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HOWUL: a life’s journey
People in Blanow think that books are dangerous: they fill your head with drivel, make poor firewood and cannot be eaten (even in an emergency). This book is about Howul. He sees things differently: fires are dangerous; people are dangerous; books are just books.
Howul secretly writes down what goes on around him in Blanow. How its people treat foreigners, treat his daughter, treat him. None of it is pretty. Worse still, everything here keeps trying to kill him: rats, snakes, diseases, roof slates, the weather, the sea. That he survives must mean something. He wants to find out what. By trying to do this, he gets himself thrown out of Blanow... and so his journey begins.
Like all gripping stories, HOWUL is about the bad things people do to each other and what to do if they happen to you. Some people use sticks to stay safe. Some use guns. Words are the weapons that Howul uses most. He makes them sharp. He makes them hurt. Of course books are dangerous.
Howul secretly writes down what goes on around him in Blanow. How its people treat foreigners, treat his daughter, treat him. None of it is pretty. Worse still, everything here keeps trying to kill him: rats, snakes, diseases, roof slates, the weather, the sea. That he survives must mean something. He wants to find out what. By trying to do this, he gets himself thrown out of Blanow... and so his journey begins.
Like all gripping stories, HOWUL is about the bad things people do to each other and what to do if they happen to you. Some people use sticks to stay safe. Some use guns. Words are the weapons that Howul uses most. He makes them sharp. He makes them hurt. Of course books are dangerous.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 15, 2021
7 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 16, 2021
"In Blanow, there is no Ulderun, Prinsess nor lightblades. No defiance nor brave soldiers nor glory deaths . No trees that talk nor birds that die for love . Here is mess, greed, fear, struggle, worry, spite, hate, say one thing and do another, say too little, say too much, steal, argue, lie, hurt. This is what Howul see."
Something terrible has happened, something that destroys our world (it's never specified what exactly has happened, but to be fair, the possibilities are endless). Some people survive, who try to rebuild some form of society, referring to us as the People Before. A man called Howul lives in a small town called Blanow. It's a harsh world, where there is barely enough food for everyone, where people are forbidden to have more than one child (of course many more children are born, who eventually are left behind on the Field of Black, where they presumely die), and disease is rife. Howul helps ill people, at times being able to cure them. Sometimes people arrive from the sea, looking for food, for help, the so called People Outside, who are unceremoniously murdered after arriving by Blanow enforcer. There is no more room, the elders of Blanow say.
"Since he is knee high to a grasshop, everyone tell him books is dangerous. If you read them, they fill your head with dribble. You cannot eat them and when you throw them in the fire, they give bad heat."
Books are seen as the source of all evil in Blanow. It is what brought down the People Before. Books are forbidden, and almost nobody can read or write. Almost nobody. Howul is taught reading and writing by one of the older residents, and is given small notebooks to keep a diary.
Howul has lost his wife to illness years ago, and he has a daughter, Erin. Erin is told by the village elders she will marry one of the village's men, a real bastard, while she's only fourteen years old. Howul cannot let this happen and tries to stop it. He is then locked up, to be executed. The old man who has taught Howul to read and write, helps him escape to the beach and Howul leaves Blanow on a makeshift seacraft.
"Above him the night stars dim and fade. Hims father say that, if you look at them careful, alway you know where you is. He know just where he is. Sick in hims heart, alone, desperate. In deepshite."
That is only the beginning - now the story opens up to a much larger world, to a story that goes deeper than you'd might expect. A story of how power corrupts people, about how people are lied to, about trying to fight back.
The entire book is written in a simplified version of English, that you quickly adjust to as a reader - the most obvious comparison is to Riddley Walker, but I'd say Howul is a much easier read. One of the interesting aspects of the book is that you start to wonder who is telling you this story, has someone written this down, someone else than Howul himself. The book does address this.
"He open pouch and take book and pencil from it. He look for words to write but other words get in the way. Hims brain is a fire. Some time the smoke is so thick that he can see nothing. Some time what he see is so bright and blaze so fierce that he do not dare write it."
The use of such a specific style makes the book's voice unique, but it also means that at times the text is less descriptive than I'd wished it were, it can make locations and characters seem slightly colourless.
In the end, I was surprised how moving the book was, even with the stilted language. If you like your books post-apocalyptic, and harsh but still uniquely British, this is the book for you.
