Slow River

Lore is the privileged daughter of a wealthy family, but her life changes when she is kidnapped and her family won't pay the ransom. After escaping her kidnappers, Lore falls in with Spanner, who gets her involved in more and more illicit activities. Lore finally breaks away from Spanner and sets out to build a new identity through a job at a wastewater treatment plant and a burgeoning romance. The story is revealed through three separate intertwined storylines going through the three phases of Lore's life: up to and including the kidnapping; with Spanner; and after Spanner. This is a slow-moving, character-driven story depicting a near-future world where the privileged few are even more separated from everyone else, who are often the show more victims of their capriciousness. Although romance is an integral part of the plot, this doesn't feel like a book about lesbians; rather, Lore just happens to be a lesbian, and having relationships is part of her development as a person. I mostly enjoyed the story but I wasn't blown away, and I found the big reveal about the abuse that happened in Lore's childhood to be somewhat unconvincing as depicted, which tainted the overall reading experience for me. show less

This is the 2nd Griffith book I have read and she continues to impress. Love, kidnapping, murder, stolen identities, drug use, nano-tech, sewage treatment, and kinky sex all play parts in this exquisitely detailed story. Griffith imbues her protagonist with a strong voice and crafts a near-future world that is not all that far removed from ours. The reader gains perspective of current and past events via shifts between first-person and third-person narrative; a tough thing to pull off but Griffith handles it with such adroitness that, instead of confusing, it enhances the reading experience. Even though these shifts often come between one paragraph and the next, within a few words it is crystal clear exactly where & when we are in the show more narrative. This is quite a feat that really added to my enjoyment of the book.

Slow River is aptly named as the pace is definitely not fast. On the other hand, the characters and settings spring to life and the pages turn quickly - all due to the wonderful writing style. The fact that Griffith won the Nebula in 1996 for this work, beating out two of my favorite authors, (Neal Stephenson and Tim Powers), comes as no surprise -- Slow River is a very good book. show less

What kept me engaged at the beginning of Slow River was all the detail about waste-water treatment methods! Yes, I am a huge nerd. It was only more towards the end that Lore's three selves---childhood, her time with Spanner, and the time after Spanner---really started to come together so that I wasn't frustrated to be left hanging at the end of each (short) section, and started to fall for Lore herself. The way everything comes together at the end---"like the confluence of three rivers"---is just wonderful.

Tense switching usually irritates me, but in Slow River I almost didn't notice and it actually succeeded in helping the mental transition between sections of the story. If you're a writer, this is the book to study.

Please note that show more this book is pretty much all about abuse. There is hinted (and eventually, dealt with head-on) child sexual abuse, rape/"date" rape/all kinds of messed up consent, an abusive partner, forced sex work, suicide and attempted suicide, etc.... I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Not a very happy book. But it has an optimistic ending, which is important to me.

This was interesting to read right after I finished Trouble and Her Friends, another queer sci fi novel. In Trouble, the criminals are lovable scamps; in Slow River, living outside the law has serious consequences even when no one gets caught. Spanner's image of herself as a quirky, essentially good Robin Hood who lives by her wits has many cracks and flaws.

The other similarity between the two books, of course, is that Lore is a lesbian, and so are many of the major and minor characters, and that's NOT one of the traumas---there is no homophobia at all. (There also isn't any visible racism, though there is an intense ableist scene.) On the other hand, in Trouble and Her Friends, homophobia and racism and sexism haven't truly changed, they've just adapted to new contexts with new twists. I thought a lot about the contrasts between these two visions of institutional discrimination, and while Trouble's is probably more realistic, Slow River's is still an interesting change of pace. It certainly makes you think. show less

I think I may have liked this book slightly more than it actually deserved. Not that it doesn't deserve to be liked, its solid, intelligently written science fiction with believable characters and an interesting plot, expressed in some fairly elegant prose.

There are some pacing issues though. I ran into this with Ammonite too, its like somewhere around the last couple of chapters she just ran out of time or incentive, and wrapped everything up a little bit too quickly and easily. I'm a little bemused as well by how very interesting I found the whole sewage plant management portion of the story. Seems like that should have been less engaging than it was. I'm still uncertain whether the twist near the end was supposed to be a surprise to show more anyone but the protagonist, it certainly wasn't any kind of surprise to me. Intellectually I see that there are some things here that seems like should have bothered me more than they did.

The fact is however, I just had FUN reading this. I would set it down to go do something, and in the back of my head was a little warm feeling because I knew that when I got done I had reading pleasure waiting for me. I would pick it up again and be absorbed within a page or two and just happily trundling along like a kid making mud pies and singing a little song. Sometimes an author's voice speaks to you enough like the voice in your own head that you just feel comfortable and interested, flaws or not. show less

‘Slow River’ is an unusual sci-fi novel that reminded me of [b:China Mountain Zhang|836964|China Mountain Zhang|Maureen F. McHugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346669090l/836964._SX50_.jpg|1607617]. Both focus on the lived experience of a queer main character in a future world, without any grand plot arcs in which civilisation collapses or the universe is in peril. When skilfully done, such quiet tales can be an excellent way to examine the consequences of speculative social and technological changes. While ‘Slow River’ didn’t have the same depth of world-building as [b:China Mountain Zhang|836964|China Mountain Zhang|Maureen F. show more McHugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346669090l/836964._SX50_.jpg|1607617], it was just as involving. The narrative jumps back and forth in time, letting the reader slowly piece together the traumatic events that have led the main character to her present situation. It’s a story of recovery and rebuilding, in which futuristic technology plays only a subtle part. Griffith manages the incredible feat of making grunt work at a sewage treatment plant genuinely fascinating and superior to the superficial glamour of petty crime. Lore is an appealing character and her story raises interesting issues of class and privilege. Again much like [b:China Mountain Zhang|836964|China Mountain Zhang|Maureen F. McHugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346669090l/836964._SX50_.jpg|1607617], ‘Slow River’ is a cautiously, ambiguously hopeful novel. Lore goes through some shattering experiences and gradually puts together a new life for herself. There is no dystopia or utopia here, just a woman trying to move past her troubled childhood and earn enough to pay the rent. A good read, although it bothered me not to know the name or location of the city it was set in. show less

...Slow River is one of those novels that left me unable to pick up another book for several days after I finished it. It is a very impressive work of science fiction. Lore's trials are not easy on the reader. For most of the novel she is searching for herself, grasping to understand the relationships within her family and the complexity of their company. It would seem that she is more at ease with systems design than with the infinitely complex structures of human relationships. She learns though. At the end of the novel a much more mature Lore emerges. Slow River is both technically and emotionally a very strong novel. I consider it a must read.

Full Random Comments review

Excellent, neatly told story, but more psychological than sci-fi. Apart from the standard distopian future, where the technology has advanced but the climate is on life-support, 'Slow River' is about one girl, Lore, coming to terms with her own life, instead of fighting the outside world.

Nicola Griffiths, I think, was right to add a disclaimer, because the abuse described in her novel is so subtly and painfully described, when Lore is even able to admit the truth to herself, that the fictional torment of the character must either be based on personal experience or intimate research. There is a tendency in fiction to use abuse in whatever guise as a crass plot device or instant character depth, but Griffiths approaches the subject show more sensitively and respectfully, using some wonderful language - Lore's reaction to watching a kidnapping on the news is startling and very effective.

The plot is also deftly woven, building up to two revelations concerning Lore's past and her family, but it is the voice of her inner demons that drives the story.

Also, another SF author from Yorkshire - I'm impressed and inspired! show less