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A review by tommooney
Earthlings by Cynan Jones
3.0
Cynan Jones' writing is very spare and very beautiful. But his stories are often quite surface and intangible. Sometimes that works, other times less so.
This novel began life as a spoken word production for BBC radio, collecting several stories set in a future (or alternate present) world where water had been commodified and water trains serve communities. An iceberg is on its way to London to be docked as a primary water source. We follow several characters whose lives are affected by these events.
I felt there were times when I was desperately grasping for something concrete to grip hold of but came away with empty hands. Other times I sat mesmerized by the bleak, beautiful bluntness of his sentences. And, as ever, there were moments of grim, mechanical brilliance - here, the gutting and preparing of a fish is told with glorious, beguiling simplicity.
So, overall, a bit of a mixed bag. Not my favourite of his novels (see The Cove for that one) but still well worth a go.
This novel began life as a spoken word production for BBC radio, collecting several stories set in a future (or alternate present) world where water had been commodified and water trains serve communities. An iceberg is on its way to London to be docked as a primary water source. We follow several characters whose lives are affected by these events.
I felt there were times when I was desperately grasping for something concrete to grip hold of but came away with empty hands. Other times I sat mesmerized by the bleak, beautiful bluntness of his sentences. And, as ever, there were moments of grim, mechanical brilliance - here, the gutting and preparing of a fish is told with glorious, beguiling simplicity.
So, overall, a bit of a mixed bag. Not my favourite of his novels (see The Cove for that one) but still well worth a go.