The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Salt Lick by Lulu Allison

Well I helped crowd fund this one and have hand made wish cow from the author. And then failed to predict it for the list (thought it was a little too non-mainstream)

Although originally conceived some years ago, the novel is very resonant in our post-Brexit, post-Covid, Black Lives Matter world, with Allison's imagined world featuring labour shortages, white nationalism, and two pandemics.

And for our Norfolk resident, the white nationalists' symbol of choice is a chance find from Jarrolds department store:

On their chests, bizarrely buttoned on at each corner using hand, stitched holes for what they named Donning the Flag, an oblong of white with a red cross emblazoned across it, the span extended along the edges to make a variant of the swastika, So much meaning put into that securement, that act of attaching fabric to a shirt carefully primed with buttons scavenged from a department store in Norwich fourteen years before. So much invented value had been put into that absurd moment; boys getting their buttons when they got their tattoos. Grown men and women crying when their sons attached the flag for the first time; some men experience a tightening of the throat each time they put the Rag onto their chests. A ritual come to such power in only fourteen years. A ritual that gained its form because a bag of buttons from a haberdashery department in an abandoned store in Norwich had been taken on a whim, in case by sheer volume, they should turn out to be useful. No matter that to others it looks foolish, like a nursery bib. The ritual is made.

Surely you cowed funded it.

:-)

It was February 2020 - yes 25 months ago - that I saw talk of this book and pledged to support its publication.

It is wonderfully satisfying 2 years later to see it not only in print but on the Women’s Prize list.

Sold out already on Book Depository- hopefully I managed to place my order in time thanks to the link but not holding my breath!

It is available from the publisher still I think

https://unbound.com/books/salt-lick/l...

Did I read somewhere that the US publisher will be Akashic?

Well they are publishing the Jacaranda one. Not sure they are with this (but I may have got muddled up somewhere else)

I ordered it from Unbound too, but not at the cow level. I should have since I love cows, living cows, not beef.

Looks like most of the available paper copies were sold yesterday - only the ebook is now available to order directly, but I think I have got lucky with click and collect at my local Waterstones branch so there may be a few more to be found out there!

Started reading and about 100 pages in... an interesting read. Not sure I am convinced yet but continuing with an open mind. Some beautifully original phrases. Not sure the characters are well rounded or complex enough to keep me engaged. Reminds me a little (a lot) of The New Wilderness.

Lulu was saying this was the first Unbound book to make the Women’s Prize list (in a mail to her crowdfunders). Gumble on another thread I think you said Unbound had been featured before?

No they are new to WP but have featured on the Booker - with The Wake - whereas Myriad or Europa have been on neither prize (Europa have been on IB). Jacaranda has been in WP before.

So Lulu was right

Incidentally check out her hat for Ukraine

https://twitter.com/LuluAllison77/sta...

Lulu is a big hat person

https://twitter.com/LuluAllison77/sta...

I love her! I’m so mad I didn’t get in the cow category.

For the right price I’m sure you can achieve the cow category!

Cow category is over now. I’ll have to make due with the notecards with photos of cows sunbathing, sitting in beach chairs and swimming in the ocean I bought from a local artist.

Well I know someone who might sell his cow (obviously at a price reflecting its new status)! He could send it over with the Books of Jacob special edition if that ever is printed.

Name your price! Maybe I have US bookish items you don’t get over there.

Ok.... so just finished Salt Lick and gave it 4*.
The second half was more interesting than the first. This was probably because the characters' lives started to weave together. Satisfactory ending. Great social commentary.
Overall, a worthwhile read. Some nice bits of originality that I appreciated. I would not be surprised to see this make the shortlist but would be surprised to see it win.
Now... what to read next? The Sentence or The Book of Form and Emptiness. Have copies of both and dipped in and out of both. Both my established authors. Or Remote Sympthy? This one has the highest reviews on GR, there has been some interesting discussion on here BUT it is long. That doesnt always put me off.

...

Just purchased Remote Sympathy on Kindle.

Did Amazon offer the audio narration for Remote, Jo? I just got Creatures of Passage for Kindle and for only $7 I got audio narration. The e-book and audio was $19 which is less than most audio books isn’t it?

