I love finding books via author recommendations. This one came from the Les Do Books podcast and was listed as one of Ann McMan’s favorites. It sounded so good I had to bump it up my list and ended up devouring it poolside in just a couple of days ( it would have been sooner but my phone kept overheating in the dessert heat and forced me to take breaks as I usually read on the kindle app).
Here’s the premise-
Lore van de Oest is the youngest member of an incredibly rich family in a “near-future” world in which their billions were made by patenting genetically engineered bacteria and fungi providing a complicated system that administers the transformation of sewage into clean, drinkable water. Lore is trained to understand every little detail of this process and tested often by providing creative solutions to help the business grow. She lives a life of privilege and extravagance until one night she is kidnapped and then left naked and bleeding on the cold, wet city streets. She is saved by Spanner, a data pirate, who survives off creative, yet morally questionable ways of making money. Lore is left with nothing in this new reality, no ID chip, no money, and a fear of this world that she hadn’t known before. She becomes dependent on Spanner and they form a relationship built on reliance. Spanner is the type of broken person who can spin a good tale, but not someone who you’d want to get too close to. Lore eventually breaks away and gets a job shoveling shit at a water treatment center where she forms new relationships and creates a life in which she can tolerate the image staring back at her. Throughout the story, we learn of Lore’s past, her family’s secrets, and watch as her understanding grows from naive rich girl to someone who has come face to face with who they are and all the different shades of gray humanity is capable of accompanying.
One thing I loved about this book is the way the intricate narrative style is utilized to unfold this story. There are three layers of narration. First person past tense: the account of Lore now, as she makes her way in the world in her own terms, no longer in fear or following Spanner’s lead. Third person past tense: Lore after her kidnappers left her for dead in which she builds a life with Spanner making regrettable life choices. Third person present tense: Lore as a child growing into her role as a van de Oest and the account of her privileged, yet terribly lonely life. By the end of the book all narrations meet a point and everything is fully revealed. This style built beautiful tension and kept me so engaged throughout that I stayed up way too late on multiple nights not being able to put the book down.
The creativity in this book amazed me. One of the best aspects of science fiction is watching the author build a world in which possibilities are nearly endless. I loved all the science-y type information about the treatment of water that was so rich in detail. The writing in this book was amazing and at no point did I feel lost, though my knowledge of everything science is severally limited. This book came out in the early 90s which made all the imagined technologies even more impressive and interesting in light of how the world has developed decades later.
Lore’s character growth was refreshing to say the least. I loved her view and understanding after leaving Spanner- how she took responsibility of herself and the choices she made. Though she is naive to an extent, she is still very much self-aware of herself and her privilege throughout her life and I enjoyed the way she developed and overcame. Her character is even more interesting compared to Spanner’s who sort of refuses to grow into anything more than herself. It would be easy to excuse her behavior as just the result of a (presumably- we’re never exactly given much of her history) broken and painful past, but after seeing what Lore has overcome given her own painful encounters, I think it forces Spanner (or at least the reader) to see what is possible and how the only prevention to growth is herself.
If you’re looking for a book that will stretch your imagination and your understanding of the world, if you’re looking for beautiful writing filled with nuance, or if you like your stories gritty then check out Slow River. https://www.amazon.com/Slow-River-Novel
Follow Nicola Griffith on Twitter: @nicolaz and Instagram: @nicolagriffith