A review by eleanorfranzen
The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison

99p on Kindle and winner of the Goldsmiths Prize, so I was intrigued. Harrison’s latest novel is a meandering exploration of melancholy and isolation, with an underlying current (word used advisedly) of, not quite menace, but perhaps unease. What would be plot in any other book (is there a human subspecies adapted for aquatic living lurking in our toilet bowls, canals, and inland rivers?) is here more of a recurring leitmotif, never confirmed but never clearly impossible either. A bit like David Musgrave’s Lambda, this is marvelously inconclusive, though much more grounded in the liminal waterscapes of southwest London. Not for everyone, but great for those who like this sort of thing.