Expanded Edition, Riddley Walker

Personally, Riddley Walker is one of my favorite books of all time, along with Don Quixote, 1984, Murphy, Huck Finn, A Clockwork Orange, and other well known classics. What I love most about Hoban's masterpiece is the futuristic language and entertainment form he invented for Riddley Walker's society. This language is nothing like the slang Burgess created in A Clockwork Orange, a slang derived in part from a separate language. Instead, Hoban invented a futuristic dialect of english by mimicking and grossly exagerating the peculiar pattern of linguistic evolution which resulted in current english; and, through the implied evolution from our current language to Riddley's language, Hoban subtly and indirectly reveals the incongruities of society today relative to the past: technologically obsessed on one hand, and always becoming more "vancit" (advanced), yet still as crude and ignorant as cave men on the other hand. Contrary to the Baconian idea of social harmony as a product of science and progress, hostility and violence seem to grow, or at least to continue unabated, in spite of all our technological progress. This is the great paradox of modern life revealed through Riddley Walker's language. In parallel to the meaning of Riddley's language, the primary entertainment of Riddley Walker's culture, the puppetry, is a metaphor of modern entertainment in relation to its' history: more and more sex, lies, and violence, and less and less intellectual stimulation. It's great to see that Riddley Walker is being reprinted. The book will no doubt continue to grow in popularity and recognition for the classic it is.

This is an excellent and thought provoking story. I read this book for a course in religion. We studied the world and belief system that Hoban has created in this post-apocalyptic world. It takes a while to get into the garbled speech of the inhabitants but there are so many references to things we do as humans that are causing the downfall of our society that it may just wake some people and get them to change their ways for the better. There are many lessons to be learned from this book.

"Riddley Walker" is a post-apocalyptic roadmovie telling the story of its eponymous hero intertwined with the legend of St.Eustace and a bow to Punch & Judy. This unlikely combination serves as the backdrop to a coming-of-age story written entirely in phonetic slang with a healthy helping of dialect based on guesswork as to what terminology might survive.
Getting used to Riddley's language takes some effort, but is well worth it, as his observations on society and long-forgotten history unfold.

The Riddley Walker Annotations Web Site (...) is warmly recommended for additional information and insights.

Post-apocalyptic tale told in the first person by the title character, in a dialect that makes it pretty-near incomprehensible. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, young Riddley Walker finds himself "outside the fence" and forced to live by his own devices in an agrarian England of the (hopefully) distant future, ostensibly after some major cataclysm. Rather then relying on plot or character development, Hoban entertains us with clever wordplay and a fascinating portrayal of the devolved social conventions of Riddley's culture.

In many ways this is a very small story, taking place in a fairly small area over just a few days, and ultimately not all that much happens, although there is a modestly impressive payoff at the end. The careful reader will learn something about how Riddley's world came to this point through the side stories told by the ancillary characters. "Walker" certainly has a clear enough moral to it - that technology is ultimately destructive and humanity would be better off without it - but this point has been made more effectively by many others. And good as the book is, the futuristic dialect is challenging enough that many readers will feel it just wasn't worth all the effort. Sure, it gets easier to translate after the first few pages, but don't count too heavily on the meandering plot to pull you in. Recommended, but only for those who aren't easily put off by difficult dialects.

The prospect of nuclear holocaust has loomed large in the imaginations of sci-fi writers, but rarely has it been so powerfully or movingly portrayed as in Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. Do not be put off by the non-standard narration!! Many SF writers touch on the problem of language--if your narrator speaks from some future world what will he/she sound like?? As multiple stories are unfolded the whole fits together like a gigantic puzzle centered on language itself but reflecting the timelessness of man's predicament.

