Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban, is not a book to pick up casually and read in an afternoon. It is very much an "advanced reading" novel. The entire thing is written in a made up language: a hodge-podge corrupt version of English. Riddley Walker isn't Ulysses but that doesn't mean it is the easiest book to parse out. From the first chapter, "On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar..." The whole book is written in this fashion. Words are often meant to be sounded out. So you have been warned. There will be times when reading Riddley Walker that you will be confused as to what's actually being said.  But I found that I quickly picked up the 'language' of the book. It is intimidating but by no means impossible for anyone to read Riddley Walker.

Understanding the story is a little harder though. This is one of those rare books where I'm honestly not sure if I 'got it.' For a tale set among the pathetic dirty inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic England, Riddley Walker is surprisingly philosophical. But then part of what makes the book so interesting to read is that it keeps changing. The beginning of the story seems totally disconnected from science fiction. Later psychic mutants show up though, so there is that. Also humorously corrupt 'Punch and Judy' shows. And running throughout- woven into the stream of though telling of events- are trippy quasi-religious visions. Because the narrator (the eponymous Riddley) is simply relating things and thoughts that have occurred to him it becomes hard to parse out reality and radiation borne madness.

Riddley Walker is just as interested in hashing out ideas about government and god as he is adventuring through shelled out Cambridge. But a devolved cockney language simply isn't good enough to make out the entirety of these long discussions. So a cloud of ambiguity hangs over everything in the book. This is intentional. One of the most important phrases in the book revels in this haziness, namely, "The hart/heart of the would/wood." The rambling tone and weird way time seems to work in the book make the whole experience feel hallucinatory. This could be a positive or negative depending on how you feel about balls out weirdness in your stories, story structures, and content.

If you are looking for a challenge, a book that boldly bucks convention and defies expectations then Riddley Walker is the book for you. I honestly enjoyed it. But it most definitely is not for everyone. Sometimes though... the struggle is part of the fun.

Riddley Walker gets 1 littl 1 of the 1 Big 1.