The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
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- Create Date：2021-04-15 13:51:06
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：M. John Harrison
- ISBN：0575096365
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Summary
Shaw had a breakdown， but he's getting himself back together。 He has a single room， a job on a decaying London barge， and an on-off affair with a doctor's daughter called Victoria， who claims to have seen her first corpse at age thirteen。
It's not ideal， but it's a life。 Or it would be if Shaw hadn't got himself involved in a conspiracy theory that， on dark nights by the river， seems less and less theoretical。。。
Meanwhile， Victoria is up in the Midlands， renovating her dead mother's house， trying to make new friends。 But what， exactly， happened to her mother？ Why has the local waitress disappeared into a shallow pool in a field behind the house？ And why is the town so obsessed with that old Victorian morality tale， The Water Babies？
As Shaw and Victoria struggle to maintain their relationship， the sunken lands are rising up again， unnoticed in the shadows around them。
It's not ideal， but it's a life。 Or it would be if Shaw hadn't got himself involved in a conspiracy theory that， on dark nights by the river， seems less and less theoretical。。。
Meanwhile， Victoria is up in the Midlands， renovating her dead mother's house， trying to make new friends。 But what， exactly， happened to her mother？ Why has the local waitress disappeared into a shallow pool in a field behind the house？ And why is the town so obsessed with that old Victorian morality tale， The Water Babies？
As Shaw and Victoria struggle to maintain their relationship， the sunken lands are rising up again， unnoticed in the shadows around them。
Reviews
Mysterioso
，
Intricate and baffling。 MJH does what he does best - illustrate the fall-out。
Suzanne Cornyn
，
ConfusingI have to admit， I really didn't have a clue what was going on in this book。 Very， very confusing。 I have no idea why I had it I on a list of books I wanted to read。 Very strange。 ConfusingI have to admit， I really didn't have a clue what was going on in this book。 Very， very confusing。 I have no idea why I had it I on a list of books I wanted to read。 Very strange。 。。。more
Dflowerz
，
Interesting slow paced story with a very unsatisfying ending。
Jane Glaister
，
Mellifluous mouldering towards atrophy。 Seductive。
Alex Sarll
，
Right back to Viriconium – where part of the point was that unlike other fantasy settings， it was a shifting， fading， unmappable place – Harrison has been an expert in weaving stories from suggestive detritus and oblique unease。 But more than anything， this recalls the vague apocalypses which made up a fair chunk of his recent short story collection You Should Come With Me Now。 It's set largely among the edgelands where fragmented lives go quietly off the rails and come to rest in grubby rented Right back to Viriconium – where part of the point was that unlike other fantasy settings， it was a shifting， fading， unmappable place – Harrison has been an expert in weaving stories from suggestive detritus and oblique unease。 But more than anything， this recalls the vague apocalypses which made up a fair chunk of his recent short story collection You Should Come With Me Now。 It's set largely among the edgelands where fragmented lives go quietly off the rails and come to rest in grubby rented rooms （even pre-Event， this feels a few years back， that people so directionless can still afford places near the Thames in West London， and that places so insalubrious yet on such lucrative soil haven't been replaced with 'luxury apartments'; later data points include "the height of the Brexit debacle" versus still being able to cross Hammersmith Bridge， so presumably somewhere in the May years， and who would have thought then I'd now have a glaze of fondness on those words？）。 Plenty of the material is observational enough to pass for litfic or comedy: "'No one knows how to carry dry-cleaning，' Tim said。 'It's one of the basic puzzles of being human。'" Trains "carefully air-conditioned to be too warm in the winter， too cool in the summer"; "one of those public buildings which though purpose-built still seem unfit for purpose"。 A recurring motif where people don't know their neighbours to the extent that they eventually realise they live next door to someone they've met in another context entirely。 And then at some point， it crosses a line from funny ha ha to funny peculiar。 "Inside， the rain had changed temporarily the acoustics， it had changed the air in the downstairs rooms so that her cushions and covers， though they remained dull and even a little grubby-looking， took on the pure painterly values and eerie depth of the objects on a Virago book cover in 1982。" A metal fish which may be merely tat， or somehow occult， "as if the artist， in the attempt to kitschify the ethnic product of one culture， had stumbled on evidence of a completely different culture hidden inside it。" The sort of things which certainly count as noteworthy in a life， but normally make for non-events in fiction （not really understanding the purpose of a new job; leaving London for a small town by the Severn） become freighted with awful significance， certainly in the old sense of 'awful' and quite possibly the new one too。 