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42nd out of 455 books
—
402 voters
Slow River
by
Nicola Griffith (Goodreads Author),
Ellen Key Harris
She awoke in an alley to the splash of rain. She was naked, a foot-long gash in her back was still bleeding, and her identity implant was gone. Lore Van Oesterling had been the daughter of one of the world's most powerful families...and now she was nobody, and she had to hide.
Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, an...more
Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, an...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
August 20th 1996
by Ballantine Books
(first published July 4th 1995)
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As I read this novel written by Nicola Griffith I was impressed with the structure--the way the author slowly unfolded the story of Lore and her two lives. It took some patience, but that patience was rewarded as the story came together with an exciting climax that was effective and true to the details that had gone before. The basic story is that of Lore van de Oest, the daughter of one of the most powerful families in the world, who awakens naked in an alley with a foot-long gash in her back....more
This is one of my all time favorite books. In this intricately detailed speculative thriller the protagonist, upon leaving her girlfriend, builds a tiny garden out of a postage stamp yard filled with rubble outside her apartment, while in the midst of an intrigue involving her work on the use of genetically engineered flora in cleaning up water systems.
This is the second book by this author that I've read. I LOVED Ammonite and this was the book I read next. I am starting to think any book I read after that one I would've had a hard time getting into. Upon finishing the book I have a higher opinion of it than when I was reading it. It took me almost a week to read this one because I kept putting it down. The structure I think is very creative, I kinda want to say brilliant. The hardest part of reading this is that I didn't care about the main c...more
Whether novels or short stories, Griffith is a consummate writer.
In this book, she uses an unusual device as she switches back and forth among 3 timelines. The most current timeline is told in the first-person, in the voice of the protagonist, Lore; but in the others, the 3rd-person is used. I think the shift in perspective helps a bit to avoid confusion, since the sections devoted to each one are rather short and the switches can sometimes feel abrupt. Gradually, as the timelines merge, the en...more
In this book, she uses an unusual device as she switches back and forth among 3 timelines. The most current timeline is told in the first-person, in the voice of the protagonist, Lore; but in the others, the 3rd-person is used. I think the shift in perspective helps a bit to avoid confusion, since the sections devoted to each one are rather short and the switches can sometimes feel abrupt. Gradually, as the timelines merge, the en...more
Lore was kidnapped, tortured, images shown on TV, her family did not pay ransom, eventually she was released by being dumped on the street after killing one of her kidnappers. This all takes place in a dystopian society, perhaps 50 years in our future. Once she is dumped on the street, she feels too humiliated, forsaken by her family, or perhaps just depressed, to go back to her family. So she hides out with a woman, Spanner, who exploits her criminally, financially, and sexually.
Eventually Lor...more
Eventually Lor...more
This is somewhere between a 4 and 5 star rating for me, but I want to give it the benefit of the doubt because it was very good. There was just so much to this book, as many other have shared, and I think the structure of the plot is very creative, thoughtful, and well delivered.
My favorite parts of this book had to do with my own personal likings: this is the first feminist scifi book with a queer female protagonist and an anti-capitalist bent that I've ever read. And it was so glorious. I cou...more
My favorite parts of this book had to do with my own personal likings: this is the first feminist scifi book with a queer female protagonist and an anti-capitalist bent that I've ever read. And it was so glorious. I cou...more
This was hard to get into, but picked up considerably in the second half. Part of the difficulty was that the book is written as a set of parallel stories covering different parts of the timeline, and none of them have much impact until you know enough about the others to have some context. Once the pieces begin to fall into place, the story becomes clearer and all the character development is sort of revealed all at once.
I didn't dislike it. There are some interesting things going on here, and...more
I didn't dislike it. There are some interesting things going on here, and...more
Oh, where to begin with this one. I liked this book a lot, but I don't think it was good. Which is fine. Except I think the author was probably much more interested in the book being good versus enjoyable.