(Thanks to Alnpete Press for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley)
Something terrible has happened, something that destroys our world (it's never specified what exactly has happened, but to be fair, the possibilities are endless). Some people survive, who try to rebuild some form of society, referring to us as the People Before. A man called Howul lives in a small town called Blanow. It's a harsh world, where there is barely enough food for everyone, where people are forbidden to have more than one child (of course many more children are born, who eventually are left behind on the Field of Black, where they presumely die), and disease is rife. Howul helps ill people, at times being able to cure them. Sometimes people arrive from the sea, looking for food, for help, the so called People Outside, who are unceremoniously murdered after arriving by Blanow enforcer. There is no more room, the elders of Blanow say.
"Since he is knee high to a grasshop, everyone tell him books is dangerous. If you read them, they fill your head with dribble. You cannot eat them and when you throw them in the fire, they give bad heat."
Books are seen as the source of all evil in Blanow. It is what brought down the People Before. Books are forbidden, and almost nobody can read or write. Almost nobody. Howul is taught reading and writing by one of the older residents, and is given small notebooks to keep a diary.
Howul has lost his wife to illness years ago, and he has a daughter, Erin. Erin is told by the village elders she will marry one of the village's men, a real bastard, while she's only fourteen years old. Howul cannot let this happen and tries to stop it. He is then locked up, to be executed. The old man who has taught Howul to read and write, helps him escape to the beach and Howul leaves Blanow on a makeshift seacraft.
"Above him the night stars dim and fade. Hims father say that, if you look at them careful, alway you know where you is. He know just where he is. Sick in hims heart, alone, desperate. In deepshite."
That is only the beginning - now the story opens up to a much larger world, to a story that goes deeper than you'd might expect. A story of how power corrupts people, about how people are lied to, about trying to fight back.
The entire book is written in a simplified version of English, that you quickly adjust to as a reader - the most obvious comparison is to Riddley Walker, but I'd say Howul is a much easier read. One of the interesting aspects of the book is that you start to wonder who is telling you this story, has someone written this down, someone else than Howul himself. The book does address this.
"He open pouch and take book and pencil from it. He look for words to write but other words get in the way. Hims brain is a fire. Some time the smoke is so thick that he can see nothing. Some time what he see is so bright and blaze so fierce that he do not dare write it."
The use of such a specific style makes the book's voice unique, but it also means that at times the text is less descriptive than I'd wished it were, it can make locations and characters seem slightly colourless.
In the end, I was surprised how moving the book was, even with the stilted language. If you like your books post-apocalyptic, and harsh but still uniquely British, this is the book for you.
(Thanks to Alnpete Press for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley)
January 3, 2022
Since he is knee high to a grasshop, everyone tells him books is dangerous. If you read them, they fill your head with dribble. You cannot eat them and when you throw them in the fire, they give bad heat.
HOWUL A Life's Journey is by David Shannon, who self-depreciating author's bio reads:
Even though any actors he met kept telling him what a difficult career theirs is, he then abandoned journalism for acting. Many years later he’s still doing it, using the name David France. How successful has he been at this? Judge for yourself. Have you ever heard of him?
Although he is in fact better known for being (from the same bio) happily married to a writer slightly more famous than him – the 2019 Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo.. "
The novel is Elsewhen Press a small independent press who focus on debut authors and specialise in "delivering outstanding new talents in speculative fiction" and HOWUL falls into that category based in some sort of (unspecified) post-catastrophe future Earth.
The novel is written in Howlish, a simplified and slightly altered form of modern English as spoken by the fabled "People Before", whose tales and legends also live on in altered form such as the story of the people of "Ulderun", which you might recognise from the movies:
Skys liteblade move, twist, spin, throw fire. Deep push out chest, stand tall, let fire hit him. Feerce heet, wite hot flames. On Deep, soft as womans kiss.
Liteblade grow hevvy, fall from Skys hand again.
‘No choice,’ say Deep. ‘Join me.’
‘Never,’ say Sky. ‘All I want or love yoo have kill.’
‘I spare yoo.’
‘To hurt me more. To show me what else yoo distroy.’
‘No. Yoo do not know it but I is same as yoo.’
‘As same as rock and water.’
‘Kind is not brave, Sky. Good is not strong. Forse is best. Join me. Then there is forse none can stop. Yoo know where yor father is?’
‘Kill by yoo. Safe in jentle erth.’
Deep lift up black mettul. Eyes behind is as black, as dark.
‘Yor father stand before yoo now.’
