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 One man's view of the Thames November 12, 2007
15 out of 22 found this review helpful
Anyone who has read Ackroyd's `London: the Biography' will not be surprised that this book about the Thames is no straightforward history of a great river. Rather, Ackroyd sees the river as a metaphor for some everlasting truths and he approaches this via a series of thematic chapters: `The Working River', `The River of Death', `The Sacred River' etc. Each of these is fairly short, but all are packed with vast numbers of facts, anecdotes and speculations. Unfortunately, because these are thrown at the reader in an almost random fashion, the effect is often overwhelming. Lists of examples can extend over whole paragraphs and are sometimes simply boring and even lessen the impact of the point being made. I was prepared for a rather rambling unstructured style, but the writing here is far more flowery than in `London' and too mystical for my taste. Also, too often the author has difficulty in separating speculations from facts. Wanting something to be so, does not make it so. Peter Ackroyd has a substantial and well-deserved reputation, not least for the wide range of books that he has written, but for me this is not one of his better works.
Misses the boat September 12, 2007
57 out of 87 found this review helpful
Twenty years ago I tired of London, but not of life. Ackroyd's tribute to this river creeping through it fails to tempt me back. The dense flowery language and metaphysical ponderings are more off-putting that its broad, flat surface. The book is crammed with facts, anecdotes, speculation, lists, the period from prehistory to the present, the geography from sea to source. The information fascinates, some is incorrect. The author will not slow down, check, edit, producing books at a rapid rate of knots and, no getting away from it, acquiring a formidable reputation in the process which no doubt deters reviewers here.
But good writing marries structure to content, and thematic chapters are unsuited to this subject, forcing readers to dabble in pools - not the first feature of the Thames to spring to mind. Peopled from Caesar to Shelley to Jack the Ripper, Pepys to Hogarth to Morris, it ranges among boatmen and industrial workers, from flooding, malaria among estuary marsh-dwellers, to sewage. A house of easement once provided 128 seats and, unsuprisingly, foul sludge floated 6 inches deep. There is too much to do justice too. Many Londoners will love it for that alone.
My problem is in seeing the waterway as a fanciful symbol of eternity and metaphor for all things, including 'art and history and poetry'. Questions rise unbidden while reading. Given the magnitude of that metaphor, why so little reference to literature, art, poetry, film? Does Ackroyd really mean to present the Virgin Mary as 'the most powerful' water goddess? News to me. Though it's worth the bookshelf space as a reference book, I've missed the boat on this one. Not to worry. Laughter caught it and is speeding all the way to the bank.
 Father Thames finds a perfect biographer September 12, 2007
74 out of 78 found this review helpful
The hugely industrious and readable Peter Ackroyd has released what can be seen as a follow up to the rather amazing `London; A Biography' with `Thames: Sacred River'. This substantial book charts the history of the River Thames, the vital waterway at the heart of London life for centuries. Given the history of this vital conduit is pretty much the history of the metropolis, at least until the invention of the railway, it allows Ackroyd to delve once more into the murkier and less well known depths of London history.
Ackroyd is never a writer to deliver a straightforward narrative history. And in many ways his subject matter lends itself to this meandering, potted approach. As the river twists and turns, is fed by tributaries and becomes the mighty estuary feeding into the North Sea, so too does the book change subject, period and characters with each chapter. Broad subjects are covered, trade, communications and naval associations, but Ackroyd has a gifted eye for the smaller details and more obscure gobbets of history.
Ackroyd is best served by two key attributes, a voracious appetite for research and a style of prose that is both intelligently accessible and deliciously evocative. It is almost with an unrestrained glee that the author tackles the subjects associated with the river, the same clear interest that sustained `London: A Biography'.
However it is important to note that the book is wider than just being a follow up to that book. The Thames flows from its source at Thameshead to the sea, and as well as London flows through Oxford, Reading and Henley. It encompasses royal history, passing within sight of Windsor, next to Hampton Court, and through Greenwich. It is the artery connecting the heart of empire, London, with the world. It has been the source of great pleasure and entertainment as well as dark sorrows and tragedy. Ackroyd deftly captures the many moods and colours of the river, the characters who have interacted with it, the major events and the minor common happenings to construct a rich and vivid mosaic of life by and on the water.
This is not a complete or narrative history of the river, or the city. There are better books available if one is seeking an overview of these massive subjects. But for an idiosyncratic glimpse of a huge variety of colourful threads of London's watery past, there is no better writer than the talented, readable and researched Ackroyd.
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