Riddley Walker
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Review
'The book has an evangelical effect on people ... Riddley is an absorbing character, Hoban's language has a fantastic, rough poetry and the post-apocalyptic world is chilling and convincing' Rachel Seiffert, Observer 'Russell Hoban has brought off an extraordinary feat of imagination and of style ... funny, terrible, haunting and unsettling, this book is a masterpiece' Observer
Anthony Burgess
'This is what literature is meant to be'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 66 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This came to me highly recommended; praised by mainstream literary critics when it was first published and listed in David Pringle's 'Science Fiction: The Hundred Best Novels' (which, if you can get hold of a copy, is a superb overview of one hundred SF novels published between 1949 and 1984).
Riddley writes his own story - in his own language - of his life on the outskirts of Canterbury, far in the future and long after nuclear devastation.
It's a difficult, though rewarding read. Riddley writes in a variation of English which, though degenerate, has its own dark poetic beauty.
Hoban manages to effortlessly create myths based upon our contemporary lives, using words, place names and phrases which have become corrupted into synonyms such as 'gallack seas' (galaxies) and 'deacon termination' (decontamination).
A pagan religion and philosophy has evolved - centred around ceremonies of performance and revelation - which combines beliefs involving the Moon and animal spirits and is entwined with the conflated legends of 'St Eustace' and 'Eusa' (which we presume was the USA) who split the 'littl shynin man - the Addom' in two and brought darkness to the world.
As in Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange' with which this book is inevitably compared, the dialect is at first daunting, but one easily settles into the style and realises that this novel could not have been written any other way. It's rich and poetic and full of hidden references to the past which have to be teased out of the text.
One could have forgiven Hoban for writing a tale demonstrating (as Walter M Miller did so ably in his similar novel, 'A Canticle for Leibowitz') that humans never learn, and that we are doomed as a species to repeat our mistakes.
The difference is that in Miller's novel humans were not essentially changed by disaster, whereas here, as we learn gradually, they have been, and that their beliefs in 'telling' and 'trantses' have some basis in reality. Some of the populace, including Riddley and a captive race of 'Eusa' people exhibit the ability to read each others' thoughts and also commune with packs of wild dogs who have themselves evolved and are an important part of the Folklore of the indigenous population.
It's a unique book, and one I suspect which needs to be read again. Refreshingly, it manages to avoid all the clichés of SF of its time and succeeds in creating a timeless and fabulous - though familiar - world peopled with grotesque yet believable characters.
It could so easily have become a morality tale, set as it is in the continuing aftermath of a Nuclear disaster, but its main message for me was to point out how wide might be the divide between the text of our own religious documentation and the historical truth, which can only be a good thing.
Riddley writes his own story - in his own language - of his life on the outskirts of Canterbury, far in the future and long after nuclear devastation.
It's a difficult, though rewarding read. Riddley writes in a variation of English which, though degenerate, has its own dark poetic beauty.
Hoban manages to effortlessly create myths based upon our contemporary lives, using words, place names and phrases which have become corrupted into synonyms such as 'gallack seas' (galaxies) and 'deacon termination' (decontamination).
A pagan religion and philosophy has evolved - centred around ceremonies of performance and revelation - which combines beliefs involving the Moon and animal spirits and is entwined with the conflated legends of 'St Eustace' and 'Eusa' (which we presume was the USA) who split the 'littl shynin man - the Addom' in two and brought darkness to the world.
As in Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange' with which this book is inevitably compared, the dialect is at first daunting, but one easily settles into the style and realises that this novel could not have been written any other way. It's rich and poetic and full of hidden references to the past which have to be teased out of the text.
One could have forgiven Hoban for writing a tale demonstrating (as Walter M Miller did so ably in his similar novel, 'A Canticle for Leibowitz') that humans never learn, and that we are doomed as a species to repeat our mistakes.
The difference is that in Miller's novel humans were not essentially changed by disaster, whereas here, as we learn gradually, they have been, and that their beliefs in 'telling' and 'trantses' have some basis in reality. Some of the populace, including Riddley and a captive race of 'Eusa' people exhibit the ability to read each others' thoughts and also commune with packs of wild dogs who have themselves evolved and are an important part of the Folklore of the indigenous population.
It's a unique book, and one I suspect which needs to be read again. Refreshingly, it manages to avoid all the clichés of SF of its time and succeeds in creating a timeless and fabulous - though familiar - world peopled with grotesque yet believable characters.
