Journal Entry 1 by turbobarge from Cairo - Maadi, Cairo Governorate Egypt on Sunday, January 01, 2006

There's no question that the anticipation for each successive Iain Banks novel grows ever greater, and Dead Air is a literary event. The sardonic, inventive prose guarantees a unique reading experience with each new book (the misfires may be counted on one hand), and whatever genre he tackles, Banks is one of the most stimulating writers at work in Britain today.

His protagonist here is Ken Nott, a character as penetratingly realised as ever. He's a committed contrarian, ekeing out a living as a left-wing radio shock-jock in London. He makes his home in a loft apartment in the East End, in a former factory due to be demolished in a few days. After a wedding breakfast, people begin to pitch fruit from a balcony on to a deserted car park 10 storeys below; then they begin dispatching other things: a broken TV, a loudspeaker with a ruptured cone, bean bags and other useless furniture. Then the guests enter a kind of frenzy and start dropping things that are still working, at the same time trashing the rest of the apartment. But suddenly mobile phones start to ring urgently and they're told to turn on the TV, because a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center. And Ken Nott finds his life is to change irrevocably.

Banks's subject here is nothing less than the survival of the individual in the face of a chaotic world. The destruction of personality under the lacerating values of modernity is a subject repeatedly addressed by JG Ballard (and that author's shadow is clearly evident here), and although this is one of the Iain Banks novels in which he pointedly does not use the "M" in his name that marks his science fiction, this nightmare vision of contemporary London has more than a trace of that genre in its sense of fractured reality. But all the caustic humour and dark character development that Banks excels in are fully in place
 

Journal Entry 2 by turbobarge from Cairo - Maadi, Cairo Governorate Egypt on Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Reserved for Nedah - winner of my consolation RABCK draw for those who got conned by Dewung77.
Mailed 8th Feb 

Journal Entry 3 by Whirligirl from Corsicana, Texas USA on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Thank you, Turbobarge. The book arrived yesterday and I started reading it last night. 

Journal Entry 4 by Whirligirl from Corsicana, Texas USA on Friday, February 24, 2006

Well, I've finished reading Dead Air. It just wasn't for me. My take on the crux of the matter differs somewhat from yours, Turbobarge, in that it is not so much "the survival of the individual in the face of a chaotic world," but more so the survival of the individual in the face of himself. Protagonist Ken Nott is what you might call his own worst enemy; he created all of the chaos in his life.
Banks has a great command of the f-word. I wonder what percentage of the book this one word constitutes?
I do sincerely appreciate your RABCK, Turbobarge. If ever I have anyting that you'd like to read, please let me know and I'll happily return the favor.
Happy reading!

 

Journal Entry 5 by christina82 from Stege, Storstrøms Amt Denmark on Sunday, April 20, 2008

Got this book sometime during the last two weeks - I have been very stressed lately - which is the reasonfor this late registration.

I look forward to reading it. Thanks for sending it ...