On the HahaFiction shelf
Green Grass, Running Water
by Thomas King
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.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Alberta is a university professor”Read the full description at Bantam, publisher description
Paid link · We earn commissions from qualifying Amazon purchases. Affiliate disclosure
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.
A few distinguishing details
- Coyote and four elders borrowing famous fictional names
- A tourist restaurant exploiting its customers’ stereotypes
More funny mythic fantasy
Sources & further reading
- Canadian Book Review Annual
Review
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Publisher
Publisher
Something we should correct? Let us know.
