Suitabook

The river bank

Kij Johnson

Reading: If the reader knows The Wind in the Willows, pause to compare what has been retained and changed. Read the kidnapping and marriage-related episodes at their pace, then revisit the illustrations and Beryl’s writing role.
Themes: Revising a classic: The novel returns to the world and characters of The Wind in the Willows while adding new women characters and addressing gender politics and social assumptions. It appears affectionate towards the earlier work while deliberately questioning what it leaves out or takes for granted.
Women’s independence: Beryl is a working writer, and Rabbit rejects Toad’s marriage offer; both characters enter a community previously presented chiefly through bachelors. The described treatment questions the idea that women should be defined by marriage or managed by men’s assumptions.
Class and labour: Rabbit notices crowded, dreary conditions in Town, while the River Bank community is associated with a more comfortable, green setting. The book appears to broaden the original’s sheltered social world by making work and unequal living conditions visible without dwelling on the point.
Worth knowing: The story includes kidnappings, ransoms, lost letters, family secrets and threatened marriages. It also touches on class and labour, including observations about poorer, less green living conditions in Town.