Kindle. The opening sentence of Dave Kim's review at the New York Times gave me expectations that were not met. Here post-apocalyptic England still seems to function despite the destruction of the City and other bits of wish fulfilment. Strangely there is no problem refuelling a car or buying food even though most of the shops and houses being empty; that so many still have intact locks and treasure to plunder conflicts with the proposition that a fair bit of time has passed since whatever happened happened. Or perhaps the whole thing was a dementia dream of an aged spinster-aunt. The characterisation is generally weak and the focus is on scenic description and colour. I got some of the allusions but missed more as I lacked the requisite patience and concern. Perhaps incoherence was the point but I can get that anywhere these days.
Goodreads, Rachel Louise Atkin: one star, "Felt like I had forgot how to read". This was exactly my experience: I'd often read a paragraph, feel I'd retained nothing, and upon a re-read realise that my mind had judged it to lack any significant meaning. Which again may've been a goal of the author.