Two summers ago, I think, I read Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge. I told several people about how the book was enjoyable but kind of ridiculously self-indulgent. It's a book that's supposed to be about virtual reality prisons that is actually about how awesome it is to have your super power be PRO...more
Two summers ago, I think, I read Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge. I told several people about how the book was enjoyable but kind of ridiculously self-indulgent. It's a book that's supposed to be about virtual reality prisons that is actually about how awesome it is to have your super power be PRO...more
slow river is a character driven science fiction story with some mystery in it too that explores themes of identity, trust, and recovering self from trauma. the protagonist is a woman named lore, and lore is a lesbian. all the characters felt very real to me, intense, complicated, flawed, interesting.
slow river shifts between three different times at once; the present, the past and the more distant past of lores childhood. this interweaving of time made it more interesting to me. its not difficu...more
slow river shifts between three different times at once; the present, the past and the more distant past of lores childhood. this interweaving of time made it more interesting to me. its not difficu...more
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Jan 28, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-queer,
fiction-science-fiction
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Took a few days to mull over this one, before writing the review.
Nicola Griffith is a good author. I enjoyed her style and she told her story well. Her writing is very good at evoking images so I felt I was able to "see" the people and places she was describing easier than with some other authors.
I found the story to be intriguing, yet I kept wondering where it was going. When it finally got there, I was a bit disappointed and everything seemed to wrap up much too nicely. The story itself wasn't...more
Nicola Griffith is a good author. I enjoyed her style and she told her story well. Her writing is very good at evoking images so I felt I was able to "see" the people and places she was describing easier than with some other authors.
I found the story to be intriguing, yet I kept wondering where it was going. When it finally got there, I was a bit disappointed and everything seemed to wrap up much too nicely. The story itself wasn't...more
After an unsuccessful kidnapping scam, Lore van de Oest awakes naked in an alley with a foot-long gash in her back. Her identity implant is gone and the daughter of one of the most powerful families is without a PIDA or money. Spanner happens by and takes Lore home.
Spanner is no stranger to the stolen PIDAs, slates and other illegal ways of getting by thus she is in perfect position to help Lore out as long as Lore agrees to pay her back. Lore lucks out with a PIDA that matches her knowledge en...more
Spanner is no stranger to the stolen PIDAs, slates and other illegal ways of getting by thus she is in perfect position to help Lore out as long as Lore agrees to pay her back. Lore lucks out with a PIDA that matches her knowledge en...more
Really 3.5 stars but we don't get that option. I was heading for three stars for much of the book. Literary porn came to mind. But in the end, Griffith won me over with character. Lore gets under your skin (pun intended) and I liked her too much to not be a little generous. This is Lore's story, told in three ways: 1) her childhood in third person, present tense, 2) her present in first person, past tense and 3) her recent past in third person, past tense. Sounds like a recipe for disaster and i...more
you know when your high school English teacher hands you a stack of books? traditionally in American culture this would mean anguish and laborious sighs, but thankfully, in my instance I get handed "lesbian cyberpunk"! because he's awesome like that. I suppose it also helps we're neighbors and I'm good friends with his son and yadda yadda yadda.
this book is pretty cool. I very much like that yes, it is indeed "lesbian cyberpunk" (or at least biopunk) but it's much more than that. plus, it normal...more
this book is pretty cool. I very much like that yes, it is indeed "lesbian cyberpunk" (or at least biopunk) but it's much more than that. plus, it normal...more
Oct 31, 2010
Phoenixfalls
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
female-author,
science-fiction,
sf-challenge,
ecology,
sex-sexuality,
abuse,
class,
mothers,
queer-protagonists
This is a deeply impressive novel. It is exquisitely crafted: the pace is measured, but sure; the metaphors are used delicately; and the control over perspective (shifting between first person, tight third person, and loose present-tense third person for the three different timelines) is both absolute and absolutely necessary to the emotional arc being told. It is a novel to mull over, savor.
It is also an incredibly intense experience, or at least it was for me. I read it slowly partly so that I...more
It is also an incredibly intense experience, or at least it was for me. I read it slowly partly so that I...more
As the plot of this book has been extensively raked through here in other reviews, I won't even attempt to wade into it myself.
I really enjoyed Slow River, even more than I had expected. Although, at first, I was a little iffy on the different tenses represented by the varied perspectives, I grew to enjoy reading them.
Griffith has crafted a brilliant novel. As others have said though Lore's "super power" is being an Environmental Remediation Genius, and while one may not think that very exciti...more
I really enjoyed Slow River, even more than I had expected. Although, at first, I was a little iffy on the different tenses represented by the varied perspectives, I grew to enjoy reading them.
