The Little Dog Laughed

I finished Nicola Griffith's Slow River then read The Fox Boy by Peter Walker.

Slow River was a strong book that lost its way towards the end. In the tide-turning scene where the water treatment plant is sabotaged and Lore has to save lives, she was so competent and in control that there was never any doubt she'd succeed. So, no tension, no drama, just a win that felt inevitable and weak. She could really have done with a bigger threat, to make a mistake, or to overcome an inner struggle. Not just walk all over the problem.

Generally, the ending of the book felt disappointingly weak. It could probably have done with one more edit from the author or perhaps a development edit by an editor. Something to beef it up. The book Griffith started to write and the intriguing characters she created deserved better.

Worth a read, though, despite its problems. There's life in the characters and the world they inhabit is plausible yet has just that touch of unfamiliarity.

The Fox Boy (I just tried to type Box Foy, but hey, it's a new laptop and the keys are tooclosetogether for me) is a non-fiction account of a Maori boy kidnapped by other Maoris, then re-kidnapped by white settlers in New Zealand. It's an odd little book, a mixture of the Fox Boy's story, Walker's experiences while researching his story, and a more general account of how the Maoris narrowly avoided the war of extermination many settlers were anxious for. A lovely, readable, compassionate book.