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The Crow Road

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 6,677 ratings · 302 reviews

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

Prentice McHoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the McHoan past, present and fut...more

Paperback, 501 pages

Published 1993 by Abacus (first published 1992)

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May 18, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was enjoying the hell out of this book right up until, near the end, it decided without warning to become a murder mystery. That section felt so out of place with the rest of this meandering, detailed meditation on death and growing up.

When life was full of mysteries and strangenesses, and talking moles (the skin thing, not the animal), and unfortunate bolts of lightning and litter bins, that was the book I was enjoying reading. One that didn't need to supply an answer for everything, that bra...more I was enjoying the hell out of this book right up until, near the end, it decided without warning to become a murder mystery. That section felt so out of place with the rest of this meandering, detailed meditation on death and growing up.

When life was full of mysteries and strangenesses, and talking moles (the skin thing, not the animal), and unfortunate bolts of lightning and litter bins, that was the book I was enjoying reading. One that didn't need to supply an answer for everything, that bravely asserted that not every death has a meaning, and sometimes the world is tragically absurd.

And then, for several chapters, it became about Prentice, the main character, solving several murders and playing cat and mouse with the killer, and it just didn't hang together with the rest of the book at all.

The book starts with Prentice's grandmother's cremation, at which she blows up. I'm not spoiling anything, that's the first line of the book. He is on the outs with his father over his lack of atheism, desperately in love with a not-cousin. (A cousin of his cousins, if that makes sense. No blood relation.) He is flunking out of school. He is a bit of an idiot.

And Prentice continues to be a bit of an idiot for a good portion of the book, as he sulks, drinks, and pushes people away. That was a bit trying for a while, but there was enough there to keep me interested. Specifically, the wealth of detail Banks brings to his world enchanted me. It was so complete, so tactile, the details so small and odd that it felt both familiar and strange. The taillight game that Ashley plays was so precise that I was sure the author must either do that himself, or know someone who does.

Then life dishes out the kind of irony that only exists in fiction and real life, and Prentice has to start to consider who he actually is and what he's going to do.

And then the murder mystery part happens. It felt like a payoff that didn't live up to the mystery. As a meditation on growing up and death, I highly recommend this book. But if Banks wants to write a murder mystery, he should just write a bloody murder mystery.

Crossposted at Smorgasbook (less)

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Jan 16, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009, unexpectedly-terrific

Damn, this book was terrific! I don't know why I didn't stumble across it earlier, given it was published in 1992 and was adapted by the BBC as a miniseries in 1996 (oh wait .... the 90's were the years that got eaten by my "professional career"... the mindless TV years). Anyway, no matter.

"It was the day my grandmother exploded." Any author with the balls to have that as an opening sentence deserves to be given a chance, at least. Banks keeps up the brilliance for another 500 pages, drawing you...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Mikela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-list, books-read-in-2012, 1900s

This book is written in a very non-linear style which made it very difficult to comprehend what was going on at the beginning. Once I understood the rhythm of the narrative what developed was a very well written, interesting story of a family in Scotland. Banks did an excellent job with characterization, not only in defining them but making me really care what happened to them. This is a slower paced book that kept my interest to the end and actually left me wanting more. Highly recommend.

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Mar 06, 2012 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Iain Banks. Every time I go through the process of selecting the next book to read, and one of his comes up, I wonder, hmmm...should I now? Or should I put this off until I'm ready; for a special time perhaps.

The thing is, Iain Banks is a very special writer. You need to be ready for him because his stories require a lot of focus and patience. This is what makes him great. Almost always, there is a payoff that makes all the wondering of where he's is going worthwhile.
Take Walking on Glass, for e...more

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Jul 26, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-fiction

I can't say enough good things about Iain Banks's The Crow Road. My only question is, why didn't I hear of him and read his work sooner? He's brilliant. It's like Graham Swift and Irvine Welsh met to write a novel, and Swift's insight tempered Welsh's mania, but Welsh's hipness updated Swift's subject matter. The result is a brilliant novel - grim, gritty, but funny and somehow uplifting without being cheesy.

It shouldn't make me feel good to read it - it should be depressing as hell, self-defea...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: con-ficition, mystery

Not long ago, I was lucky enough to receive Banks' Stone Mouth from Net Galley and really liked both the writing and the story. So I decided to check out one of Banks' previous works and decided on The Crow Road. Excellent choice! I could hardly put it down.

This novel has an opening line that will probably be forever identified with it: "It was the day my grandmother exploded."

Prentice McHoan has returned from his studies in Glasgow to the small Scottish town of Gallenach for his grandmother's f...more Not long ago, I was lucky enough to receive Banks' Stone Mouth from Net Galley and really liked both the writing and the story. So I decided to check out one of Banks' previous works and decided on The Crow Road. Excellent choice! I could hardly put it down.

This novel has an opening line that will probably be forever identified with it: "It was the day my grandmother exploded."

Prentice McHoan has returned from his studies in Glasgow to the small Scottish town of Gallenach for his grandmother's funeral. He introduces us, briefly, to the main characters as he looks around and notes the friends and family members in attendance.

As full of witty repartee as Stone Mouth, The Crow Road tells a different story of a creative and unusual family with the love and conflict that most families have to some degree. The story shifts back and forth in time in a stream-of-consciousness style, as one event or situation reminds Prentice of another in the past.

