king of the badgers

King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher (Faber and Faber, 2011)

Like that title, a lot of this book seemed odd and arbitrary to me.  I never quite figured out what the book was or what it was attempting to do, and finally I think that’s because those were aims this book did not have.  It seems not to strive towards coherency or impact, content to wander aimlessly and randomly among the citizens of a charming small village on the Devon coast.  Ostensibly, the unifying plot thread concerns a young girl who is apparently kidnapped, but who is actually sold into sexual slavery, but that narrative flickers in and out of focus and doesn’t amount to much of anything at all, which is also true of all the other narrative threads.  At times one wonders if perhaps there’s something radically and covertly post-modern about the book’s narration, but if that is the case, it is neither particularly interesting or gratifying,  Yet I read this book with considerable interest and enthusiasm; it is all very alive and engaging.  It just doesn’t seem to amount to anything finally, or aspire to having an effect.  It could easily be coherent and satisfying, but it’s neither of those things, and one must assume that was a deliberate choice of the author.