From Machen through Aickman to Kill List， these nowhere places and sketchy lives have always presented a place the Outside might creep in， and so it proves here; the defamiliarisation is such that when strange pale things start appearing or disappearing in bodies of water， it doesn't at first seem any more uncanny than the world in general – which is probably about right， isn't it？ And before you know it Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies is a cult book， in the Bible sense rather than the more casual use， and there's a website "resembling pornography from a culture with a drfted value for the term 'sex'" which seems to be arguing something very urgent about genetics， without it ever quite being clear what （and I don't know whether it's deliberate， but the site's method – "Perfectly sound pivots， such as 'however' or 'while it remains true that'， connected propositions empty of any actual meaning， as if the writer had learned to mimic sentence structure without having any idea how to link it to its own content" – sounds very Adam Curtis， so no wonder if it becomes popular in a world so close to our own）。 All of it gaining another switchback of alienation from being read as we maybe begin to rise again from a sinking of our own。 "Anyway， his life lost shape and five years were expended on nothing very much。 They slid into themselves like the parts of a trick box and wouldn't open again。" Well， that sounds a lot like the 2020s thus far。 And however enigmatic， even menacing they may be， all these casual home visits， and charity shop forages， and popping into a pub or caff with nary a hint of hygiene theatre， all of them written （and written well） to feel rootless and itchy， now read more like the land of lost content。 "'We both had a life，' Shaw found himself insisting。 'I hate this place。'" 。。。more
Worteldrie
，
Ik snap weinig van dit boek， maar intrigerend is het wel。 Bijna elke zin moet je drie keer lezen。 Een willekeurig voorbeeld （zou ik aan het citeren gewend raken？）: West Londoners invaded Shaw's carriage （de hoofdpersoon zit in een trein） at every opportunity， their adult compromise with the clothes of teenage children worn a fraction loose but the right colour to an angstrom。"。 En dit citaat is niet uit de context gehaald， de lezer valt er net zo in als bij het lezen van deze review。Vervreemding Ik snap weinig van dit boek， maar intrigerend is het wel。 Bijna elke zin moet je drie keer lezen。 Een willekeurig voorbeeld （zou ik aan het citeren gewend raken？）: West Londoners invaded Shaw's carriage （de hoofdpersoon zit in een trein） at every opportunity， their adult compromise with the clothes of teenage children worn a fraction loose but the right colour to an angstrom。"。 En dit citaat is niet uit de context gehaald， de lezer valt er net zo in als bij het lezen van deze review。Vervreemding， niet thuis zijn in de wereld， is een duidelijk thema。 Het boek weet dat gevoel zeer sterk over te brengen。 。。。more
Phil On The Hill
，
Great prose， but I am never really sure what story Mr Harrison is trying to tell。 I think it is about a man coming to terms with his past and moving on， but who knows。
Gareth Schweitzer
，
Intriguing and readable。It's well observed。。。 with some very good descriptions of contemporary British life。。。 Intriguing and readable。It's well observed。。。 with some very good descriptions of contemporary British life。。。 。。。more
GONZA
，
There are some books that just make me angry， because no matter how well written and no matter how hard I try to read them slowly and carefully， they remain elusive。 For example this novel， is one of those where， perhaps， I should build up in my mind all the story that is missing or have understood everything from some sibylline sentences， of which I probably did not grasp the concept。The fact remains that I didn't understand what happened and it makes me crazy。 Ci sono dei libri che mi fanno pr There are some books that just make me angry， because no matter how well written and no matter how hard I try to read them slowly and carefully， they remain elusive。 For example this novel， is one of those where， perhaps， I should build up in my mind all the story that is missing or have understood everything from some sibylline sentences， of which I probably did not grasp the concept。The fact remains that I didn't understand what happened and it makes me crazy。 Ci sono dei libri che mi fanno proprio arrabbiare， perché per quanto scritti bene e per quanto io cerchi di leggerli lentamente ed attentamente， rimangono sfuggenti。 Per esempio questo romanzo， é uno di quelli che forse dovrei costruire nella mia mente tutta la storia che manca oppure aver capito tutto da alcune frasi sibilline， di cui probabilmente non ho afferrato il concetto。Resta il fatto che non ho capito cosa sia successo e la cosa mi fa infuriare。 。。。more
Tanya
，
