AvonVilla@ramblingreaders.org reviewed Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
A masterpiece of post-apocalypse science fiction
5 stars
The invented future dialect is front and centre of this book. There are words and sentences you won't fully understand at first, but as you read you get better at understanding it in context. Then you are almost FEELING the language, making up for anything you miss with that added element in the text. Re-reading is rewarding and it will open up more details of the story.
Young Riddley Walker tells the tale of life in an England long after a nuclear holocaust which has largely destroyed civilisation. The remnants only have a sketchy understanding of what has gone before, mixed in with religion, history and mythology, as they terrifyingly rediscover a weapon of destruction, known as the 1 Big 1. Not yet MASS destruction, but you have a feeling of dread that the cycle is starting again.
It's comparable in themes to Walter M Miller's "A Canticle for Liebowitz", …
The invented future dialect is front and centre of this book. There are words and sentences you won't fully understand at first, but as you read you get better at understanding it in context. Then you are almost FEELING the language, making up for anything you miss with that added element in the text. Re-reading is rewarding and it will open up more details of the story.
Young Riddley Walker tells the tale of life in an England long after a nuclear holocaust which has largely destroyed civilisation. The remnants only have a sketchy understanding of what has gone before, mixed in with religion, history and mythology, as they terrifyingly rediscover a weapon of destruction, known as the 1 Big 1. Not yet MASS destruction, but you have a feeling of dread that the cycle is starting again.
It's comparable in themes to Walter M Miller's "A Canticle for Liebowitz", and in style to Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange". Iain M banks' "Feersum Endjinn" also does a great job at the invented dialect. But of all these, I think "Riddley Walker" is the one I'll never tire of re-reading.