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Alan Garner: Treacle Walker (Paperback, 2022, HarperCollins Publishers Limited) 4 stars

Goodreads Review of Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

3 stars

" Joe lay across the stool, held between the trunks. 'May a body not rest in his bog?' said the man. 'Can't...' 'Can't never did.' '...get.' 'Is that it? Is that the hue and the cry you woke me for?' 'No way. All over. Same.' 'Move the dish cloud and shut you glims.' 'Damn' 'Do it.' 'Bloody' 'Do it.' Joe lifted his patch to his forehead and shut his eyes. 'Are you seeing me?' 'Bloody damn' 'Open a glim.' 'Piss off...' He opened his good eye. 'Are you seeing me?' 'Piss off!' 'Off or on are one to me...' "

I mean I don't think there's any meaningful way to review this book. The entire thing reads like the passage above. I wouldn't say the prose in inaccessible, but rather overly whimsical. Not in a way that can't be understood, but in a way that gives the reader pause. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it though. There's a story here, and don't let others tell you that it's not a cohesive one. It's just clouded in this stylistic prose. I quite enjoyed the whole thing, but there's not much more that can be said other than the language was weird and the story was surreal. Unless it went over my head, there were no observable themes or motifs or higher level commentary. Just a kooky story.