Howul lives in the community of Blanow, one no-one leaves and where intruders are first welcomed, to lull them into a sense of security then killed. This is because food is scarce - and for similar reasons marriage is only permitted when someone dies, and if any couple has more than one child the new arrivals are left in a field to die.
But things change when the oldest man in the village, Gommel, inducts Howul into the secret of reading, which he learns from a Peter & jane style ABC from the People Before. somewhat to his distaste:
Gommel have two books for Howul. Jack and Julie Learn To Read and The A B C Book. He use them to learn Howul what is letters and words and how to say them and write them. He get Howul to read the words out to him many time and to write them down in other teeny books he give him.
Many is not words Howul ever say nor is write how anyone might say them. Nut is Nut but Nite is Night and Nee is Knee. Neville wear a anorak, eat jelly and go tobogganing. Gommel tell Howul that anorak is hat, jelly is type of fruit and tobogganing is climb tree. Howul want to ask how Gommel
know this but listen and wait instead.
People in Blanow like storys. Howuls father Garith have tell best storys. Alway he fill them with the bad things people do and what you can do if bad things hap to you. This is not how Jack and Julie Learn To Read nor The A B C Book is.
Everyone know that for People Before weather is more cold. But here sun shine alway. No one suffer. All is happy. Billy is happy because Granny give him biscuit, Mary because Uncle Jim show her hims stamps and Dulcie because a jolly sailor smile at her. Biscuit is same as pattycake, say Gomme. Stamps is teeny pictures. Jolly is old. Sailor is man with beard.
All this bore the crap out of Howul. Gommel want him to learn so he can write what hap to him in Blanow, what people say and tell him. If he can write this for him, perhap Billy, Mary and Dulcie can all gofuck.
A similar ABC later written by Howul to teach others to read in Howlish can be found here: https://elsewhen.press/index.php/cata...
A is for Arseholes
Jack and Julie is Arseholes
B is for Big
Jack and Julie is Big Arseholes
C is for Cocomber
Jack and Julie can shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
D is for Die
Jack and Julie Die from shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
E is for Everyone
Everyone is please Jack and Julie Die from shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
F is for Food
Everyone is please Jack and Julie Die because the Greedy shites waste Food by shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes.
What Howul learns leads to the death of someone dear to him, his own close escape from execution, his escape and discovery of other communities, and his gradual appreciation of the truth behind the economic model that keeps the people of Blanow just above the poverty line, one that relies on the leaders feeding lies to the people they choose to believe, while they themselves live by different rules. If this sounds like a satire of 21st century Western societies it is meant to be as the author has explained (https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/cultu...
Overall, I have to be honest and say this really didn't work for me. The Howlish felt rather simple compared to other books that have been written in different form of English (e.g. The Wake) and parts like the retold Star Wars (I assume you guessed?!) a bit silly. The underlying story was interesting (at times sad, others violently disturbing, other moving) and not predictable, but again relatively straightforward in literary terms.
So reluctancy, 2.5 stars
HOWUL A Life's Journey is by David Shannon, who self-depreciating author's bio reads:
Even though any actors he met kept telling him what a difficult career theirs is, he then abandoned journalism for acting. Many years later he’s still doing it, using the name David France. How successful has he been at this? Judge for yourself. Have you ever heard of him?
Although he is in fact better known for being (from the same bio) happily married to a writer slightly more famous than him – the 2019 Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo.. "
The novel is Elsewhen Press a small independent press who focus on debut authors and specialise in "delivering outstanding new talents in speculative fiction" and HOWUL falls into that category based in some sort of (unspecified) post-catastrophe future Earth.
The novel is written in Howlish, a simplified and slightly altered form of modern English as spoken by the fabled "People Before", whose tales and legends also live on in altered form such as the story of the people of "Ulderun", which you might recognise from the movies:
Skys liteblade move, twist, spin, throw fire. Deep push out chest, stand tall, let fire hit him. Feerce heet, wite hot flames. On Deep, soft as womans kiss.
Liteblade grow hevvy, fall from Skys hand again.
‘No choice,’ say Deep. ‘Join me.’
‘Never,’ say Sky. ‘All I want or love yoo have kill.’
‘I spare yoo.’
‘To hurt me more. To show me what else yoo distroy.’
‘No. Yoo do not know it but I is same as yoo.’
‘As same as rock and water.’
‘Kind is not brave, Sky. Good is not strong. Forse is best. Join me. Then there is forse none can stop. Yoo know where yor father is?’