Riddley Walker is met a phyics impressed thru word ply. I no this becaus I am a connexion man mysself. I no I am a connexion man 4 2 re sons.
Won, Riddley hisself says as much on page 165 where he makes the same connection I makit: "From now on when I write down about the tree in the stoan Iwl write wud not wood. You see what Im saying it's the hart of the wud it's the hart of the wanting to be." On the same page he writes: "Thinking then of when Goodparly ben terpriting of the Eusa Legend and there ben that part about the open sea which he terprit that wer the open see." Hoban uses language as suggestion, symblol, double entendre to draw us I and draw us out. "He seas life the same. It's same as in sane." You see what I mean? I mean, do you see what I see? Hart of the wood is the same as heart of the would, which is the same as volition, which is the life force, which is life. The seed of life is not the Power in the Yellerboy stoan. Riddley feels this . On page 167 he says, "I cud feal some thing growing in me it wer like a grean sea surging in me it wer saying, LOSE IT. Saying, LET IT GO. Saying, THE ONLYES POWER IS NO POWER." The 2nd reson I no I am a connexion man is the following. I am a sculptor. I specialize in sculpting trees with an acetylene torch. (The hart of the stoan in the wud.) At an art show, where my neighbor was a sculptor who makes busts, often with leaves for headdresses (the hart of the wud in the stoan) I remarked how like Green Men some of her sculptures were. She didn't know about the Green Man, so I took her a book on the subject. In the meantime (mean time) her husband showed up and out of the blue gave me a copy of Riddley Walker. Now, there's a connection and a "tel" there, don't you think? Iv got thes idears whirling aoun I my mynd like a raging sea. This here buk is pure groun breakin art, writ in a new medium, somthin like Picasso done with his art. Eusa help me. I caint break this talk.

To those who have difficulty reading this book, may I suggest reading it aloud? The language is English, written the way it sounds. The places named are mostly in Essex. It may be worth looking at a map. Riddley looks back at us the way some of us look back at Atlantis; without a clue. The story of Eusa setting the world on fire should make us all take a careful look at the present administration in Washington. This book reads like an eye-witness account of a post- apocalyptic future. So far beyond Russell Hoban's other works, its hard to believe it is by the same author. You will never look at a bottle of Jagermeister in the same way again. This book is what Canticle For Leibowitz might have been. Riddley Walker is perhaps the finest work of fiction I have ever read, and I have read more than one. Read this book and decide for yourself. Read this book.

I read the first chapter in an early Granta years ago (New English Writing, I think) and grabbed a copy from the library immediately. The writing does some kind of scrambling operation in your brain's meaning processor and it stays there, waiting to be reawakened like some kind of benign acid flashback.
I come back to Riddley Walker every few years to recapture that original sensation and it's never disappointed.
On a hunch I lent my copy to a Russian friend whose experience pretty closely mirrored my own.
I love this book.

Russell Hoban, known for his clever and entertaining "Francis" series of children's books, proves his brilliance and depth as a writer in this adult novel.

Set in a frightenting future time when modern technological society (and its language) have virtually disappeared, Riddley Walker is an startling allegory about the rise and fall of humankind, our technology, religion, and values -- presented as the engaging story of a boy who becomes a man in a world we would hardly recognize.

If you appreciate ingenious use of language, metaphor, theology, and allegory, you will enjoy this book. It is truly my favorite of all time and a constant recommendation to friends

After finally reading Riddley Walker 25 years since it came out, I found it a bit of a letdown. There just wasn't much a story once I adjusted my inner ear to the language. The ending is somewhat abrupt and the plot never gets going. The best feature of the novel is the multiple meanings and wordplay of Riddley's decayed version of English, powerfully evocative of the decay of civilization backwards to the Iron Age. Not a masterpiece, but a cut above mediocre.

I have a strong suspicion that Riddleyspeak is the armor on this plotless naval gazing drizzle of a book. Nothing happens. No one chaynjis. No climax or mystery or personal attachment. And you have to wade through the grammarless boggle of half-declined words to realize the only thing this book has to say is 1000 years after nuclear winter would be tough.

Fortunately this book is redeemed by its unintended conyribution to English Literature, namely we now have incontrovertible proof that an Author who doesnt bother to sympathoze with his audience only manages to build a frustration of estrangement.

And if you dont like itthen you probably just arent smart enough to get through the dialect.