Sea change precludes the single cause， is neither convulsive nor properly conclusive: perhaps， like anyone five fathoms down into their life， he had simply experienced a series of adjustments， of overgrowths and dissolvings – processes so slow they might still be going on， so that the things happening to him now were not so much an aftermath as the expanding edge of the disaster itself， lapping at recently unrecognisable coasts。 [loc。 1829] Shaw is fiftysomething， emerging from an indeterminate c Sea change precludes the single cause， is neither convulsive nor properly conclusive: perhaps， like anyone five fathoms down into their life， he had simply experienced a series of adjustments， of overgrowths and dissolvings – processes so slow they might still be going on， so that the things happening to him now were not so much an aftermath as the expanding edge of the disaster itself， lapping at recently unrecognisable coasts。 [loc。 1829] Shaw is fiftysomething， emerging from an indeterminate crisis， washing up at a lodging house by the Thames。 He encounters an odd fellow， Tim， in a graveyard， and ends up working for him -- though the work makes no sense， involving deliveries to empty premises and， later， visits to a medium named Annie。 Tim runs a blog called 'The Water House' and is the author of the nigh-unreadable The Journeys of our Genes。 On the wall of his houseboat office is a map of the world with land and oceans inverted。 Shaw has a laid-back sort of affair with a woman named Victoria， a 'high-functioning romantic' who sees things rather more clearly than does Shaw: after a while she heads to Shropshire， to a market town on the Severn gorge and the house she has inherited from her dead mother。 There， she befriends （or at least encounters） a waitress named Pearl and her father Chris: but she slowly begins to realise that in this small-town setting she is out of her depth。 The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again overflows with watery similes and metaphors， references to the sea and to rivers。 （For example， Victoria's mother left a plethora of random possessions with oceanic echoes: 'nacre-buttoned denim shirts， an air freshener that claimed to smell of a coastal walk'。） Houses are damp; rivers run everywhere; there are stories， some more credible than others， of green children appearing in drains and toilet bowls。 Coincidence that the road from Victoria's house to the river is named Woolpit Road？ I do not think anythink in this novel is coincidence。 This is a difficult book to review （though see below for more intelligent commentaries） because， on the surface， very little happens。 Victoria sees a woman walk down into a shallow pool as though descending a staircase into the London Underground。 Shaw， trying to piece together some sense of himself and his family， visits his mother， who's suffering dementia and calls him by various names he denies: the one that seems to stick is Lee。 Hat-tip to Patrick O'Brian and the 'impervious horror of a lee[ward] shore'？ Or coincidence？ But see above regarding coincidences。 Harrison's prose is as sharp and astonishing as ever。 There are unfamiliar terms （dérive， induviae， goaf， jitty 。。。） and unusual similitudes （"her cushions and covers， though they remained dull and even a little grubby-looking， took on the pure painterly values and eerie depth of the objects on a Virago book cover in 1982" [loc。 1434] -- I love the specificity of that）。 I found it all too easy to be distracted from the plot， or the scenario， by the sensory richness with which it was conveyed。 But there is a plot， though it's meandering and discursive and inconclusive。 Or perhaps that description applies to Shaw and Victoria， who see but do not understand what they are seeing。 There is a lot packed into this short novel: Brexit， Thatcher， climate change， genetics， Charles Kingsley， civil wars， the inland cities 。。。 I am looking forward to rereading: but not yet。 Review by Nina Allan Review by Gary K Wolfe Review by Paul di Filippo Review by Olivia Laing 。。。more
Michael Reynolds
，
Just could not get on with the characters in this。 Stuff threatens to happen， stuff kinda does happen， but by the end I struggled to care。 70s British horror vibe kept me reading。 Something to love， somewhere。
inciminci
，
In this book there are basically two stories intersecting; the story of Shaw， who goes through a sort of life crisis and whose life consists of not much but the visits to his mother who has dementia and lives in a care home。 One day he meets Tim who gives him a job in which he needs to sit in front of a computer in a boat house and do stuff for Tim's blog， travel to seemingly random destinations and visit a medium on a regular basis。 The second story is the story of Victoria， with whom Tim has a In this book there are basically two stories intersecting; the story of Shaw， who goes through a sort of life crisis and whose life consists of not much but the visits to his mother who has dementia and lives in a care home。 One day he meets Tim who gives him a job in which he needs to sit in front of a computer in a boat house and do stuff for Tim's blog， travel to seemingly random destinations and visit a medium on a regular basis。 The second story is the story of Victoria， with whom Tim has a loose affair。 