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Title: The rich and the poor
Review: Slow River is a masterful exploration of the difference between the rich and the poor. The language is beautiful, the scenery is immersive, tangible and fragrant, and the characters are painted fully into life. I must compliment the author on her language skill, a quality so very rare in modern literature. Although there are quite a few lesbians in the novel, this is mostly irrelevant to the storyline, despite what other reviewers seem to think. The novel is not about sex, it's about character and self-discovery. It's about the contrast between patrician Lore and the poor people around her, like Spanner and Magyar; the contrast between their character and view of life, between their occupations and their goals, and between their moral codes. It's about why and how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, and why Lore couldn't stay in the gutter where she was cast, while Spanner couldn't leave it. If you like books that make you think, you should like this one.
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