‘Kill by yoo. Safe in jentle erth.’
Deep lift up black mettul. Eyes behind is as black, as dark.
‘Yor father stand before yoo now.’
Howul lives in the community of Blanow, one no-one leaves and where intruders are first welcomed, to lull them into a sense of security then killed. This is because food is scarce - and for similar reasons marriage is only permitted when someone dies, and if any couple has more than one child the new arrivals are left in a field to die.
But things change when the oldest man in the village, Gommel, inducts Howul into the secret of reading, which he learns from a Peter & jane style ABC from the People Before. somewhat to his distaste:
Gommel have two books for Howul. Jack and Julie Learn To Read and The A B C Book. He use them to learn Howul what is letters and words and how to say them and write them. He get Howul to read the words out to him many time and to write them down in other teeny books he give him.
Many is not words Howul ever say nor is write how anyone might say them. Nut is Nut but Nite is Night and Nee is Knee. Neville wear a anorak, eat jelly and go tobogganing. Gommel tell Howul that anorak is hat, jelly is type of fruit and tobogganing is climb tree. Howul want to ask how Gommel
know this but listen and wait instead.
People in Blanow like storys. Howuls father Garith have tell best storys. Alway he fill them with the bad things people do and what you can do if bad things hap to you. This is not how Jack and Julie Learn To Read nor The A B C Book is.
Everyone know that for People Before weather is more cold. But here sun shine alway. No one suffer. All is happy. Billy is happy because Granny give him biscuit, Mary because Uncle Jim show her hims stamps and Dulcie because a jolly sailor smile at her. Biscuit is same as pattycake, say Gomme. Stamps is teeny pictures. Jolly is old. Sailor is man with beard.
All this bore the crap out of Howul. Gommel want him to learn so he can write what hap to him in Blanow, what people say and tell him. If he can write this for him, perhap Billy, Mary and Dulcie can all gofuck.
A similar ABC later written by Howul to teach others to read in Howlish can be found here: https://elsewhen.press/index.php/cata...
A is for Arseholes
Jack and Julie is Arseholes
B is for Big
Jack and Julie is Big Arseholes
C is for Cocomber
Jack and Julie can shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
D is for Die
Jack and Julie Die from shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
E is for Everyone
Everyone is please Jack and Julie Die from shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes
F is for Food
Everyone is please Jack and Julie Die because the Greedy shites waste Food by shove Cocomber up thems Big Arseholes.
What Howul learns leads to the death of someone dear to him, his own close escape from execution, his escape and discovery of other communities, and his gradual appreciation of the truth behind the economic model that keeps the people of Blanow just above the poverty line, one that relies on the leaders feeding lies to the people they choose to believe, while they themselves live by different rules. If this sounds like a satire of 21st century Western societies it is meant to be as the author has explained (https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/cultu...
Q. Your book can be viewed as a satire. What key elements of present-day society did you wish to satirise, and what are you criticising about them?
A. How our political leaders behave and why we let them. In HOWUL, they lie, cheat, misappropriate, mess up, blame, and persecute. And the ‘people’ shrug their shoulders and let them get away with it. Remind you of anywhere?
Overall, I have to be honest and say this really didn't work for me. The Howlish felt rather simple compared to other books that have been written in different form of English (e.g. The Wake) and parts like the retold Star Wars (I assume you guessed?!) a bit silly. The underlying story was interesting (at times sad, others violently disturbing, other moving) and not predictable, but again relatively straightforward in literary terms.
So reluctancy, 2.5 stars
January 19, 2021
As this book has only just made it to Goodreads I put my review on Amazon. Copied here for your delight and delectation:
This is one of those books that slowly drags you into its world. It's familiar enough that you recognise it, and so very very different that you don't quite know which landmarks to trust.
It isn't an easy or a comfortable read, but for me it is all the better for that. Having to work at it to get at the good stuff made it so much more satisfying.
It is also one of those rare reading treats that had me thinking, as I finished the last page, "Oh, right, I missed that, I need to go back and re-read it". Which I'm pretty sure I will do quite soon.
This is one of those books that slowly drags you into its world. It's familiar enough that you recognise it, and so very very different that you don't quite know which landmarks to trust.
It isn't an easy or a comfortable read, but for me it is all the better for that. Having to work at it to get at the good stuff made it so much more satisfying.
