Book review: Sour Fruit, by Eli Allison
When Onion is kidnapped from her care home, she winds up in the grim river city of Kingston, destined to be sold to a skin trader known as The Toymaker. Determined to fight back, she goes on a violent, desperate ride through the city with a motley crew of VOIDs who may or may not sell her out at any second.
This is a blackly funny dystopian novel that often makes for a twisted read, packed with bizarre and degenerate characters, led by fifteen-year-old Onion. She’s a tough, hostile girl with a potty mouth who doesn’t make friends easily. Not a character that is easy to like, but it’s no wonder after the life she’s had so far.
After being snatched, Onion finds herself in the nightmarish city of Kingston, which is run by the son of now deceased gangster Books Mooluke and his enforcers, including the terrifyingly broken Nails who hammers his victims to death. She’s left in the care of Rhea, a debt-ridden prostitute who shows Onion the city, but struggles to control her.
Despite their difficult relationship and the lack of trust between them, Rhea and Onion form a kind of bond. They are both lost souls longing for a family and an escape from the gutter they have found themselves in.
Sour Fruit is something of an allegory for today’s society. The VOIDs are demonised by the elites in society and forced to live in poverty in a grim Northern city, often fighting each other for scraps while being portrayed as defective or innately bad. But they’re just people who want to live life on their own terms, free from the government’s monitoring. Instead they’re forced to survive however they can in a world with few opportunities.
This book has an air of Mad Max, with it’s frenetic pace, unpleasant characters and dystopian punk style.
It’s well-written and compelling, with plenty of heart beneath the fucked up surface.
Find out more
Sour Fruit on Goodreads
Sour Fruit on Amazon