Juggling With Mandarins

V.M. Jones (author)

HarperCollins, NZ: 2003; 255pp

ISBN: 1869504623

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: bullying, family, identity, relationships, values

Pip is very much his mother's son, with his fair hair, slight build, and love of English. Nick, his older brother, is the son his father really wanted - built in his image, successful at sport, tough as they come.

They both play soccer but Nick is inevitably a bit better at it than his younger brother. As Pip's father constantly reminds him.

Pip's father is a notorious Soccer Father - one who runs up and down the sideline, yelling at his son, the team, the referee. For Pip's dad, winning is the only thing that matters. So when Pip finds something that he's good at - really good at - he decides not to tell his father. He wants to enjoy this secret part of his life without the pressure of competition, the dread of what his father's going to say, who he's going to yell at next.

Can Pip find a way to build a better relationship with his father, one based on acceptance and respect? Can he convince his father that he has choices of his own to make, that his father doesn't have the right to try and live out his dreams through his sons? Or is the rest of his life going to be a juggling act of hiding his talents and interests from the man he loves? This is sensitive, thought-provoking novel that manages to avoid the black and white absolutes of difficult parents that permeate children's literature.

This is a beautifully crafted first person narrative that gives a very clear insight into the feelings and reactions of Pip (Phillip) as things happen in his family and as he struggles with his relationship with his father. Characters are also nicely balances - Pip's father is not wicked, just depressed after injury and job loss, as well as being a rather typical dominant patriarchal type. He is a nice person with a big flaw and eventually Pip is able to accept that and learn to live with it.

Nick, Pip's brother, is equally three-dimensional - a son who basks in his father's adoration but is inclined to take advantage of his younger brother's softer personality. Developing the personal strength to stop his brother bullying him is, for Pip, a step towards stopping his father - practising on a smaller version, so to speak. The author also paints a very realistic picture of mother torn between her younger son and her husband, both of whom she loves and understands, and perspectives she can see.