Griffith has crafted a brilliant novel. As others have said though Lore's "super power" is being an Environmental Remediation Genius, and while one may not think that very exciti...more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1881488...
In a lot of ways this is a very good book - excellent that Griffith has nested three different strands of plot, her heroine's childhood and then two different phases of her recovery from a kidnap ordeal, with some very sensuous descriptions of setting (Hull, of all places) and passionate yet thoughtful reflections on class and gender. My one reservation was that I wasn't sure how central the sfnal elements were to the plot; perhaps this is partly because q...more
In a lot of ways this is a very good book - excellent that Griffith has nested three different strands of plot, her heroine's childhood and then two different phases of her recovery from a kidnap ordeal, with some very sensuous descriptions of setting (Hull, of all places) and passionate yet thoughtful reflections on class and gender. My one reservation was that I wasn't sure how central the sfnal elements were to the plot; perhaps this is partly because q...more
Warning (mostly to Mom): This is an excellent book but I don't think Mom will like it (lesbian themes). Story is sci-fi but in a way that non-sci-fi readers can embrace. Lore is the youngest of a well-known and highly regarded family who has a monopoly on restoration of water using all kinds of chemicals and plants and algae etc (really interesting to read too!) to make the world a better place. But all is not well in the family. Secrets, lies, and pain run throughout the family. These undertone...more
At the beginning of SLOW RIVER, a young woman named Lore is acquiring the identity implant of a dead stranger in order to apply for a menial and difficult job at a wastewater treatment plant. Lore is immensely overqualified for this position, but she has to keep her true identity a secret so that she can remain in hiding. Through flashbacks, the reader learns about the series of horrific events that led to this point, and meanwhile Lore uses her expertise at the plant to uncover corruption and p...more
Liked it a great deal: gripping, hard to put down. The flipping back and forth in narrative time worked well. I also liked the fact that the main character was uncomplicatedly gay; it was done as something normal enough not to need commenting on, as was the case with her uncle who was in a gay marriage.
As sometimes can be the case, the protagonist was a bit too all-round capable and competent for strict reality, but it was backed up well with the plot and character development, and all loose kno...more
As sometimes can be the case, the protagonist was a bit too all-round capable and competent for strict reality, but it was backed up well with the plot and character development, and all loose kno...more
Sep 14, 2009
Morgan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
sci-fi-and-fantasy
Nicola Griffith is a very good writer. Anyone who can make a compelling, exciting, thoughtful, and award-winning novel about water purification certainly deserves respect.
The other most impressive aspect of this novel is the fact that the narrative is split half-and-half between present and past, with the past written in the third person and the present written in the first person. The author seems to have handled this design effortlessly, despite the fact that it so easily could have ended up a...more
The other most impressive aspect of this novel is the fact that the narrative is split half-and-half between present and past, with the past written in the third person and the present written in the first person. The author seems to have handled this design effortlessly, despite the fact that it so easily could have ended up a...more
Though it suffers at times during more explanatory moments, the story of Frances Lorien van de Oest is a neatly interwoven trio of mysteries: What's wrong with the van de Oests? What's wrong with Spanner? What's wrong at the plant? Each of which relates in turn to a unique mystery of Lore's personhood. Shifts in perspective (first person past tense, third person past tense, third person present tense) provide clarity regarding which sub-story we're seeing at any given time. Stories of users and...more
A book that I started reading on a whim without knowing anything about it, turns into one of the most memorable books I've read this year.
Though technically, this is listed as 'science-fiction', this is more of a character story with the focus being on Lore of the world-renown van de Oest family, from multiple chronological perspectives. From the beginning, there are hints of a dark secret surrounding Lore's family that teases us throughout the book, that might or might not have had something to...more
Though technically, this is listed as 'science-fiction', this is more of a character story with the focus being on Lore of the world-renown van de Oest family, from multiple chronological perspectives. From the beginning, there are hints of a dark secret surrounding Lore's family that teases us throughout the book, that might or might not have had something to...more
People have been telling me for years I should be reading some Nicola Griffith. They were right.
