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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
My experience with Nicola Griffith's fiction remains decidedly mixed, as I thought Slow River was, yet again... just fine.
Premise and plot-wise, this particular novel centres on Lore, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family in the water sanitisation and broader bio-remediation business, at three different points in her life: during her childhood, right after she has turned eighteen, and escaped the people who kidnapped and held her for ransom – with both of these timelines being told in third person POV. And three or so years later, in the present (and in first person POV), as Lore is about to start a new job at her local water treatment plant, new identity in hand.
Mine is an SF Masterworks edition of Slow River, yet it honestly barely qualifies as science-fiction. I assume the specifics of biochemical remediation, whilst based in fact, are developed into 'near-future speculation' territory – but cannot state this with any sort of certainty. People also carry combo DNA and ID chips in the webbing of their hands, as well as digital 'slates' (i.e. tablets as imagined by peeps back in the 90s). And that's about it. As such, there really isn't much to say in terms of world-building; I'll concede the bioremediation props up very superficial theming on the intersection between ecological and socio-economic justice (or rather injustice), but beyond that... I got nothin'. Additionally, I never learned where, exactly, the present timeline actually took place. Lore references several cities and areas of the world she lived in and travelled to as a child, then teenager, but I couldn't tell whether her present-day town, or city, was in Northern Europe of the Northern US – though I guess it didn't ultimately matter either way.
Oh, actually, let me add this: why the hell is this categorised as cyberpunk?! That doesn't make a lick of sense to me. The only reason I could possibly come up with for this truly bizarre genre attribution is that Spanner, the book's main secondary character, lives on the margins of society and (partly) survives by hacking into personal slates. That would be the 'low life' side of the cyberpunk equation, but then it doesn't really work when considering its 'high tech' side. I mean I guess biotech technically qualifies, but then shouldn't it be biopunk instead? And honestly, I don't think one can make a particularly strong case for that either, since I'm pretty sure most people would expect much higher (stakes) levels of biological/medical engineering, done on people as well, in works belonging to that sub-genre. But eh, your mileage will undoubtedly vary here.
So then we have character work, and theming. Regarding the former: I'd consider Slow River a character-driven novel. Barring the fact this is not my preference (especially when it comes to speculative, or in this case speculative-lite fiction), I'd say the character work, here, was good enough to carry the story Ms Griffith wanted to tell in this novel. The complicated (and somewhat abusive, to be honest) relationship between Lore and Spanner was convincingly fleshed out; the familial intrigue, or drama, was satisfactorily developed. I can't say the same for the 'romance' that eventually bloomed between Lore and another character – it wasn't full-on Instalove™, but it didn't feel particularly organic to me either. That being said, yes: the lesbian representation in Slow River was as seamless as I found it in Ms Griffth's much more recent Spear, so point there!
I guess my main issue with the book lies with its attempt at theming, especially as it relates to character work, and/or psychology. It felt like the story tried to say something about familial trauma, and shifting identity, but none of it felt particularly well realised, engaging, or insightful. It was exactly as superficial as the 'messaging' I perceived about ecological and socio-economic injustice.
I enjoy Ms Griffith's prose, and have enjoyed the base premises, or concepts, of all three of her books that I've read so far. It's just that... I'm always left rather frustrated when it comes to the unrealised potential of said base premises, and the theming I initially glimpse therein. #Sadge
PS: I actually enjoyed the book's info-dumping on biochemical remediation, sue me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Premise and plot-wise, this particular novel centres on Lore, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family in the water sanitisation and broader bio-remediation business, at three different points in her life: during her childhood, right after she has turned eighteen, and escaped the people who kidnapped and held her for ransom – with both of these timelines being told in third person POV. And three or so years later, in the present (and in first person POV), as Lore is about to start a new job at her local water treatment plant, new identity in hand.
Mine is an SF Masterworks edition of Slow River, yet it honestly barely qualifies as science-fiction. I assume the specifics of biochemical remediation, whilst based in fact, are developed into 'near-future speculation' territory – but cannot state this with any sort of certainty. People also carry combo DNA and ID chips in the webbing of their hands, as well as digital 'slates' (i.e. tablets as imagined by peeps back in the 90s). And that's about it. As such, there really isn't much to say in terms of world-building; I'll concede the bioremediation props up very superficial theming on the intersection between ecological and socio-economic justice (or rather injustice), but beyond that... I got nothin'. Additionally, I never learned where, exactly, the present timeline actually took place. Lore references several cities and areas of the world she lived in and travelled to as a child, then teenager, but I couldn't tell whether her present-day town, or city, was in Northern Europe of the Northern US – though I guess it didn't ultimately matter either way.
Oh, actually, let me add this: why the hell is this categorised as cyberpunk?! That doesn't make a lick of sense to me. The only reason I could possibly come up with for this truly bizarre genre attribution is that Spanner, the book's main secondary character, lives on the margins of society and (partly) survives by hacking into personal slates. That would be the 'low life' side of the cyberpunk equation, but then it doesn't really work when considering its 'high tech' side. I mean I guess biotech technically qualifies, but then shouldn't it be biopunk instead? And honestly, I don't think one can make a particularly strong case for that either, since I'm pretty sure most people would expect much higher (stakes) levels of biological/medical engineering, done on people as well, in works belonging to that sub-genre. But eh, your mileage will undoubtedly vary here.
So then we have character work, and theming. Regarding the former: I'd consider Slow River a character-driven novel. Barring the fact this is not my preference (especially when it comes to speculative, or in this case speculative-lite fiction), I'd say the character work, here, was good enough to carry the story Ms Griffith wanted to tell in this novel. The complicated (and somewhat abusive, to be honest) relationship between Lore and Spanner was convincingly fleshed out; the familial intrigue, or drama, was satisfactorily developed. I can't say the same for the 'romance' that eventually bloomed between Lore and another character – it wasn't full-on Instalove™, but it didn't feel particularly organic to me either. That being said, yes: the lesbian representation in Slow River was as seamless as I found it in Ms Griffth's much more recent Spear, so point there!
I guess my main issue with the book lies with its attempt at theming, especially as it relates to character work, and/or psychology. It felt like the story tried to say something about familial trauma, and shifting identity, but none of it felt particularly well realised, engaging, or insightful. It was exactly as superficial as the 'messaging' I perceived about ecological and socio-economic injustice.
I enjoy Ms Griffith's prose, and have enjoyed the base premises, or concepts, of all three of her books that I've read so far. It's just that... I'm always left rather frustrated when it comes to the unrealised potential of said base premises, and the theming I initially glimpse therein. #Sadge
PS: I actually enjoyed the book's info-dumping on biochemical remediation, sue me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