She decides to buy a car and move to the country to get away from London， moving into the house of her late mother。 There， she finds a truly bizarre community and her life among them is almost like a nightmarish David Lynch movie。 And finally， there are many many water-related and aquatic elements everywhere， both in Shaw's and in Victoria's life。I'm not really sure about this one， I definitely have to ponder on this story more。 I read this for my book club and I can't wait to discuss it in April to see what the other people made of it。 I have the feeling that it is a weird metaphor for a fairly recent and big event in the history of England， but I can't shake the feeling there's more to this book。 What I surely found impressive though， is how even normal landscape descriptions become uncanny and even scary written from Harrison's pen， it is akin to an atmospheric horror movie， but in book form。 。。。more
Simon Cox
，
Absolutely superb。 The quality and weight of harrison's writing is astounding。 Absolutely superb。 The quality and weight of harrison's writing is astounding。 。。。more
Owen Knight
，
This is the first work by M。 John Harrison that I have read; I am impressed。There are many strengths， especially the originality of the language and the creation of an ominous atmosphere。 For once， the term ‘brooding’ is apt。Shaw meets Victoria in a pub on a wet afternoon – there is a lot of water in this book: rain， rivers， floods， ponds， a mysterious drowning – they begin an on-off distance relationship， moving between west London and Ironbridge， where Victoria embarks on a never-ending projec This is the first work by M。 John Harrison that I have read; I am impressed。There are many strengths， especially the originality of the language and the creation of an ominous atmosphere。 For once， the term ‘brooding’ is apt。Shaw meets Victoria in a pub on a wet afternoon – there is a lot of water in this book: rain， rivers， floods， ponds， a mysterious drowning – they begin an on-off distance relationship， moving between west London and Ironbridge， where Victoria embarks on a never-ending project to renovate the house she has inherited from her mother。 Both Shaw and Victoria are trying to kickstart their lives and to escape from the tedium of humdrum jobs and rise above the meaningless lives led by their acquaintances， who seem to accept their fate uncritically。Continuous rain permeates the story， in a way reminiscent of Iris Murdoch’s Bruno’s Dream。 The threatened floods and rising waters herald the resurgence of a chthonic race of fish-like creatures that may be recognising an opportunity to re-emerge from beneath the ground。 The writing reminded me of Angela Carter， using a matter-of-fact style to tell an almost magic realist story。The author’s creative use of language with its images， constructions and comparisons is refreshingly original。 The author takes enormous leaps to create striking verbal images without being pretentious or artificial。This is weird fiction at its peak。 Mysterious events are treated as if they are normal。 Odd creatures encountered are dealt with but not reported。 The obsession of several of the characters with Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies is left to the reader to decipher。This is a book that would be enjoyed by admirers of J。 G。 Ballard and David Lynch。 I am grateful to have discovered M。 John Harrison and am looking forward to reading more of his work。 。。。more
Caomhghain
，
I'm a little unsure on this。 It is slow and meandering and quite early on splits into two， only tangentially related plots/characters。 It slips in and out of fantasy of a sort yet is grounded in sharply realistic milieus and characters。 Perhaps one should call it a misty book， and certainly as fluid and watery as its themes。 I'm a little unsure on this。 It is slow and meandering and quite early on splits into two， only tangentially related plots/characters。 It slips in and out of fantasy of a sort yet is grounded in sharply realistic milieus and characters。 Perhaps one should call it a misty book， and certainly as fluid and watery as its themes。 。。。more
Oleksandr Zholud
，
This is a weird story about strange lives of strange people。 It was nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association （BSFA） Awards and because I nowadays enjoy SFF from the UK more than from the USA， I decided to give it a try。 This is not my kind of book， but others can find it fascinating。It starts in the Great Britain during Brexit as a story of middle-aged man， Shaw。 He had a mother withy dementia， whom he regularly visits， only one of her rather large family， mostly to re-watch th This is a weird story about strange lives of strange people。 It was nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association （BSFA） Awards and because I nowadays enjoy SFF from the UK more than from the USA， I decided to give it a try。 This is not my kind of book， but others can find it fascinating。It starts in the Great Britain during Brexit as a story of middle-aged man， Shaw。 He had a mother withy dementia， whom he regularly visits， only one of her rather large family， mostly to re-watch their multiple photo albums of people he doesn’t recall and to hear her accusations， when she says that he should do something with his life and always addresses him with any name but his own。 