Slow River is the story of stratospherically rich kid Lore, who has just escaped from the seemingly homicidal maniacs who kidnapped her. She finds herself abandoned, severely injured, in a city; she's taken in by Spanner, a data pirate living not so much on the criminal fringes of society as some way beyond them. After Lore has recovered from her injury she naturally becomes Spanner's apprentice in al...more
Slow River is the story of stratospherically rich kid Lore, who has just escaped from the seemingly homicidal maniacs who kidnapped her. She finds herself abandoned, severely injured, in a city; she's taken in by Spanner, a data pirate living not so much on the criminal fringes of society as some way beyond them. After Lore has recovered from her injury she naturally becomes Spanner's apprentice in al...more
I'd seen a recommendation somewhere for this book and managed to pick it up through my favourite bookswap site.
Our protagonist, Lore, is the child of a rich family living in a future England - her family has made its money through bioengineering and we first encounter her when she is kidnapped and held for ransom as a teenager. Escaping from her captors, Lore is found naked and battered on the street and 'rescued' by Spanner, a woman who makes her living by hacking and generally doing whatever s...more
Our protagonist, Lore, is the child of a rich family living in a future England - her family has made its money through bioengineering and we first encounter her when she is kidnapped and held for ransom as a teenager. Escaping from her captors, Lore is found naked and battered on the street and 'rescued' by Spanner, a woman who makes her living by hacking and generally doing whatever s...more
Slow River is set in the not-too-distant future, when the van den Oest family has grown rich because of one of the most basic human needs: clean water. The family owns patents and proprietary rights to the bugs that work to clean up polluted water and on the food the bugs eat.
Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Lore van de Oest, the youngest child of the family, is torn from her life of privilege and wealth; she's kidnapped and held for ransom. When Lore's family refuses to pay, she escapes...more
Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Lore van de Oest, the youngest child of the family, is torn from her life of privilege and wealth; she's kidnapped and held for ransom. When Lore's family refuses to pay, she escapes...more
Slow River is an engaging and accessible science fiction novel focused more on characters than technology. Griffith's novel is centered around women and queer characters without calling attention to queerness or women, it's just normal in her world.
I love how the non-linear narrative traces threads in protagonist Lore's life and identities. She's a daughter in a rich family in water purification and pollution clean-up projects. The narrative moves between Lore's childhood, her abusive relationsh...more
I love how the non-linear narrative traces threads in protagonist Lore's life and identities. She's a daughter in a rich family in water purification and pollution clean-up projects. The narrative moves between Lore's childhood, her abusive relationsh...more
Slow River is a fantastic tale about one of my favourite topics- WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS! I kid you not, my father is an electrical engineer specialised in water supplies and power who works for a massive international environmental consultancy firm. So having learnt much about the wastewater process I was very intrigued to see how this book handled the topic...
The answer is: Nicola Griffith has thoroughly researched her subject material, knows it back to front and has the remarkable abili...more
The answer is: Nicola Griffith has thoroughly researched her subject material, knows it back to front and has the remarkable abili...more
A rather gritty book, in a way that I really liked. It's an interesting take on a near-future capitalist society with most of the problems we have now, where among other things, global environmental solutions have been found but these widen the rich-vs-poor gap. It doesn't try to take on too much worldbuilding at once because it is character-based, but what it does show is reasonably convincing. I would not even read the back of the book or the online summary here before jumping in, if I were yo...more
I really enjoyed this. The story had a well-drawn protagonist with a frightening personal problem with high personal stakes. The author tied the personal stakes to global stakes effectively, but the global stakes were not the high point of the book for me. It was Lore's personal problem, her background and her current, smaller external problem that drew me in and kept me reading. Really good, detailed scientific info-delivery on industrial waste-water treatment, of all things. Some might conside...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mostly Lesfic: Slow River by Nicola Griffith | 16 | 24 | May 19, 2012 09:19am |
Nicola Griffith has won the Nebula Award, the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the World Fantasy Award, and six Lambda Literary Awards. She is also the co-editor of the Bending the Landscape series of anthologies. Her newest novel, Hild, will be published fall 2013. She lives in Seattle with her partner, writer Kelley Eskridge.
Series:
* Aud Torvingen
More about Nicola Griffith...
Series:
* Aud Torvingen
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