Suspenseful is the best adjective I can think of to describe this book. The protagonist/narrator has a fine line in ranting, most of which I could relate to, which made it all the more cringeworthy when he does stuff that you know is going to get him into serious bother! Except that he doesn't really get into as much trouble as he should, so I found myself thinking "oh no no, don't do that", and expecting the worst...and then keeping on expecting. So if you like to be kept waiting and kept on edge by good writing, you'll probably like this. It is a bit frustrating though!

Given to GreenMan at the Leeds Bookcrossers picnic at Kirkstall Abbey on 6th August 05.

...passed on to me at the BC picnic by gaelpixie (thanks!). Will join the rest of the stuff on my rather large TBR shelf. I've liked most of the Iain Banks I've read before, so this should (hopefully) actually get read eventually!

well, I finally got around to reading this!!!

It was certainly a return to form after the disappointments of 'A Song Of Stone' and 'The Business' (although the latter was better than the former). Whether it's as powerful as some of his earlier work is highly debatable. Certainly, it's nowhere near 'The Bridge' or 'Complicity' in sheer dark power. But what it did have, for me, was a sense of a much more direct contemporary engagement and relevance than I had seen in his work before. It was a post-911 book - but, pleasingly, in a (mostly) tangential kind of way. I found the narrative very engaging (even if the narrator's character was pretty irritating quite a bit of the time!). The plot knocked along at a fair old pace - but the author still found time for some poetic/philosophical moments in amongst all the excitement. Halfway through, as enjoyable enough as it all was, I did find myself wondering what the point of it all was. There was a sense of huge themes moving subterranean beneath the plot like tectonic plates - but quite what they were was intriguingly (and annoyingly) out-of-reach until the closing chapters, when all the hitherto submerged thematic elements finally surfaced, having been pulled together very cleverly and revealed in a very thought-provoking and relevant way. This move redeemed the book considerably for me - I thought it was an impressive trick to effectively introduce the themes of the book right at the end... rather than, as most authors would do, much earlier on.

The tension of a good Banks book is there - as is (the threat of) violence... and the black humour. But, more than that, there is (at the end of the book) a clearer philosophical questioning than before - and a sense that this was a much more personal book for the author than some of his earlier, flashier pieces. There is a clunkiness to the characterisation of the narrator though - with his naiveté, narrow-mindedness, selfishness, hypocrisy and lack of subtlety often seeming hugely overplayed... in a way that, at times, somewhat undermined the believability of the book as a whole, which was a pity. I don't think it was necessary to be so overplayed for the plot (and denoument) to work... so, for this reason, it doesn't quite get the top rating from me. I wanted someone who was bit less of a caricature, so his predicaments could appear less ludicrous and less obviously self-inflicted and get more 'under my skin' as a result.

An enjoyable and worthwhile read nonetheless though - and one that bodes well for the future direction of his writing!

reserved for release at the March BC Meetup in York...

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

releasing, as promised...

I picked this up at the York meetup months ago and it's been languishing on by TBR pile for ages - I didn't realise I hadn't registered it until I tried to make release notes!!!!!!!

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This isn't the sort of thing I usually go for, but in the spirit of trying something new, I thought I'd give it a go.

I was slightly disappointed with it. The plot had the potential to be quite strong, but about halfway through, I still wasn't sure where we were heading. I still wasn't sure when we'd finished either!! The main character is a 'shock jock' on a London independent radio station and I didn't find anything to endear me to him - nothing not even dislike!

I know Iain Banks is a popular writer, but I wasn't keen on his writing style and I don't think I'll try another. but don't let that put you off - you might like it!!