A brilliant, unique, and completely realized work of fiction, "Riddley Walker"--first published in 1980--is set in a remote future in a post-nuclear holocaust England (Inland), where humanity has regressed to an iron-age, semi-literate state, represented by a language created especially by Hoban for the book.
Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition
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'The book has an evangelical effect on people ... Riddley is an absorbing character, Hoban's language has a fantastic, rough poetry and the post-apocalyptic world is chilling and convincing' Rachel Seiffert, Observer 'Russell Hoban has brought off an extraordinary feat of imagination and of style ... funny, terrible, haunting and unsettling, this book is a masterpiece' Observer
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Russell Hoban (1925-2011) was the author of many extraordinary novels including Turtle Diary, Angelica Lost and Found and his masterpiece, Riddley Walker. He also wrote some classic books for children including The Mouse and his Child and the Frances books. Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, USA, he lived in London from 1969 until his death.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Many years after reading "Riddley Walker," what has stayed with me was Lissener's story "The Other Voyce Owl of the Worl." I can still recall nearly every word after reading it only once over 20 years ago.
By steve usatis
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Nice book - cerebral and poetic.
If you read sci-fi for insights into human character, behaviour etc. you'll like this.
If you read sci-fi for ripping good yarns and action, you will not.
If you read sci-fi for insights into human character, behaviour etc. you'll like this.
If you read sci-fi for ripping good yarns and action, you will not.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish there were a sixth star available, to distinguish this monumental work from your ordinary everyday Oprah novels, Atonement or House of Sand and Fog or The Shipping News, e.g. Smart people I know put this book down after a few chapters, finding it too challenging and odd. Very smart people I know find it fascinating and memorable. The smartest people I know think it may be the finest book of the last quarter century.
I highly recommend reading the first three or four chapters, and then starting over, once you've mastered Riddley's dialect. Reading it aloud also helps. You will find yourself thinking and talking in Riddley-speak for months afterwards. And you will read it again and again, finding new marvels each time.
I can give no higher marks to any book since Zorba The Greek.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
No big deal
Definitely not a classic. The modified language is somewhat interesting. It's difficult enough to change the feeling of time in the novel. Read more
Published on Feb 11 2008 by psysov8
5.0 out of 5 stars
riddley walker
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. Read more
Published on Jun 9 2004 by t janega
1.0 out of 5 stars
give me a break
I am sure this book is a darling of academics, but it was a tedious read, to say the least. The artificial language was a huge impediment to understanding the story, and as a... Read more
Published on Jun 4 2004 by katla
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unbearable.
Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker (Summit, 1980)
I have heard Riddley Walker praised as a classic in the making many times. Read more
Published on April 23 2004 by Robert P. Beveridge
5.0 out of 5 stars
A novel written in Riddleyspeak!
Riddley Walker is a most unusual and rewarding novel! It is narrated by Riddley, who lives in what is left of England, about two thousand years after civilization as we know it was... Read more
Published on Dec 8 2003 by Kona
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most believable post-apocalyptic hero
Russell Hoban's "Riddley Walker" is more than just a novel of the post-apocalypse; it is so original and odd for the language it uses and the mythology it creates, it's... Read more
Published on Oct 20 2003 by A.J.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Redefines the Very Concept of Reading
Aside from The Lord of the Rings, Hoban's Riddley Walker is the most imaginative piece of fiction I've ever read. Read more
Published on Sep 28 2003 by Bruce Kendall
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique, fully realized work of fiction
"Riddley Walker" is undeniably one of the most unique novels I have ever come across. All plotting aside, the bizarre (yet understandable) pidgin English that it is written in... Read more
Published on July 27 2002 by J. N. Mohlman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than a Vonnegut clusterf***
When I first read this book several years ago, I was completely taken in by the abstract language and all the possibilities it allowed for interpretation. Read more
Published on Nov 16 2001 by The Rarebit Fiend
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes!
This is one of the most important books of last century, especially as a contrasting and more fully realized vision of the future than the dystopia of Clockwork Orange. Read more
Published on Nov 8 2001
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