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The Wave Singer
More than a fantastical story of youth's journey to self-knowledge, 'The Wave Singer' is a captivating and challenging allegory for growing up in a harsh world of deceptive options.
253 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2020
Someone gave me this book to read and said I should look at it. I was sceptical at first – I hate most dystopian literature – but The Wave Singer proved to be an ambitious and a very thought-provoking read. The starkness of the writing reinforces the harshness of the times and yet overall the feel wasn’t utterly bleak and pessimistic. Set in Scotland, something terrible – “The Event” – has clearly happened but we never really find out what it is. The one thing we know is that energy is at a premium and there’s a curious dependence on bicycle pedal power to generate electricity to power some old consumer goods; and the story’s characters seem to belong to one of a handful of connected communities. We never actually learn the name of the narrator and central character. Some inhabitants of this post-apocalyptic society appear to have special powers to sing the ‘Song’, and one of the main themes of The Wave Singer is their relationship with the others in the community.
Anyway, this is a short read. It’s futuristic, sure, but there’s a throwback in the writing style that harks back to Lewis Grassick Gibbon; the reader knows this is rural writing from the very outset. It’s not giving anything away to say that the door is left open at the end for more: there's a sequel out there somewhere.
At the end of the day, though, I don't care for dystopian books. Hence the three stars.
Anyway, this is a short read. It’s futuristic, sure, but there’s a throwback in the writing style that harks back to Lewis Grassick Gibbon; the reader knows this is rural writing from the very outset. It’s not giving anything away to say that the door is left open at the end for more: there's a sequel out there somewhere.
At the end of the day, though, I don't care for dystopian books. Hence the three stars.
July 10, 2013
Given that I am (at least theoretically) writing a novel set in a far future, independent (and much flooded) Scotland then I'm wanting to read books that already fit in this mini-genre. Not to steal ideas, but to get an overall inspiration and a sense of what's already out there.
The Wave Singer by Greg Michaelson is the latest such book I've found. Scotland is recovering from an unspecified climate Event and people have fractured into two opposing camps. The Arkists choose members of their group as Wave Singers to sing their landscape and the fragments of their history in a way very reminiscent of Australian aboriginal songlines meanwhile the Colonists hoard left over technology that can no longer be powered.
The nameless narrator of the novel is a young man from the Arkist who may be a future Wave Singer, but who wants to find his way into adulthood a bit before that choice is forced onto him. He finds himself building bridges with the Colonists.
The most impressive thing for me in this novel is how it builds a future world in which there are entirely new cultures (Wave Singing) but the author avoids putting in too much back-story and over-explanation of how the culture. Around this specific element of the new culture are created new forms of family relationships and new attitudes to religion, all of which come together to create a believable future world.
The Wave Singer by Greg Michaelson is the latest such book I've found. Scotland is recovering from an unspecified climate Event and people have fractured into two opposing camps. The Arkists choose members of their group as Wave Singers to sing their landscape and the fragments of their history in a way very reminiscent of Australian aboriginal songlines meanwhile the Colonists hoard left over technology that can no longer be powered.
The nameless narrator of the novel is a young man from the Arkist who may be a future Wave Singer, but who wants to find his way into adulthood a bit before that choice is forced onto him. He finds himself building bridges with the Colonists.
The most impressive thing for me in this novel is how it builds a future world in which there are entirely new cultures (Wave Singing) but the author avoids putting in too much back-story and over-explanation of how the culture. Around this specific element of the new culture are created new forms of family relationships and new attitudes to religion, all of which come together to create a believable future world.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews