Mr. Pip is one of those novels that I have seen on the shelf at Barnes & Noble, picked up several times, and never actually got around to buying. In the finest tradition of movies making me want to read the book they are based on, the recent trailer for Andrew Adamson’s Mr. Pip adaptation looks really inspiring, not least because it stars Hugh Laurie. And who does not love Hugh Laurie?

Hugh Laurie plays Mr. Watts, a white teacher who begins teaching Dickens to the poor of the island of Bougainville. One of his pupils, Matilda (Xzannjah) is inspired by the lead character Pip of Great Expectations as a source of hope and escape from the violence that surrounds her. But a misunderstanding with the local army because of the book leads to greater violence, when Pip is mistaken for a secret rebel leader.

The trailer makes a lot of the relationship between Mr.