Rating: 
Summary: Made me think differently about gender
Review: What a beautiful novel. Griffith uses the "slow river" analogy to describe the heroine's search for her identity. Lore, the main character, grows up in a wealthy futuristic family. Through a series of images and events (not chronological), the reader gets a superficial picture of Lore's adolescent life. But as the the book progresses, her childhood memories become darker as she discovers the truth that she hides so well from herself. I thought the novel was particularly rich because it dealt frankly with sexuality. It dealt clearly and truthfully with the complexity of emotion surrounding sex. In one scene Spanner, an abusive lover to Lore, tries to convince Lore that the body is only meat. However, as the novel progresses, the reader discovers that Spanners attitude is the result of a deep self loathing. Lore's self confidence allows her to see that the body is much, much, more and deserving of respect and love. In some ways this book was rather shocking to me. Not because of the sex scenes, or the homosexuality (I thought that added infinitely to the piece), but because of the way the author transcended gender. Usually we take for granted that certain characteristics are associated with males and females, but in this book the reader sees that many of these characteristics are human- and only easier for one gender to justify (this last part is my interpretation, not something in the novel). Slow River made me think differently, and I like that above all others things in books. Lastly, and equally importantly, although languid at times, the book is by no means slow. The plot is engaging, and the science fiction is plausible and interesting. The futuristic European setting is well done, focusing mainly on the biological problems resulting from our abuse of the environment. Griffith goes into depth about water purification techniques, and is actually educational in the area of microbiology (I had to refresh my memory on some of her real-life science like gram positive and negative bacteria, metabolism in various autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria). Also wonderful for environmental biology/microbiology geeks.
Rating:
Summary: A science fiction masterpiece.
Review: When I started reading Slow River I wasn't quite prepared to what I would find. My thoughts, at the moment, having previously read Griffith's Ammonite, were that it would be a good book, though far from great. To my fortunate surprise, the book is one of the best sci-fi works that I've ever read. Unlike the river in the title, it flows light speed fast, and departs from most of the sci-fi that is currently being done, in an extremely positive way. Griffith worries more about the people than the technology itself, even though the technology is fleshed out in sufficiently rich details, and ends up providing us with a beautiful insight on how feels, and how people go through, the process of being born again. Awesome.
| 