He has an on-off lover Victoria， a doctor's daughter， who usually starts her contact with people by stating that she saw her first corpse at age thirteen。 Her father once told her that there is a secret species of human-fish。 Shaw gets a job from his new strange neighbor Tim， which consists of collecting some unspecified goods to send them to unspecified locations。 Tim gives his other strange assignments， like to follow an （seemingly） unrelated court proceedings or to visit a medium。 Then we shift to Victoria， who move to the house of her deceased mother in Shropshire， where she meet a lot of strange people， including a father and a daughter in a local café， who seemingly knew her mother from a completely unexpected angle。 People there actively read The Water Babies， which in some way is related to that men-fish…There is a lot of rain and a lot of action is next to rivers or ponds， there is always a feeling that something about to happen， but doesn’t。 The protagonists meet people we readers know about from another plotline but they don’t and these meetings like everything else lead nowhere。 At one moment， Tim， who also has a kind of conspiracy theory site， gives Shaw printouts， which neatly summarize the style of the book:The short version， perhaps two inches thick， turned out to be a download from the website， a sheaf of media reports， anecdotal observations and scientific abstracts touching on everything from the Turkish ‘mystery city’ of Göbekli Tepe to the sequence of uplift of the Hoh Xil Basin of the Central Tibetan Plateau; from ancient human migrations – tracked via mitochondrial haplogroup – to the Gnostic foundations of Stalinist science。 Everything was either a truth or a mystery。 Truths and mysteries ran together， hardening into unconformable layers of time and data。 Body parts were washed up in Southampton， England。 Someone had invented an app designed to identify unknown locations by matching them with ‘a library of sixty million images’。 Two paragraphs from Wikipedia shed new light on metabolic by-products found deep in the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate。 The first complete Neanderthal genome had proved to include DNA from at least one previously unknown human species; simultaneously， in Wiesbaden， Germany， a man of about forty was observed by passers-by to drag himself out of a canal then run straight out into heavy traffic on the nearby dual carriageway， where he was struck first by a black BMW E30 with UK registration plates then by a Peugeot painted Mediterranean blue。The useless specificity of these last two facts seemed to sum up the whole collection， which was interleaved with Post-it notes – ‘What is the exact nature of our relations with the inland cities？’ – and personal memos， as if its curator’s need to find narrative in the density of events left him unable to make distinctions not just between different scientific regimes and types of evidence， but between his obsessions and his life – although the latter was often revealed as a weak secondary growth on the former。As soon as Shaw had read a page or two， Tim began leaning over his shoulder to make cross-references。 ‘Look at this’ – leafing forward excitedly through three or four pages – ‘and don’t miss this！ Do you see how one conclusion makes it impossible to avoid the other？ Do you see how elegant it is？’ None of it made any sense to Shaw。 When he said so， Tim nodded wisely， as if a careful academic point had been made。 ‘What haunts me is exactly that！ In the end， is logic in any sense the right method to be applying here？’ 。。。more
Becky Clayton
，
Beautifully written but just a hint of a story。 Still not entirely sure what it was about。 I'm being facetious but honestly， dude。 Beautifully written but just a hint of a story。 Still not entirely sure what it was about。 I'm being facetious but honestly， dude。 。。。more
Carl
，
I'm not sure what it was about or what happened in it， but I know that I really really liked it。 I'm not sure what it was about or what happened in it， but I know that I really really liked it。 。。。more
Marina
，
I still don't know what happened and I did not understand anything， but boy I loved it！ I still don't know what happened and I did not understand anything， but boy I loved it！ 。。。more
Erik Germani
，
This whole book was over my head， which is a first for me。 I think I’ve read 90% of Harrison’s work， so that was an unhappy surprise。 I think I understood the emotional content， however: extremely sad。
Alice Macpherson
，
I don't think I understood it。 Whether that was the book's fault or mine， I'm not sure。 I don't think I understood it。 Whether that was the book's fault or mine， I'm not sure。 。。。more
Karen
，
I loved the lexically-rich prose of this book but the obtuse nature of the story meant I was left feeling unsatisfied at the end。 If there was a message there， I failed to comprehend it。 Also， I found the main characters and their situations rather depressing。 Both came across as observers rather than participants in their own lives and were not particularly likeable or relatable。
