Will Self
Muddy Waters
It is a typically French idea that the relation between society and one element of its evolution – in this case water – provides the clue to understanding the whole of social progress.
This is the ideal time for the British to read a book which places water at the centre of things and Gaubert’s theory is, on the surface, intriguing, given the current revolution overtaking our own water industry. Maybe the author can teach us something about the possible effects of privatisation on the relationship between what we are and what we drink.
However half-way through The Conquest of Water I felt as if I had been subjected to the literary equivalent of excessive colonic irrigation. My limbs were heavy and I was nauseous, I longed for the Empty Quarter and the harsh ways of the Bedu.
Perhaps Goubert should be accorded some respect
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Like so many of Ishiguro’s human narrators ... Klara contains within herself divisions and contradictions, pockets of knowledge that she isn’t able to synthesise fully.'
@infomodernist reviews 'Klara and the Sun'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/our-virtual-friend
Surveillance, facial recognition and control: my review of @jonfasman's "We See It All" https://literaryreview.co.uk/watching-the-watchers via @Lit_Review
I reviewed Diary of a Film by Niven Govinden for @Lit_Review https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-directors-cut