2017 Reading Challenge discussion

If you're looking for a book set in the future that's a bit different, give this one a go!

First off, this was written by Russell Hoban - the same fellow that wrote all those cute children's books like "Bread & Jam for Francis." That's a quirky factoid.

The story takes places very far in the future - thousands of years after nuclear war has decimated humanity. There are survivors, but they live in iron age conditions and have lost all advanced knowledge. What they do have is a vague carried down history/superstition that comes through in their mangled form of the English language. The story takes place in a small area of Britain, which to the characters is almost their entire world. The "pry mincer" and his entourage tour the area and share governmental policy via puppet shows.

Very primitive.

Hoban did an incredible job of writing in this language for the entire book - it requires slowing down, sounding out word combinations, and using a bit of imagination to get what's going on. I think one would benefit from reading the book more than once, to pick up things that were missed the first time.