Riddley Walker lives in Kent roughly two thousand years after a nuclear war, in a world of small settlements, wild dogs and a culture built from fragments of the old one. At twelve he becomes the "connexion man" for his community, whose job is to interpret a ritual puppet show of the Eusa story, a garbled version of the legend of St Eustace that is also a corrupted memory of the bomb. Russell Hoban wrote the novel in an invented, phonetic English, which makes the language itself part of the meaning. Riddley follows the Mincery's search for the secret of "the 1 Big 1" and the dangerous power of knowledge.
It is for readers prepared to work through unusual spelling for a reward of strangeness, invention and moral weight. Fans of post-apocalyptic fiction who want more than survival plots will find a different kind of story here.
Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1980
- Language
- EN
