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A delightful, fully illustrated re-envisioning and expansion of the world of The Wind in the Willows.
4 Reviews
4.0
Jay
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Evokes the same feelings of cosiness and wholesomeness as the Wind in the Willows with the added benefit of new (imagine that, female!) characters, both delightful and NOT there to be love interests. They live their lives independently and enrich the river bank with their presence. Lovely illustrations, captivating writing, for some reason I really enjoy physically holding this book, nice sturdy hardcover with a satisfying texture.”
Rissa
Created about 1 year agoShare
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Sarah Fulaytar
Created almost 3 years agoShare
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MelsMagicalReads
Created almost 3 years agoShare
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“"... and it all made sense in that instant, for writing was a sort of divine madness, and who better to see the God of divine madness than one who wrote?"
The River Bank by Kij Johnson
3.5 /5 ⭐⭐⭐
The River Bank is a sequel (written by a different author) to The Wind in the Willows. Per the authors note in the back of the book: "As a child, I adored this book, and the animals that peopled the River Bank—staunch Mole, the sociable Water Rat, the severe Badger, and the ebullient, ever troublesome Toad. I didn't notice the entrenched assumptions about privilege, class, and gender. Later, as an adult, these things bothered me; this book is an imperfect attempt to open up the world of the River Bank a little."
I was quite impressed by how similar Kij Johnson's prose and writing style were to Kenneth Grahame. The whimsical descriptions and fantastical lives of the animals at the River Bank for seamlessly with the original.
Johnson introduced 2 new female characters: a naive but resourceful Rabbit, and a proper but free-spirited Mole named Beryl (who is an author!) to spice things up at the River Bank. I did love these characters and their interactions with our original crew.
Again, Toad is completely incorrigible. He's a narcissist, dumb-witted, and emotionally inept. But even more so than the original story, I found that Toad is a frequent subject of jest and laughed quite hard at many of the blunt statements regarding Toad (i.e. "The Toad was useless.").
There is a classic instance of the miscommunication trope in this book that I found quite funny. I typically hate this trope but did enjoy it this time around.
All that being said, I'm just not a huge fan of long, flowing descriptive prose. Ultimately, it was far too slow for me and I'd much rather sit on a river bank myself than read this book.
In terms of the author making this story a bit more inclusionary... it is to some extent. It does not include blatant, unchallenged sexism like the original. I also wouldn't call this book diverse. It will take a very cis-het Western view towards family and relationships. There definitely is not a focus on romantic relationships and instead most animals choose to just invest in their dear friends (unexpected ace rep?). I did find this unique and refreshing.
So this one was just okay for me. Not great, not awful. I would recommend it to people who did enjoy the origin or like descriptive prose.”
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