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Sunday, 15 March 2015

The Glass-sided Ant's Nest by Peter Dickinson

This was a quirky read, but also a very good one.
In our day and age it is definitely relevant, especially in regards to multi-cultural societies and foreign culture.

Having to assimilate a new culture when you move to a foreign country is difficult, but it is even more difficult when you try to maintain your own cultural ideas or the new ones don't gel with the old.

In this case The Ku are the remaining members of a small tribe from New Guinea, who have moved to Britain. They have staunchly refused to adapt to their new environment.

They uphold their customs, their rules in regards to gender roles, and now they are even bringing back rituals, which are deemed borderline abusive and criminal in their new country.

Now DI Pibbles has to breach that intense, secretive and complex wall of Ku society to find out who murdered one of their own.

I liked the way Dickinson embraced the complexity both from a cultural and literary point of view. He has picked a sub-plot, which will always be relevant to anthropology, history and the way we all interact with each other.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley.

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