This book is an interesting premise and artistically daring. And thats all.

Hoban's inventiveness is unmatched in this tale of a world slightly recognizable. Having read and re-read the book many times, I still find new meanings and metaphors within its mixture of dread and hope. I don't think I'll ever "get" all of Hoban's symbols, but like Samual Delaney's "Dhalgren", I will return to this book throughout my life to marvel at its profoundly stirring messages and amazing style. This book is a must-read for anyone who would ponder the point of a culture, and wonder what our society's unseen aims are.

This book demands much of, and tantalizingly, obliquely vouchsafes much to, the reader. Its decayed futuristic pidgin English, filled with the author's puns, demands constant alertness. Its semi-opaque references to the old (present) times, with the old lost technological superiority, intrigue the puzzling-out reader. The author's skill in weaving together such disparate threads as an old saint's legend, an Iron Age post-apocalyptic future, and a coming-of-age-tale inspire awe and fascination. I was hypnotized from first word to last. The best book I've read in 2008 thus far, and one of the books that will forever be a part of me.

After having read the various reviews on the store (and associating Russell Hoban with the animated version of THE MOUSE AND HIS CHILD that I had seen ["Treacle brittle!" heeheehee]), I decided to take a risk with this book, and I feel that I made a wise decision. Although the language is obviously a hurdle early on, it quickly becomes an asset to the tale, and before you know it you'll become nearly obsessed with the frightening world that Hoban has created.

RIDDLEY WALKER is a mind bending work of literary art.

A Wells Fargo bank teller named Joe recommended this book to me;what a favor, what a gift, and all I was doing is depositing a check. Without any qualification whatsoever, this is an original work of genius, completely realized, profound, gripping, extremely funny, utterly without padding almost a poem in that way, a brilliant story arc, it held me in thrall, it has me in awe. It takes about 10 pages to get used to the language, then you realize it could be no other way.

The above reader asked if anyone knew what Sharna Pax means. It came to me suddenly when I was reading Riddley Walker for the second time after a gap of 12 years. It means "Sharpen up the axe". If you say it quickley (and it helps if you come from Yorshire in England where many of us naturally talk like Riddley and his mates), you get "sharp'n up axe...sharn'up axe...sharnu pax..." If you put that back in the context, it makes sense.

I have a keen interest in apocalyptic fiction, so when the subject came up with a friend last year, he mentioned RIDDLEY WALKER, insisting that I would love it. He warned me about the broken English the author used to convey the first person tale of the hero in a world nearly reverted to the stone age. Intrigued, I looked it up and saw all the glowing reviews. It seemed to be all that my friend said it was. I ordered a copy and was actually looking forward to the experience. Alas, after getting about two thirds of the way through this novel (and that was a slog, I assure you!) I finally closed the covers and gave up. I see how much work was put into the novel, I get how this novel could attain a cult status; however, as with nearly all things "cultish", you either love it or hate it. RIDDLEY WALKER turned out to be the first book I gave up on in years.

Fiction is supposed to invent a new world to show us ours. Hoban does exactly that. I reread this book every few years and get more out of it. If you can't cope with the post-apocalypse English, try saying it out loud.

A strange and perfectly realized story of where we are heading. By far Hoban's best adult novel, to my way of thinking, I keep extra copies on hand to loan out. It is surprising, as it was on the NY Times Best Seller List in the 80's, how few people have ever heard of this book, a book like no other I have ever read. Definitely one of the 2 or 3 books I would like to be stranded with on a desert island!

The post-apocalyptic setting of this book looked interesting. It appealed to me so much that I suppressed my irritation with the weird spelling of practically every word in the account. After all, the narrator was supposed to be writing in a society that had lost most of what it used to know, and in fact, not many people in it could write at all. However, before much had happened, story-wise, the struggle of trying to figure out the presumed pronunciations of so many words (a necessary preliminary to understanding them) became not worth the effort.

There were some words for which figuring out how to pronounce them still left me with no clue as to their meaning. I was left wondering whether they were English words that I ought to recognize, or whether they were new words supposed to have been coined since the disaster, the meaning of which would remain forever a mystery to the reader.