It is also one of those rare reading treats that had me thinking, as I finished the last page, "Oh, right, I missed that, I need to go back and re-read it". Which I'm pretty sure I will do quite soon.
December 4, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a different take on a dystopian future story, and it all feels very plausible. Sometime in the future, resources are scarce and society has gone back to the Middle Ages. So much knowledge has been lost, but there are still remnants from the ‘people before’. The book follows one man, as he learns about the broken world around him, and tries to do something about it.
The book has it’s own ‘language’, which I thought might make it difficult to read, but it’s actually very easy to follow. It’s basically a simplified version of English, and it’s easy to imagine that’s exactly how our language evolves when knowledge is lost and communities are isolated. Howul is also a great character - despite the simple life he has to live, he comes across as both cunning and empathetic throughout.
As the story progresses, we get a lot of answers but some question marks deliberately still remain about the world that Howul is living in. I think this leaves the possibility open for further books set in this world, which would be great to see!
The book has it’s own ‘language’, which I thought might make it difficult to read, but it’s actually very easy to follow. It’s basically a simplified version of English, and it’s easy to imagine that’s exactly how our language evolves when knowledge is lost and communities are isolated. Howul is also a great character - despite the simple life he has to live, he comes across as both cunning and empathetic throughout.
As the story progresses, we get a lot of answers but some question marks deliberately still remain about the world that Howul is living in. I think this leaves the possibility open for further books set in this world, which would be great to see!
March 12, 2021
This book follows the titled character HOWUL on his life journey as he secretly makes a diary of things that happen around him in Blanow and in other plains that he travels, but his books must remain undetected because books are dangerous. HOWUL is about the bad things people do to each other and what to do if they happen to you, everyone has their weapon, and words are HOWUL’s
This story is a very intricately and well thought out story, but can come across as confusing and complicated, there were a number of times that I struggled with the wording and writing format (as the language used is one called HOWLISH – ENGLISH) but there is an inclusion at the end of the book which serves as a dictionary explaining the language, which is a great addition and a really great help
The main character is an intriguing character as there initially isn’t much that is making him relatable, but as he goes through a number of events the feelings experienced for him really do vary, as I began to question whether he was a villain or if he was just caught up with bad things happening
to him and he was carrying out certain activities to just survive. The other characters in this book weren’t given much development therefore majority of the time I was just debating the characters
trustworthiness, the only character I truly felt for was HOWULs daughter.
It is a great book that leads the reader to question their behaviours, I felt some George Orwell type vibes with this book, as it did remind me a little of books like Animal Farm with the concept of how things effect society and who is actually “in charge”.
I will say that this is quite a depressing and uncomfortable read in places as there are a number of rituals and acts within their world that are frowned upon, however it is quite a unique and original read for me, and I would say if the synopsis intrigues you pick the book up!
2.5
This story is a very intricately and well thought out story, but can come across as confusing and complicated, there were a number of times that I struggled with the wording and writing format (as the language used is one called HOWLISH – ENGLISH) but there is an inclusion at the end of the book which serves as a dictionary explaining the language, which is a great addition and a really great help
The main character is an intriguing character as there initially isn’t much that is making him relatable, but as he goes through a number of events the feelings experienced for him really do vary, as I began to question whether he was a villain or if he was just caught up with bad things happening
to him and he was carrying out certain activities to just survive. The other characters in this book weren’t given much development therefore majority of the time I was just debating the characters
trustworthiness, the only character I truly felt for was HOWULs daughter.
It is a great book that leads the reader to question their behaviours, I felt some George Orwell type vibes with this book, as it did remind me a little of books like Animal Farm with the concept of how things effect society and who is actually “in charge”.
I will say that this is quite a depressing and uncomfortable read in places as there are a number of rituals and acts within their world that are frowned upon, however it is quite a unique and original read for me, and I would say if the synopsis intrigues you pick the book up!
2.5
May 11, 2021
If there's one thing I can say about this book, it's that you won't have read another one like it in terms of the use of language and way in which it was told.
This is both a good and bad thing...
If you're a grammar purist, don't even think about picking this up, the language that it's written in shares commonalities with english, but is sufficiently different that you need both a primer for the language, and a glossary of terms, places, and concepts. I think that if a mention of both the primer and glossary was made at the front of the book, not detracting from getting straight into the story, but allowing people the choice of if they want to muddle through things or read the details before embarking, then the book would reach a far wider audience.