Areeb Ahmad （Bankrupt_Bookworm）
，
This is not really a review， and I have marked it as such， as I didn't finish it。 I dropped it around 25% cause I was just not feeling it and， to be honest， found it incredibly boring which is really a shame as it had all the hallmarks of books I love。 It's as much about England and Brexit as it's about strange occurrences taking place around water bodies。 Dereliction and decay permeate the text， the past trying to be present。 The promise of regrowth and renewal is there， but hollow。Harrison kee This is not really a review， and I have marked it as such， as I didn't finish it。 I dropped it around 25% cause I was just not feeling it and， to be honest， found it incredibly boring which is really a shame as it had all the hallmarks of books I love。 It's as much about England and Brexit as it's about strange occurrences taking place around water bodies。 Dereliction and decay permeate the text， the past trying to be present。 The promise of regrowth and renewal is there， but hollow。Harrison keeps the reader at a distance and his cards close， the narrative in turn is slippery and out of the reader's reach。 Elements are at the corner of one's eye， fading away when given attention。 Haze envelops the lands sunk in murk， now thrumming to rise。 I love books which make me work， which don't serve everything on a plate， are never fully graspable。 But this was too evasive for my taste。 Yet， the writing's lush， the atmosphere uncannily alluring。 It will work for others。（I received a finished copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review。） 。。。more
Adrian
，
Just a really strange novel。。。
Devyn Kennedy
，
I won't rate it but I really didn't like this。 I won't rate it but I really didn't like this。 。。。more
Scu8a8uddy
，
3。5 stars rounded up。I’m not sure Whether I particularly liked this book or not。 Beautiful prose but I don’t know if the ‘vagueness’ of the ‘plot’ was to my taste or not。
Chris
，
4。5 stars
Steph Baines
，
Unsettling， yes， uncomfortable views of post Brexit society， probably yes， but a coherent narrative which envelops and intrigues beyond novelty - unfortunately no。
Stephen Bacon
，
I first came across the fiction of M John Harrison in the late 80s and early 90s， in the anthologies edited by Stephen Jones – the annual Best New Horror and his original Dark Terrors series。 His writing， on the surface so straightforward and conventional， merely hints at things just out of sight， the weirdness is not in any way overt。 And yet his skill is such that， as a reader， you can’t fail to pick up on the disturbing element of the narrative。 He manages to conjure a dreamlike quality to hi I first came across the fiction of M John Harrison in the late 80s and early 90s， in the anthologies edited by Stephen Jones – the annual Best New Horror and his original Dark Terrors series。 His writing， on the surface so straightforward and conventional， merely hints at things just out of sight， the weirdness is not in any way overt。 And yet his skill is such that， as a reader， you can’t fail to pick up on the disturbing element of the narrative。 He manages to conjure a dreamlike quality to his stories。 You almost feel like you’re not fully aware of all the facts， like you’ve missed some part of the narrative。 Although the sense of paranoia this evokes is not at all accidental…Shaw lives in south west London。 He’s recovering after suffering some kind of breakdown。 He’s clearly distanced from everything， and has little contact with his surroundings other than his occasional visits to his aging mum， who has dementia and is being looked after in a care-home。 One day he meets Victoria， the daughter of a doctor， who claims she saw her first corpse at the age of 13。 He is offered a job by one of his neighbours， and spends his days on a barge doing menial jobs。 Meanwhile Victoria journeys up to Shropshire to restore the property that her late mother left。 There she encounters a strange set of characters and events， most of which cross over with Shaw’s experiences。 It feels like there is a conspiracy taking place， one to which Shaw and Victoria （and us， as the reader） are on the outside。The book is littered with references to water and fish， and is underscored with a hint of the numinous， although there is a strong suggestion that the events are rather outside the realms of human understanding。 There are a couple of scenes that left me feeling unsettled and disturbed， and yet I couldn’t quite explain why。 This is largely to do with Harrison’s skill as a writer， and it’s no surprise to see that The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again won the Goldsmiths Prize 2020。 Each of his sentences offer something startling， or beautiful， or unsettling， sometimes at the same time。I loved this book， but its unconventional narrative and lack of explanatory hand-holding， might not be for everyone。 I couldn’t pretend to understand all of the motifs and metaphors， and there are no doubt some dots I probably failed to connect， but nevertheless this is an assured novel， brilliantly realised， and a major entry into the catalogue of the very best of weird fiction。 Highly recommended。 。。。more
Carey Thring
，