COVE - Cynan Jones (2016)

“You hear, on the slight breeze, the tunt tunt, tunt tunt before you see the boat.”

'Cove' is about a man, on a kayak, who is struck by lightning. Throughout the book, Jones doesn't waste a single word. It's a masterclass in language, and demonstrates the beauty of efficient prose.

Many writers are addicted to complication. Some people think that a complex sentence is the pinnacle of language, and fasten clauses together into fleshy masses of polysyllabic words. As readers, we're encouraged to marvel at ornamental prose. 'Simple' is seen as a pejorative term.

However, 'Cove' offers an alternative. Jones has a distinctive voice. He always uses sparse and desolate language, and never uses five words when a single one will do. To begin with, this style feels shallow, as though something is missing. But that feeling goes away. The further you get into the book, the more enthralled you feel by its mounting depths. As though wading into the ocean.

The story becomes heavier with every turn of a page. By the end, the words feel charged with power. Ready to release, like the air before a storm.

Grammar is loose. The story switches between voices, from "you" to "he" and back again.

Nothing really happens. This is a simple story, told through simple language, and yet somehow it resonates. Anyone hoping to clean up their writing should look to Jones as an example. He treats his writing like a fish - the guts and the bones are discarded, and only the fillet remains.

Comments

I AM LEGEND - Richard Matheson (1954)

“On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back.” 'I am Legend' follows Robert Neville, the last man on Earth - he's the sole survivor of a global disease which has turned all other humans into monsters. This may sound like a cliched premise, because the zombie genre is now widely represented, but in 1954 this was groundbreaking writing. It popularised the concept of an apocalyptic pandemic, and was hugely influential in the development of dystopian fiction. It has rightly been included in Orion's list of Science Fiction Masterworks, and fuses sci-fi with horror to devastating effect. In many ways, 'I am Legend' remains superior to the majority of its successors in the field. Most writers in this genre have used zombies as their premise, but Matheson's disease turns its victims into vampires instead. These monsters display many of the same symptoms as vampi

INVISIBLE PLANETS - Ken Liu (2016)

“This anthology collects a selection of short speculative fiction from China that I've translated over the years into one volume . ” Chinese literature is rich and powerful, but it's always been tricky to access. English translations are rare, and they're hard to get hold of. That's why Ken Liu should be celebrated. For English-speakers, t his anthology offers one of the first ever windows into Chinese science fiction. It enriches the speculative landscape of the English-speaking world, by introducing thirteen Chinese visions of the future. Interestingly, all of these stories touch upon familiar issues. Censorship, overpopulation, space exploration, aliens, robotics, virtual reality... it soon becomes clear that Chinese- and English-speaking writers both see similar futures for our species. These shared visions offer a powerful message: they undermine the idea of 'Otherness', of 'East and West', or 'Them and Us'. Ultimately, we

ANIMAL FARM - George Orwell (1945)

“M r. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. ” This fabled fable has already been subject to countless reviews. But it can't hurt to write another one, can it? This allegorical novella was first published in 1945, and describes a group of animals which take over a farm in the name of Animalism. However, things soon take a turn for the worse. Napoleon, one of the pigs, assumes a dictatorship over the other animals. The entire story is an allegory of the Russian Revolution, and Napoleon himself plays the part of Joseph Stalin. Obviously, there's a lot to say about the historical context of this book. Orwell was very clear in his intentions, and openly explained that Animal Farm was a commentary about Soviet Russia. He left no room for doubt on this matter. In fact, he initially found it difficult to publish the book, because some people feared that it would damage the diplomatic relation

Book, Line and Thinker

Search This Blog