The world is brutal, in various places it's graphic in its depiction of things going on, and while there are hints of the world and what it was before, it's never made completely clear, and that's not a bad thing. If everything was explained, it would remove the need to have the language the way it is.
I haven't spoken much about the events of the book, and in part, that's because I think I've got the general gist of what happened, there were several places where I somewhat lost where the story was going, and after finding the details at the back of the book, I wasn't entirely convinced about going back and working through it again.
All of this is painting a reasonably bleak picture of a book that has a vast store of imagination behind it, and I think that that's a problem, because this deserves to be read wide as an example of bold storytelling that defies existing conventions.
Recommendation? If you're going to have a read of this, take a look through the language notes and glossary at the back of the book before you start on it, it'll make things significantly easier to go through. If I were to give it another try, I'm sure I'd find more in there that I'd missed the first time around.
This is both a good and bad thing...
If you're a grammar purist, don't even think about picking this up, the language that it's written in shares commonalities with english, but is sufficiently different that you need both a primer for the language, and a glossary of terms, places, and concepts. I think that if a mention of both the primer and glossary was made at the front of the book, not detracting from getting straight into the story, but allowing people the choice of if they want to muddle through things or read the details before embarking, then the book would reach a far wider audience.
The world is brutal, in various places it's graphic in its depiction of things going on, and while there are hints of the world and what it was before, it's never made completely clear, and that's not a bad thing. If everything was explained, it would remove the need to have the language the way it is.
I haven't spoken much about the events of the book, and in part, that's because I think I've got the general gist of what happened, there were several places where I somewhat lost where the story was going, and after finding the details at the back of the book, I wasn't entirely convinced about going back and working through it again.
All of this is painting a reasonably bleak picture of a book that has a vast store of imagination behind it, and I think that that's a problem, because this deserves to be read wide as an example of bold storytelling that defies existing conventions.
Recommendation? If you're going to have a read of this, take a look through the language notes and glossary at the back of the book before you start on it, it'll make things significantly easier to go through. If I were to give it another try, I'm sure I'd find more in there that I'd missed the first time around.
August 4, 2022
‘In Blanoe, stay stupid is stay safe’.
This is the story of Howul, living on an island, Blanoe, in an unspecified time in the future, where the safest thing to be is stupid. When the oldest man on the island wants to teach Howul to read and write, he is fearful. Books are dangerous.
Written in ‘Howlish’ in simple mis-pronounced phonetics it takes a lot to get your head around the writing and get into any flow with the novel. The concept was great, but I think the novel needed to be shorter and more straight-forward to be effective in this chosen style.
The world and character building was strong, the world and people felt gloomy, violent, and brutal. This aspect had impact, but I wouldn’t say it felt particularly enjoyable, largely because the accompanying plot was quite weak and felt a little like an afterthought. It meandered and dragged the novel out far more than it needed to be as Howul aimlessly travelled from place to place with no clear purpose, but requiring a lot of effort from the reader to follow.
I also felt that there were a lot of contradictions, for an unwordly and uneducated man, dialect aside, Howul’s penned thoughts felt too articulate.
I thought the concept was original and fun, but disappointingly the novel just felt a little experimental for me, and it just didn’t feel like the execution lived up to the idea.
This is the story of Howul, living on an island, Blanoe, in an unspecified time in the future, where the safest thing to be is stupid. When the oldest man on the island wants to teach Howul to read and write, he is fearful. Books are dangerous.
Written in ‘Howlish’ in simple mis-pronounced phonetics it takes a lot to get your head around the writing and get into any flow with the novel. The concept was great, but I think the novel needed to be shorter and more straight-forward to be effective in this chosen style.
The world and character building was strong, the world and people felt gloomy, violent, and brutal. This aspect had impact, but I wouldn’t say it felt particularly enjoyable, largely because the accompanying plot was quite weak and felt a little like an afterthought. It meandered and dragged the novel out far more than it needed to be as Howul aimlessly travelled from place to place with no clear purpose, but requiring a lot of effort from the reader to follow.
I also felt that there were a lot of contradictions, for an unwordly and uneducated man, dialect aside, Howul’s penned thoughts felt too articulate.
I thought the concept was original and fun, but disappointingly the novel just felt a little experimental for me, and it just didn’t feel like the execution lived up to the idea.
