# Green Grass, Running Water

By Thomas King

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/green-grass-running-water-2a3d44e4/

Around Blossom, Alberta, several lives are due for a change. Alberta wants a baby without marrying either of her boyfriends. Lionel is turning forty and still selling televisions. Eli’s cabin stands in the path of a dam project. Their community’s gathering for the Sun Dance brings four ancient visitors and the trickster Coyote into these already complicated arrangements.

## What makes it funny?

Latisha knows what some tourists want from a supposedly authentic experience, so her restaurant pretends to serve dog meat. Meanwhile, four ancient escapees answer to the Lone Ranger, Hawkeye, Ishmael and Robinson Crusoe, names that make familiar adventure stories look different.

### The comedy at work

King moves between contemporary relationships and creation stories, letting Coyote and the elders unsettle accounts that claim to explain everything. The jokes draw on recognizable stories and stereotypes while the characters contend with land, love and family.

### Try this if…

Readers who enjoy literary allusions, tricksters and several interwoven stories have plenty to follow. Ordinary frustrations share space with myth and magic, and the narrative moves between them without keeping a tidy boundary.

### Good to know

The comedy addresses serious subjects, including colonial violence, genocide and the use of Indigenous land. Expect shifts in time, voice and story rather than a single straight narrative.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary · Fantasy
- On the shelf: Mythic fantasy
- Kind of humor: Parody · Satire
- The atmosphere: Irreverent
- Format: Novel

## A few distinguishing details

- Coyote and four elders borrowing famous fictional names
- A tourist restaurant exploiting its customers’ stereotypes

## Sources & further reading

- Review: [Canadian Book Review Annual](https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/6344)
- Review: [Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780395623046)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/93027/green-grass-running-water-by-thomas-king)