| Product: |
Mister God, This is Anna - Fynn |
| Date: |
16/03/01 (389 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Squillions
Disadvantages: None. Zip. Nada. Zero
This book is incredible - absorbing, uplifting, funny, thought-provoking and sad, but most importantly full of joy.
First published in 1974 by Collins, it is the true story of a young man (Fynn, the author) and his relationship with Anna, a waif who came into his life for a brief time, and brought with her sunshine, innocence, and wisdom. It is set in pre-war London, in the East End, and is vividly descriptive. It is one of my favourite books, for many reasons - the story itself, the style of writing, and the way it makes me feel. This is a book I find myself compelled to read again and again.
~ SYNOPSIS ~
We learn at the very beginning that Anna does not live to see 8 years - she dies as a result of an accident. This fact in no way inhibits the reader's enjoyment of the story, but it is always present at the back of your mind. However, I think if there had been no forewarning, the book would not have as great an impact on the reader, as the knowledge of Anna's impending death makes each word have so much more meaning.
Fynn is 19, happy with his life. He lives at home with his Mum, enjoys work and the occasional drink in the local pub. One night he is out walking - ' prowling the street and alleys with my usual supply of hot dogs' - and he sees a bedraggled little girl, dirty and ragged, sitting on a grating trying to keep warm. She is about 5 years old. He sits down beside her. From that moment his life is changed forever. It turns out that the waif, Anna, has 'runned away' and has no intention of going to 'no bleeding cop shop'. She announces that she is going to live with Fynn, and to his surprise he agrees.
So off she goes to live with Fynn. Right away he knows she is a very special person. She seems to have a knowledge beyond her years, while keeping all the innocence and wonder of childhood. Together they learn about the infinite possibilities of numbers, letters, nature and rel
igion, with Anna imparting her own particular wisdom and answers to life's questions every step of the way.
Fynn describes her thus:
'Certainly Anna had a gift but it turned out to be nothing spooky, nothing out of this world. In a very deep sense it was at once as mysterious as it was simple. She had an immediate grasp of pattern, of structure, of the way that bits and pieces were organized into a whole. Unexplainable as this gift might be, it was always well and truly earthed in the nature of things. As simple and as mysterious as a spider's web, as ordinary as a spiral sea-shell. Anna could see pattern where others just saw muddles, and this was Anna's gift.'
Anna's special friend is Mister God. On the first night she stays with Fynn, she insists on saying her prayers. She talks to him as if he was there beside her. A good portion of the book relates to Anna's theories about Mister God, and religion as a whole. She can relate Mister God to names, numbers and nature, and by herself she works out what Mister God is all about. Her revelations are so startlingly obvious that as you read you wonder why you hadn't thought of them yourself.
Anna's enthusiasm and honesty touch everyone she meets. Even gruff policemen become more human when they run into her. Her sheer joy at being alive is infectious, even animals are drawn to her.
Throughout the book we are introduced to many of the characters of London - Fynn's Mum, the other inhabitants of the street - including The Venus de Mile End and Millie the 'pros', the 'night-people' and others in the community. Each has their own part to play in this story, each is as important as the other.
As the book progresses the characters grow. By the end you will feel as if you have known Fynn, Anna and all the other characters personally, as if they are real. As indeed they are, for as I said this is a true, if almost unbe
lievable in its honesty, story.
It will make you laugh out loud and it will almost certainly have you in tears at various points. But it will also make you feel an immense sense of joy that something so beautiful could have walked the streets of old London town.
~ STYLE ~
Fynn is the narrator of the story, and it is written very much in his own words. The attention to detail is phenomenal, his descriptions of people and places make them spring to life in your imagination. Let me give you a brief example:
'Ma B had a pudding shop. Ma B was one of nature's miracles: she was taller when she was lying down than when she was standing up. I suppose it was because she ate her own puddings.'
The language used is plain English - Fynn simply records events as he saw them, conversations as he heard them, and people as he knew them. This makes for very enjoyable reading with just the right amount of personal insight. The way he writes is absorbing, he captures each emotion perfectly. It really is a remarkable book, illustrated beautifully with line drawings by Papas, and with a fascinating introduction by Vernon Sproxton.
~ FINAL THOUGHTS ~
I admit it, I am biased. Baised so much that I think everyone should read this. Although found in the General (Religion and Spirituality) section of the Books category on Dooyoo, it can be read by anyone, of any religion. Or indeed by people with no religion at all. This is the sort of book that you find once in a lifetime, the sort of book that makes you glad to be alive. Read it. You'll be glad you did.
'Then doth she, when from individual states
she doth extract the universal kinds,
Which then reclothed in divers names and fates,
Steal access thro' our senses to our minds.'
Words spoken by one of the 'night-people', Old Woody, as he beholds Anna for the first and only time, from the poetry of Sir John Davie
s.
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