of this breed of flying vermin could be an articulate, spiritual guide to a young boy on a London housing estate.

This is the weakest premise of an otherwise well-intentioned debut novel that was shortlisted for the Booker prize and is shortly to be adapted by the BBC.

There is blood at the beginning and blood at the end. It begins with the immediate aftermath of a seemingly motiveless murder : “You could see the blood. It was darker than you thought. It was all on the ground outside Chicken Joe’s. It just felt crazy”.

The victim of this stabbing is known  only as “the dead boy”.  The story was partly inspired by the real life killing of 10 year-old Damilola Taylor on a Peckham estate  in 2000. As well as a link to Taylor’s trust fund, the acknowledgements also list the website for the Families Utd support group.