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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A linguistically ambitious gothic adventure with bright and heady imagery that unfortunately misses the mark. Johnson attempts to explore too much at once and as a result, everything becomes a little lost within itself and is never fully realised.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I didn’t know anything about this book before I read it and in a way I wish I had. I found the story hard to follow and the characters all blurred into each other. The writing didnt really take the reader along with it, I kept feeling like I was missing something - which it turns out I was. A retelling of a Greek myth. I don’t feel I should have had to have known the original story to engage with this one. Anyway, didn’t really enjoy it - just not for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide
Really enjoyed this complex novel that explores an ancient myth in a contemporary manner . Johnson's style is elegant and innovative.
This book was recommended to me by my dissertation adviser during one of our meetings in which I expressed frustration at being in a reading slump. She lent me her copy of this book, telling me that it contained a number of things that I am interested in: beautiful prose, relationships between women, ruminations on space and place. It definitely had all that, plus a few things I wasn’t expecting, such as references a particular Greek tragedy and an obsession with lexicography. It’s a beautiful book for those who like poetic prose and literary fiction, but may be triggering for some . Still, I loved reading it, and it stirred in me a lot of emotions I wasn’t expecting.
Things I Liked
1. Prose: Johnson’s prose is like poetry. It uses figurative language and metaphor in a way that makes the river incredibly atmospheric, while also moving the reader emotionally. The prose also turns dark in a way that isn’t overly grim, but still unsettles you in a way you can’t quite put your finger on. It was a great way to make certain plot points feel tense, even if you didn’t know why.
2. Complex Mother-Daughter Relationship: I loved the relationship between Gretel and her mother. It was obvious that Gretel loved her mom, that she longed for the connection she had with her as a child. And yet, as an adult, their relationship is turbulent. As a reader, I enjoyed the seemingly conflicting emotions, which made the relationship feel more real.
3. Language: Gretel’s job as a lexicographer made my little nerd heart happy, but it was Gretel’s secret language with her mother that I really enjoyed. Gretel and her mother share a set of vocabulary that only they understand, and I loved what that vocabulary did for the relationship between them as well as the prose of the novel.
4. Reference to Greek Tragedy: I didn’t pick up on this at first, but once the end of the novel rolled around, I was impressed by the way Johnson reworked and retold the story of
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Clarity: In a few cases, the book was so vague or so poetic that I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. While I by no means wanted the book to change its prose or be more direct, I did find myself wanting a little more support.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in literary fiction, poetic prose, experimental fiction, mother-daughter relationships, difficult family relationships, dealing with Alzheimer's, lexicography, secret languages and vocabulary, and retellings of Greek literature.
Spoiler
due to its inclusion of incest and suicideThings I Liked
1. Prose: Johnson’s prose is like poetry. It uses figurative language and metaphor in a way that makes the river incredibly atmospheric, while also moving the reader emotionally. The prose also turns dark in a way that isn’t overly grim, but still unsettles you in a way you can’t quite put your finger on. It was a great way to make certain plot points feel tense, even if you didn’t know why.
2. Complex Mother-Daughter Relationship: I loved the relationship between Gretel and her mother. It was obvious that Gretel loved her mom, that she longed for the connection she had with her as a child. And yet, as an adult, their relationship is turbulent. As a reader, I enjoyed the seemingly conflicting emotions, which made the relationship feel more real.
3. Language: Gretel’s job as a lexicographer made my little nerd heart happy, but it was Gretel’s secret language with her mother that I really enjoyed. Gretel and her mother share a set of vocabulary that only they understand, and I loved what that vocabulary did for the relationship between them as well as the prose of the novel.
4. Reference to Greek Tragedy: I didn’t pick up on this at first, but once the end of the novel rolled around, I was impressed by the way Johnson reworked and retold the story of
Spoiler
Oedipus. It’s an odd story to try to base a novel on in the modern book world, but I think she did it well, and I enjoy literature that experiments with classics in this way (taking the spirit of the original and making it one’s own, rather than just repeating some details to try to be edgy).Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Clarity: In a few cases, the book was so vague or so poetic that I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. While I by no means wanted the book to change its prose or be more direct, I did find myself wanting a little more support.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in literary fiction, poetic prose, experimental fiction, mother-daughter relationships, difficult family relationships, dealing with Alzheimer's, lexicography, secret languages and vocabulary, and retellings of Greek literature.
Much like a stream or river meanders through channels, over stones, rocks, sweeping leaves, sticks, vegetation in its flow, this novel with a lot of its setting on the waterways around Oxford, wends and weaves its three main characters back and forth from past to present and back again. It is a most complex structure, a most strange story that is difficult to drag yourself away from. It is mesmerising, gently sucking the reader in under the surface. I found this unsettling and at times uncomfortable, but always intoxicating, taking me along in its stream.
Gretel is the primary narrator, a lexicographer, living alone, her unsettled and at times difficult childhood still haunting in her adulthood. Abandoned by her mother Sarah, she was brought up in the foster system, never seeing her mother again, despite constantly looking for her. One day contact is made and Gretel becomes her mother's carer now that dementia has set in. The intimacy and difficulty of their living together throws the past back in Gretel's face as she is forced to make sense of and come to terms with what happened all those years ago, when she and her mother lived on a barge. There is a third character in this too - a young boy, Marcus, who for a short period of time lived with mother and daughter, until one day he too simply disappeared.
The chapters are narrated in turn by Gretel in the present, Sarah in the past, and Marcus also in the past. There are other minor and shady characters - a boat man with whom Sarah takes up, and who would appear to be Gretel's father; a mysterious mystical water monster type creature which haunts Gretel through her life, until she finds way to rid herself of it forever; a woman who could be Marcus' mother; a clairvoyant who haunts another family connected to them all. There is no doubt it is complicated and unnerving. But somehow it all holds together, weaving these lives together, meandering through the years. Beautiful writing and an experience to read.
Gretel is the primary narrator, a lexicographer, living alone, her unsettled and at times difficult childhood still haunting in her adulthood. Abandoned by her mother Sarah, she was brought up in the foster system, never seeing her mother again, despite constantly looking for her. One day contact is made and Gretel becomes her mother's carer now that dementia has set in. The intimacy and difficulty of their living together throws the past back in Gretel's face as she is forced to make sense of and come to terms with what happened all those years ago, when she and her mother lived on a barge. There is a third character in this too - a young boy, Marcus, who for a short period of time lived with mother and daughter, until one day he too simply disappeared.
The chapters are narrated in turn by Gretel in the present, Sarah in the past, and Marcus also in the past. There are other minor and shady characters - a boat man with whom Sarah takes up, and who would appear to be Gretel's father; a mysterious mystical water monster type creature which haunts Gretel through her life, until she finds way to rid herself of it forever; a woman who could be Marcus' mother; a clairvoyant who haunts another family connected to them all. There is no doubt it is complicated and unnerving. But somehow it all holds together, weaving these lives together, meandering through the years. Beautiful writing and an experience to read.