Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Want A Book To Make You Smile..., May 6 2004
Iain Banks first novel, The Wasp Factory, was published in 1984. In the years since, he's won critical acclaim, topped best-seller lists and has even written Science Fiction books under the cunning nom-de-plume 'Iain M. Banks'. He's also seen this book, "The Crow Road", adapted for television by the BBC in 1996. At the time, I was only vaguely aware of Banks - however, having stumbled across and enjoyed the BBC's adaptation, I was determined to pick the book up as well. I'm glad I did - as much as I can remember enjoying the show, I think I enjoyed the book more. The Crow Road's central character is a young Scot called Prentice McHoan. A Star Wars fan as a boy, he's given up his attempts to master the force and now studies history at university in Glasgow. It would be fair to say, however, that he has more interest in alcohol, drugs and sex in general and the beautiful Verity Walker in particular. Prentice's key relationship, however, is probably the one he has (or, more accurately, doesn't have) with his father, Kenneth. Rather than Glasgow, most of the story takes place in and around his home village of Gallanach - visits home are fairly regular for various parties and funerals. Most of the supporting cast is made up of his own family, the Urvills and the Watts (friends to the McHoans over several generations). Fergus Urvill is not only Kenneth's brother-in-law, but also a lifelong friend. (Very good friends, in fact, based on the amount of abuse they give each other). As boys, Kenneth and Fergus were also friendly with Lachy Watt, an uncle of some Prentice's best friends : Ashley, Dean and Darren. Due to a falling out with Kenneth, Prentice usually stays with his Uncle Hamish when he comes back to Gallanach - the rift between Kenneth and Prentice being caused by a difference of opinion over religion. However, not only is Uncle Hamish certain there is a God, he's also invented his own faith. Another uncle, Rory, an author and television presenter, hasn't been seen in 8 years - some believe him to be dead. Prentice, meanwhile, has a suspicion he's still alive while Kenneth seems strangely sure of it. The curiosity about where he is and what has happened to him simmers in the background until Prentice tries to find out what really happened to him. The sections of the book that focus on Prentice are told from his point of view ("when I started to understand the lyrics of a Cocteau Twins song, I knew I was wrecked"). The remainder is told in 'flashback', about various different family members, and is written about them ("It was the last time Kenneth ever saw Rory"). I found it a little strange to begin with, but - once used to it - I found it really added to the enjoyment of the book. I'd look on it as less of a story, and more of a book about a group of people that strange and / or funny things happen to. That may sound a little strange, but it's a hugely enjoyable book and one that I would highly recommend.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charming, Jun 29 2003
The Crow Road was one of the most charming novels I've read in a long time. The storyline was original, the characters were round, and it was riveting and interesting to read - all 500+ pages of it!This was the first novel I'd read by Iain Banks, so I didn't know what to expect. His descriptive powers are truly first-rate, however, and he has a remarkable gift of being able to capture the mood of an environment with only a few well-chosen words. The locations were described magnificently, and he managed to make you feel as though you were really there. As a reader, I truly fell for Prentice's sort-of dopey bad luck. He was a wonderful and endearing choice for a main character, and he was defined incredibly well. I have only two (very slight) criticisms of this novel. First, I found the ending to be rather anti-climactic. Perhaps the romantic side of me was hoping it would end differently; I felt that it was kind-of ho-hum. Second, I found the book difficult to follow at times. Certain passages were described very cryptically, and once or twice I had to give up in trying to figure out what was being explained. For the first half of the book, the chronology jumped around quite a lot, and I feel that Banks managed this more adeptly at some times than at others. All in all, I was quite pleased by this novel. It was definitely one which was tough to put down (which could explain why I'm so sleepy lately!) and I'm sorry to see it end.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good shot at being his best, April 18 2003
While I won't go so far as calling this his masterpiece (mostly because he's still fairly young and his real masterpiece is still lurking within him somewhere) this is probably his most consistently enjoyable and amazing book and the best one to thrust upon family and friends saying, "See? See? He is a genius." All of Banks' novels (yes, even Canal Dreams) have something to offer the reader, but previous (and future) novels all were quirky in one way or another and while his writing and plotting was so good it didn't matter, sometimes it felt like the oddness was masking what he really wanted to say. Not so in this book. He focuses on the people of Scotland, specifically the McHoan family and peripherally the Watt and Urvill families, all with different social and financial backgrounds, all with family members as different as the people you know. His characterizations are amazing, about a third of the book is told in a third person perspective while the rest is told by middle son Prentice . . . yet every character feels absolutely real, even the people who only show up for a few pages. All have different ideals and beliefs and ways of living and the fun is watching all that clash. The first third of the book might turn some folks off at first as Banks takes his time setting the background, shifting backwards and forwards in time and showing the main two generations of the family at different stages on their lives. Once you get used to it, it's not that difficult to figure out who is what and what period of time you're looking at, and he does a brilliant job at making the sections echo and inform each other, so even though they're out of sequence they feel like they're in sequence. For me, these sections make the book, as he details some of the magic of growing up in Scotland as a young lad, and an excellent job of showing one generation growing older and doing its best to make way for the incoming crew, and so on. His people and their relationships feel real and I wonder how much of this was taken from Banks' own life, but honestly it really doesn't matter. Maybe he made it all up. Who cares? It takes up a huge chunk of the novel but it's so well done I don't think I could stomach removing any of it. There's also a central mystery to the book and the later portions of the novel deal with it specifically, and that's where all the little bits and hints he dropped in the early scenes comes into play. But in the end it doesn't even really matter, and the mystery itself never overtakes the story of people and their families just living. This novel works on almost every level, on a literary, emotional, symbolic level, he crams everything he can into it (since it is basically about life) and all of it works beautifully. It makes for almost compulsive reading and the characters go beyond resonating into almost becoming real, so that when any of them die, it feels like a real loss, but the book merely mourns and moves on, because in the end that's all anyone can do. I also like how the book leaves questions unanswered for the reader to ponder, just like in real life when not everything ties up as neatly as we'd like. In case you haven't figured it out from my heaps of praise, this is probably my favorite "regular" Banks novel (Use of Weapons is the best Iain M Banks book) and comes with the highest recommendation, it's like nothing else he had done and yet it's undeniably his work. It gives me great hope that when he does come out with his absolute masterpiece, it's going to be truly amazing indeed. But for now, we have this.
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