December 7, 2025
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/howul-a-lifes-journey-by-david-shannon/
Folks, it is a wee treat. It’s set in a degenerate post-apocalyptic society in what used to be North Wales – probably if I knew Wales better I could be very specific about the settings – where resources are scarce and the artefacts of the past, including tinned food, are feared and revered. Howul is forced to leave his home village, where he was the last in a long line of healers, and goes on a journey exploring the country nearby. Much is not as it first seems, including as it turns out his own home.
Howul’s future dialect is reminiscent of Riddley Walker (which I read when I was a teenager), but it’s not derivative, and the book as a whole goes in quite a different direction. There is a well-developed sense of place and social structure, and some useful thoughts about truth and fiction which give this short book a strong heft. Shannon worked on it for over a decade, and I feel it paid off.
Folks, it is a wee treat. It’s set in a degenerate post-apocalyptic society in what used to be North Wales – probably if I knew Wales better I could be very specific about the settings – where resources are scarce and the artefacts of the past, including tinned food, are feared and revered. Howul is forced to leave his home village, where he was the last in a long line of healers, and goes on a journey exploring the country nearby. Much is not as it first seems, including as it turns out his own home.
Howul’s future dialect is reminiscent of Riddley Walker (which I read when I was a teenager), but it’s not derivative, and the book as a whole goes in quite a different direction. There is a well-developed sense of place and social structure, and some useful thoughts about truth and fiction which give this short book a strong heft. Shannon worked on it for over a decade, and I feel it paid off.
April 13, 2021
An unusual and very original book. I was keen to read and review this story, partly because I love books and words so much, but also because it’s such an intriguing premise. This is a really gripping story, with the eponymous main character Howul for whom words are everything.
They won’t all be words you are familiar with.
There is a glossary at the end of the story, turning Howlish into English (although some of the words are obvious, there are some completely new words) - I would advise readers to start there and then go back to the opening paragraphs.
This is such a great book. I was completely immersed. David Shannon is a talented writer and this book exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended. The cover is so basic and simple but the story within is anything but.
They won’t all be words you are familiar with.
There is a glossary at the end of the story, turning Howlish into English (although some of the words are obvious, there are some completely new words) - I would advise readers to start there and then go back to the opening paragraphs.
This is such a great book. I was completely immersed. David Shannon is a talented writer and this book exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended. The cover is so basic and simple but the story within is anything but.
February 4, 2021
Howul is not a good person. He is a bad father and a bad healer and would make a terrible leader. No one would have him. He can’t even catch rats for the pot, he is that useless. Knowing that about him, why is he the one who is taught to read? Taught how to right about his life. Given the books to write it down in. Such a dangerous thing in the hands of someone like Howul. He could go a long way with something like that.
I enjoyed this book. I’m not sure if I enjoyed it because of or despite the somewhat strange language it is written in. It is quirky and vibrant and full of life. What more could you possibly want from a book?
I enjoyed this book. I’m not sure if I enjoyed it because of or despite the somewhat strange language it is written in. It is quirky and vibrant and full of life. What more could you possibly want from a book?
November 6, 2021
📚My Review📚 I wasn’t expecting this book to be anything like it is! I mean that in a good way. I found the writing style brilliant and hilarious! So many laugh out loud moments for me. The language used was surprising, shocking and clever. Howul’s descriptions of things and the nicknames he gave other characters in the story had me rolling around and crying with laughter. I loved that the ending wasn’t predictable. As well as the humour, the serious emotions, such as his heartbreak, anger and disillusionment of Howul were clearly portrayed. I really felt for him. A unique book that I’d recommend to anyone who fancies reading something different and amusing!
February 18, 2021
This is a wonderful book. It is written in a pidgin English, which takes time to get used to, but creates a beautiful rhythm. It is set in a scary dystopian society where people are desperate and just try to survive in a post disaster world. Howul is a great character who makes a desperate journey through the unknown. He’s not a hero and makes mistakes along the way but he is a decent man forced to do unpleasant things. It’s a book about power, knowledge and humanity but also about who gets to dob who and what is good to eat. Read this book
March 11, 2021
Howul is a fairly complicated story of one man's life and subsequent journey driven by a thirst for revenge. There's not much to like about the leading character, he is not overall a good person so it was strange for me to read a book where I do not like the person I was focusing on.
Its written in a variation of English that can be quite difficult to get to grips with but you do get the hang of it eventually.
Howul's arc culminates in his old age with the story ending in revealing the narrator which was an interesting twist.
The story is well written I cannot deny that however I finished it thinking I don't understand the point in this story. Nothing was resolved, it was just a bit depressing to be honest.