There is no doubt that this is a very original book--made all the more so by those weird spellings--but I wish the author had considered some literary ruse that would allow him to abandon them after a few pages and go back to more or less the modern ones. He could still have kept his wording, which was also unusual and the book would at least have been readable for me.

So...a work of genius that I am not willing to put forth the effort to appreciate, or simply a book whose deficiencies are obscured by the author's treatment of post-apocalyptic writing and speech? Guess I will never know. There are too many other books I want to read and too little time to bother any more with this one.

In my freshman college English class we were assigned to read this book. The ideas presented by Russell Hoban are really unique and it is a good story too. The only thing I would have liked is instead of the entire book written in the 1st person narrative (completely in broken English). He could have made it 3rd person narrative and quoted Riddley, therefore still getting his awesome ideas across and also making it possible for the average reader to comprehend the book. If you get lost and continue reading you will end up no where near what Russell Hoban intended. Either way the book most likely is genius.

so this is, with the Executioner's Song and mosquito Coast, one of the three great american novels of the second half of the twentieth century. it is written n a fictional language of 1,000 years from now. but it is great. of a moral intelligence well in excess of most any novel you will ever read.

I bought Riddle Walker along with a few other books here on the store. Being only 200 pages, I thought I'd read this one first. 3weeks later, I am 3/4 of the way through the book and Im just about fed up!

This book is an acquired taste. It's a salty oyster waiting to be devoured by the right person. Im not that person. I struggled through the first chapters, and Im pretty much completey lost.
To say the semi-literate language is a hurdle at first is an understatement!

Every darn line is a riddle
And im not in the mood to play
...heck im ready to walk away

This is certainly not a night time read for relaxing. It needs every bit of your concentration. Wise man once said, the easier the read the better the read, and this is surely an example of "when reads go wrong".

aye teal ye waht... I cant wait to dig into a page that is readable!

Too bad, I liked the thought provoking ideas behind it. Someone give me a yell when they reprint it in english.
Arggga wargga my ass!

Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker (Summit, 1980)
I have heard Riddley Walker praised as a classic in the making many times. I finally got my hands on a copy and gave it a try, and for all I know, those who call it such are correct. I couldn't tell. Hoban buys completely into the idea of creating a dialect that is only vaguely resembling English, and worse, he has his narrator use it for the whole novel. I'm sure there are those out there who became quickly fluent in it and could read this at the same speed they read any other novel, but I am incapable of such things. Every page took me at least ten minutes to get through. The end result is that the book is frustrating, incoherent, and ultimately unreadable. Not one to pick up if you don't like spending a long, long time poring over material; if you do, you'd be better off reading incomprehensible literary criticism. At least it passes for English. (zero)

This book right here almost killed my love of reading. After translating the language and trying to figure out what was going on and seeing nothing at about the halfway point I put it down. Not only did I put it down but I put books down for over a year thinking that maybe I just was not a "reader" anymore. Turns out I am just this book is not good and work has to be do just to get the language to meander on about much of nothing other than a description of what a post-apocalyptic world looks like. Let me just explain this to someone again, I love books, I love reading them, smelling them, holding them, all that. This book made me think that I no longer liked books, succinctly f*@* this book.

Unreadable. Simply unreadable.

I get that it's set in a dystopian future, but to write ALL the dialog like "Eye wuz gon tu th stor" is painful, to put it mildly. I couldn't stop thinking about that old comic strip "Tumbleweeds" and how the Indian tribe "spoke" like that!

I somehow managed to get thru the first short chapter, and skimmed ahead a bit, checking a few spots to see if it got any better. Sadly, no.

I just couldn't read it. So I returned it. It could be one hell of a book for all I know. It could also be utter trash. Either way, I wasn't going to punish myself by forcing me to read it.

I bought this book because I heard what a wonderful read it was.

It ended up being the first and only book I ever hated. More than 20 years have gone by and it is still the worst book imaginable. Boring, unintelligible, illiterate.