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There are books that one can gently devour, whose words settle satisfyingly into habitual plots and slots in the mind; there are books that once finished leave one with a sense of dissatisfaction or even annoyance; there are books that raise questions with a thoroughness that they sometimes fail to answer. And then there are books that overturn the evenness of predefined notions and shake loose a heap of ideas that qualify meaningfulness. ‘Mister God, this is Anna’ is one such book.
Set in the streets of London, in the 1930s, this book tells the story of a chance meeting and a special friendship that develops between a young man of 19 who works the rails and a 4-year old girl. Anna is literally picked off the streets and adopted into Fynn’s family, where she proceeds to encompass them all with her love and wisdom.
“At five years, Anna knew absolutely the purpose of being, knew the meaning of Love, and was a personal friend and helper of Mister God. At six, Anna was a theologian, mathematician, philosopher, poet and gardener.” (Quote from the book).
The story of Anna brings answers to questions that many of us may have raised during some point in our lives; answers that are direct, simple, and to the point, but oh so meaningfully and delightfully expressed! This 4-year old brings up age old wisdom and philosophy and examines them through the open mind of a child.
One such conversation is between Anna and a policeman, in the middle of the night, on the banks of the River Thames.
“Mister”, Anna took his hand and pulled him to the wall, “mister, is the Thames the water, or the hole it goes in?”
The policeman looked at her for a moment and then replied, “The water, of course. You don’t have a river without water.”
“Oh,” said Anna, “that’s funny, that is, ’cos when it rains it ain’t the Thames but when it runs into the hole it is the Thames. Why is that, mister? When do you start calling it the Thames and when do you stop calling it the Thames?”
When indeed! Some of the ideas brought up in the book, may seem to question predefined ideas of their basic truth, but at the same time reinforce the core values of that very same truth.
“The whole business of adults going to church filled Anna with suspicion. The idea of collective worship went against her sense of private conversations with Mister God. As for going to church to meet Mister God, that was preposterous. After all, if Mister God wasn’t everywhere, he wasn’t anywhere.” (Quote from the book).
Exploring the nuances of 3 years of Anna and Fynn’s special friendship, the book ends on a sad but meaningful note. A spectacular book to read with an open mind and an open heart. Anna will gently guide you to see things in all its three dimensions rather than just the one. And to top it all off, it’s a true story.
“Anna had bypassed all the non-essentials and distilled centuries of learning into one sentence: “And God said love me, love them, and love it, and don’t forget to love yourself.” (Quote from the book).
Every Monday, the Library in Schools team meet to discuss the events of the past week and to plan for that week. As part of that, two or three team members do a Book Talk based on a book that they have read. This piece is a written version of the Book Talk.