The world created by the author is fascinating however. The three main towns that Howul stays in are described very well. They are all so different from one another and have convoluted relationships with the other places.
Its written in a variation of English that can be quite difficult to get to grips with but you do get the hang of it eventually.
Howul's arc culminates in his old age with the story ending in revealing the narrator which was an interesting twist.
The story is well written I cannot deny that however I finished it thinking I don't understand the point in this story. Nothing was resolved, it was just a bit depressing to be honest.
The world created by the author is fascinating however. The three main towns that Howul stays in are described very well. They are all so different from one another and have convoluted relationships with the other places.
January 26, 2024
A gripping story but I found the language hard to get used to. David Mitchell, in an article discussing the use of archaic language in historical fiction, makes a stong case for 'Bygonese': contemporary English with just a hint of whatever the time period might have sounded like. I feel this book would have benefitted from a lighter touch in terms of the language. (Disclaimer: I also struggled with A Clockwork Orange...)
May 11, 2021
This is certainly unique and memorable. This little book won't be for everyone due to its unusual story and style, but for those that are seeking a possibly challenging read, it might pay off nicely. It will evoke happiness and sadness along the way. I hope the author continues to write.
Thanks very much for the review copy!!
Thanks very much for the review copy!!
August 13, 2021
Unputdownable indeed!
I loved every minute of this. Unexpected and clever. Heartwarming and real. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about how society might be different.
I loved every minute of this. Unexpected and clever. Heartwarming and real. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about how society might be different.
April 28, 2021
Howul is to literature as Stravinsky is to Bach
So great to read something so refreshingly creative and new!
So great to read something so refreshingly creative and new!
March 10, 2021
I didn't know what to expect from this book and it's certainly different to any other book I've read. I love the simplicity of the cover. I'm not sure what genre to ascribe it to, maybe one all of it's own but it was quirky and quite extraordinary and I really enjoyed it. Once you get used to the language it gets easier to read and you get immersed into Howul's life. It has both laugh out loud and sad moments as well as bits that are violent and a bit shocking. Howul comes across as very straightforward and matter of fact in his thoughts and feelings, he says what he sees and some of that can be very funny. I loved some of the language with words such as bumblebees, flutterbys, herbishrubs and snotnoses and loved the way you could work out what the words meant because they were either spelt how they sounded or described what they referred to. It is a very clever and thought provoking book.
September 9, 2021
I finished this book five days ago and I’m still thinking about it now. It was so intriguing to me that someone could make up a whole new type of writing style and not let it completely take over the book. I admit that getting to grips with the grammar and style of writing did annoy my perfect grammar sensibilities but I got used to it and it actually made the story ten times better than if he’d tried to write it in English as we know it.
Howul on this journey does change and grow as a person and in the end, I came to realise just how much he’d sacrificed in his quest to do the right thing. There isn’t so much a twist as a slow burner that gradually comes to light and for me, it was still a pretty big ‘woah’ moment.
The relationships Howul has, with the people he meets on his journey, are varied and yet you can see the hardships these new age of people have to deal with and what they can overcome to have a modicum of normalcy, it rang quite close to home due to the current climate. Whatever had happened to the People Before, it can’t have been too distant in the past as they still had the tinned food that had been left behind. It was also quite fun to try and decipher the things that Shannon described to make them not obvious (his description of a goat had me guessing for ages).
David Shannon has woven together a whole new world like one I’ve never seen before. The class system is still alive and well (although less distinctive as everyone seems to be in a sort of poverty) and there are people who try and subdue and rule others through fear and violence.
Howul on this journey does change and grow as a person and in the end, I came to realise just how much he’d sacrificed in his quest to do the right thing. There isn’t so much a twist as a slow burner that gradually comes to light and for me, it was still a pretty big ‘woah’ moment.
The relationships Howul has, with the people he meets on his journey, are varied and yet you can see the hardships these new age of people have to deal with and what they can overcome to have a modicum of normalcy, it rang quite close to home due to the current climate. Whatever had happened to the People Before, it can’t have been too distant in the past as they still had the tinned food that had been left behind. It was also quite fun to try and decipher the things that Shannon described to make them not obvious (his description of a goat had me guessing for ages).
David Shannon has woven together a whole new world like one I’ve never seen before. The class system is still alive and well (although less distinctive as everyone seems to be in a sort of poverty) and there are people who try and subdue and rule others through fear and violence.
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