The Rain Heron is a beautifully written novel. There is no other way to describe it. Equal parts mesmerising, cruel and poignant, Arnott knocks it out of the park with a follow up to his debut novel, Flames.
The first section of the novel seems - on first reading - to be a disjointed collection of stories with no tangible thread or link. Each seems to be drifting towards an inevitable conclusion of death and destruction. This overarching sense of dread permeates much of the novel. The latter half of the plot brings these initially distanced stories into a cohesive whole.
It is the natural environment, and the human impact on said environment that really keeps the whole thing ticking over. The mythical heron seems to be symbolic of this situation:
Its blue-grey feathers were so pale, they claimed later, that they could see straight through the bird.
The whole thing has an ethereal, fairy-tale-like quality to it. But more the Grimm’s version of the fairy tales of old, with their more gruesome than wholesome appeal. The Rain Heron is that kind of story, the inevitable terrifying outcome from seemingly unconnected events.
And, like all good fairy tales, morality is central to the narrative. Ecologically driven and stunningly constructed, Arnott’s novel has all the characteristics of a thoroughly engaging drama with a very important message of concern and change. The concept that nature has its own strength and is the sleeping giant waiting to respond to generations of abuse.
The protagonist, Ren, is perhaps a little bit of a misnomer. The protagonist is really firstly the environment itself, the arid situation resulting from years of drought and neglect, followed closely by the Heron itself. The mystical quality is made visceral through its constant presence and fear-inducing aspects. However, Ren is one of the hundreds of millions who have made the decision to leave the land and centralise the population in the cities of the world. Through a series of meetings with Barlow, Ren is able to create a life that is different, but manageable in the face of impending danger.
As a novel, this took some getting used to. The first section is troubling to follow, but is brought together in the latter section as Arnott carefully constructs a dystopian future troubled by ecological disasters. The Rain Heron definitely has that Grimm’s fairy tale approach, one can only hope that this torturous view of the future is based on nothing more than his own immense imagination.
A remarkable and enjoyable read, even if quite haunting.
Reviewer: Chris Reed
Text Publishing