It could so easily have become a morality tale, set as it is in the continuing aftermath of a Nuclear disaster, but its main message for me was to point out how wide might be the divide between the text of our own religious documentation and the historical truth, which can only be a good thing.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is indeed rare for a book to evoke such passion in its readers, and it is those books so utterly idiosyncratic and unique that achieve this feat. Like one of the other reviewers I am now on my fourth copy, having given away all previous copies to friends, sometimes with a little too much fervour perhaps. Riddley Walker has a habit of turning its readers into evangelists for the cause, a statement that would no doubt horrify Russell Hoban, a modest voice throughout. The principal voice is that of Riddley Walker, who guides us selflessly through post-apocalyptic Kent and its strange denizens, inhabitants of a world much like ours. Human foibles abound in a land of strange machinery, arcane ritual, desperate survival and the archaeology of the future. It would almost be best if this book had never been written for, like Homer and Beowulf, this is a verbal narrative, an epic tale of humanity's failure and success, an oral history. This book is designed to be listened to, consumed through aural means, so that your eyes can remain transfixed by the storyteller's lucid dreaming. One can imagine the oral Riddley Walker getting the Seamus Heaney treatment, as it speaks to us from the past and the future with the voice of a poet, whilst its suggestions and its lessons are all too applicable to our present. And while you're at it, read all Hoban's other novels too...
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Riddley Walker is a most unusual and rewarding novel! It is narrated by Riddley, who lives in what is left of England, about two thousand years after civilization as we know it was destroyed by a nuclear war. He describes some events that take place just after he turns twelve years of age. The remarkable feature of this book is that it is written entirely in "Riddleyspeak," a kind of pigen English that has survived after all remnants of society and learning have disappeared. The people of Riddley's world live almost like animals, scratching out an existence, believing in superstition and legend, reduced to the most basic elements of survival. Riddley, on the other hand is semi-literate, thoughtful, and curious about the past and the future.
Riddley he ryts like this and it can be vere hard to desifer at tymz. You hav to read moast sentinses 2 or 3 tyms befor you understand, and even then, ther r refrenses to peapl and events that r nevr xplaned.
If you think you can read a whole book written like the above, you will enjoy the challenge of this amazing, poignant, and often humourous novel. The plot is not as important as the unique language, which speaks volumes about Riddley's life. Reading this book is a wonderful and rewarding experience!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing
Where do I start. A master piece, a work of the highest order. It flows so well and is really engaging. Read more
Published 1 month ago by dehaigh
Hard work
I think this book would have been an amazing read, but the language and nuances are so specific and obscure that it made for a very disjointed experience. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Alex Chklar - Author - Chasing the Horizon
Great Book
I first read this book thirty years ago. I was gripped from page one and couldn't sleep until I'd finished it. The best of Russell Hoban's have a unque inexplicable power. Read more
Published 6 months ago by D. Scott
Brilliantly different.
This book is not an easy read! However if you stick with it you will soon be drawn in to the frightening, primitive world inhabited by Ridley Walker. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Martyn Carr
Shynin'
Riddley Walker is a member of a tribe of foragers active in the Iron Age Kent of 2000 years hence. Civilisation has collapsed, science, magic and ritual have become combined, and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sarcosuchus
Brilliant!
I;ve read this a number of times and get more out of it each time. It's brilliant, original. poignant, heartbreaking and yet full of hope. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lazy Kipper
Be bold, take the plunge, the words will come
Like many of the reviewers, I had to work hard in getting my mind around the vernacular of a post apocalypse 12 year old boy of the far distant future, albeit a 12 year old boy who... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Hogdayafternoon
Future schlock
The only thing that truly impressed me about Riddley Walker is that its hero is 12 years old. Oh. And the fact that the American reviewers had no reservations about praising a book... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Sporus
Theres some thing in us it don't have no name
I can't praise Riddley Walker enough.
It's utterly unique, like nothing you've ever read, and probably the most absorbing book I've ever read. Read more
It's utterly unique, like nothing you've ever read, and probably the most absorbing book I've ever read. Read more
Published 24 months ago by H. Coull
A Classic
Having last read Riddley Walker about 15 years ago it was a great pleasure to re-read what remains my favourite book of all time. Read more
Published on 2 May 2010 by Teacakeman
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