This is being reprinted and should be available from March 18th. You can preorder the reprint from the link I posted previously.

Paul - thank you so much for highlighting Unbound. What a wonderful organization! Was glad to hear of it and will support. Ordered salt lick too!

John Mitchinson who cofounded the press is also a fellow Trustee of the Republic of Consciousness Prize so an all round good person in the book world.

Paul wrote: "John Mitchinson who cofounded the press is also a fellow Trustee of the Republic of Consciousness Prize so an all round good person in the book world."

And is also part of the wonderful Backlisted Podcast

Indeed

WndyJW wrote: "Did Amazon offer the audio narration for Remote, Jo? I just got Creatures of Passage for Kindle and for only $7 I got audio narration. The e-book and audio was $19 which is less than most audio boo..."
No - but I see it has been reduced on Kindle now in the UK. I think this is probably a book best read rather than listened to. Although, I would love to hear the voices of the cows.

They are very moving

Moo-ving? :)

Glad someone got it!!

The cows talk?! I can’t wait to read this!
Very clever, GY and Jo.

I have finally got round to writing my review. I would be very surprised if anything knocks this off the top of my list, a visionary, compelling book which was very enjoyable to read.

Great review, Hugh. My copy is still in transit. Paul and Jo seemed to be lukewarm on this.

I wasn't lukewarm I really liked it. Just wasn't sure if others would as I read it rather biased given I crowdfunded it.

Plus I prefer the sort of fiction (Goldsmiths plus) that was on my top 13 but was never going to be on this list.

It was also - if anyone recalls that thread - the book that prompted me to ask the question about names in books, and why there are seldom two characters with the same first name (unlike in real life) and if there are then ....

If you weren't lukewarm, then ranking it 4th is a bit optimistic about what else is on the longlist..

Well that is true. I was assuming it was a strong list.

That is interesting Paul - my reasons for placing This One Sky Day 4th were very similar, and I may well move it up when I have read a few more.

I’m so pleased that Hugh and Paul liked this so much. I read the first chapter this afternoon. Now that I’ve finished my last two RofC books I’ll get back to this. I wonder if Lulu will make more cows for us to purchase?

Lesson learned. I picked this up based on a random selection of the comments above and without reading any reviews. If there are two things I struggle with in book structures, they are Greek choruses and talking animals. So a Greek chorus of talking animals was always going to be a struggle for me.

That said, I thought it was a good book. Just a couple of things that, for me, are distractions. Anyone who doesn’t mind those things should enjoy it, I imagine.

Yes reading the thread it didn't get mentioned, more I think because it is the book's key feature. I did start the thread with a picture of one of them and exchanged tweets with the author on how happy my cow was :-)

The blurb has it but only at the end:

The book has a chorus, the dreamy herd voice of feral cows, who are impatient with humans for their cruelty and lack of ability to find contentment, but they watch over Jesse, Isolde and Lee with benevolent care, understanding their lives as part of a bigger story that ravels and unravels endlessly over time.

I failed to read the blurb as well. I just read the book because of comments I saw - e.g. I liked your quote from it in Message 3 and I thought Jo's comment in 22 made it sound interesting. I missed Wendy's comment about talking cows. I should read more carefully!

From the one chapter I read the cows aren’t involved in dialogue, they just offer 3 to 4 lines of poetry about the current state of things, but I only read one chapter before I prioritized reading order by dates of shorlist announcements.

50 pages in and I can see this being top of my longlist rankings.

The Ryan Dennis book is top of my RoC rankings.

I guess that’s what you call a cow-incidence.

You must be in the mood.

I gave this one two stars and only because of the feral cows chorus. The rest was awful with that clipped prose and the politics that were too much on the nose. The gay sidekick and the pregnant cis woman/child/bright future tropes did not help at all.

I must admit I felt this book took a diappointing turn around half way through when the commune/close to the land storyline took over - the first half was excellent and I thought I had my first five star but unfortunately not

Interestingly I said in my review that the second half of the book felt very different to the first half. But I didn’t say which I preferred. Now you know.