Touching moments, adolescent angst, mystery, and a growing understanding of events past and present lead Prentice to some revelations about himself and his family...and about the disappearance of his Uncle Rory, the traveler, author, and magician.

I loved everything about this book. One of my favorite character is Ken, Prentice's father, and the flashbacks to his relationship with his younger brother Rory (the young Rory's confiding his limited knowledge about masturbation to his older brother is so funny), to Ken's first meeting with Prentice's mother (the most unusual introduction imaginable), to his imaginative story-telling to the young Prentice and his cousins--wonderful. The dialogue is witty, smart, and always sounds pitch-perfect.

The characters are lovable and pig-headed, eccentric and normal all at the same time. So as the story develops through Prentice's unrequited love for Verity Walker, his jealousy of his older brother, his friendship with Ashley Watts, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that Rory's disappearance begins to fascinate Prentice and lead to some serious questions. When you are completely involved with the family/friend relationships, there comes the possibility of a darker secret waiting to be discovered.

I imagine this one will remain a favorite for years to come, and yes, I'll be checking out more of Iain Banks, but not for a while. I'm afraid they won't be able to measure up.

In Banks' own words, the novel is about “about Death, Sex, Faith, cars, Scotland, and drink.” But it is so much more!

Fiction. Contemporary Lit. 1992/2008. 501 pages.(less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Zed rated it 2 of 5 stars

You know when you spend so long trundling along a runway that you start to wonder if you're going to taxi all the way from Manchester to Stockholm*, despite this presumably necessitating "boat-mode" upon reaching the North Sea? No? Then you're lucky enough not to know the safety features of "this" Boeing 737 off by heart, but if you read the first hundred pages of this book, you can experience the sensation that invariably accompanies members of "your" cabin crew (or little blonde animations, if...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Neal Asher rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first Iain Banks book I read, as opposed to Iain M Banks, was The Wasp Factory, which I thought was brilliant and which I must buy myself a copy of and read again. Later reads of his non-SF books I found disappointing so didn’t bother any more. However, when I saw this in a local charity shop, and remembered catching and enjoying some of the TV production, I thought ‘what the hell, I’ll give it a try’.

The Crow Road is an amiable right of passage and light murder mystery which rambles through...more The first Iain Banks book I read, as opposed to Iain M Banks, was The Wasp Factory, which I thought was brilliant and which I must buy myself a copy of and read again. Later reads of his non-SF books I found disappointing so didn’t bother any more. However, when I saw this in a local charity shop, and remembered catching and enjoying some of the TV production, I thought ‘what the hell, I’ll give it a try’.

The Crow Road is an amiable right of passage and light murder mystery which rambles through some interesting insights into life North of the Border, and it is packed with the likable, the tragic and sometimes the annoying. Surprisingly less annoying to me is the utter adherence to the line: ‘Thatcher is from hell and all Tories are evil – socialism and a swing to the left will save us all!’. Ah, ‘uni’ students, don’t you just love ‘em? All this stuff is almost a cultural history, the toxic results of which are presently running our country. I just wonder if the righteous faith of such people – that they are on the side of the angels – has been ‘challenged’ by the last 12 years in Britain.

The protagonist, Prentice McHoan, is a 22 year old history student taking his first steps on the road of life and, as the blurb tells us, ‘he is deeply preoccupied: mainly with death, sex, drink, God and illegal substances’. You want to know what happens to Prentice, but he’s also a character you often feel the need to slap, especially concerning his relationship with his female friend Ashley. But then, who wasn’t so blind at that age? Starting with the sentence ‘It was the day my Grandmother exploded’ this is a book I didn’t want to put down, for despite its ambling pace the whole thing was thoroughly engaging, and despite their foibles I enjoyed the characters and wanted to know where Banks would leave them.

The murder mystery kicked in very slowly and was only one facet of the main concern here, The Crow Road, Death, but I feel it tied in perfectly at the end with that final image of Rory. Some quite beautiful writing here but, of course, no surprise about the politics of the villain of the piece, I’m just surprised he wasn’t shown whipping peasants from horseback. Ah well.(less)

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Nov 24, 2011 Haje rated it 5 of 5 stars

The whole story, quite significantly, kicks off at a funeral – one of a series of funerals in the book. The title – “the crow road”, we learn, is from an expression meaning that somebody has died, or “gone down the crow road”.

The Crow Road is a fascinating book in many ways. It is the second Banks book I have read – I read Banks’ debut novel, The Wasp Factory a few weeks ago. I was shocked and horrified (but also intrigued) by the distinct difference in style between the two books.

Whereas The Wa...more The whole story, quite significantly, kicks off at a funeral – one of a series of funerals in the book. The title – “the crow road”, we learn, is from an expression meaning that somebody has died, or “gone down the crow road”.

The Crow Road is a fascinating book in many ways. It is the second Banks book I have read – I read Banks’ debut novel, The Wasp Factory a few weeks ago. I was shocked and horrified (but also intrigued) by the distinct difference in style between the two books.

Whereas The Wasp Factory is a horror-thriller with a “trashy” feel to it (although the trademark, copyright, patented Iain Banks twist saves The Wasp Factory from being your average trash novel), the Crow Road is completely different.

It took me a good 100 pages to get the hang of the style Banks uses in this book – I am not sure if this is because I am particularly daft, because I was expecting something else, or because it is supposed to be like that – but it has been a while since I have read books that were truly non-linear. This book – although it has complex and intricate developments in storyline throughout – is very non-linear.

Prentice McHoan – the narrator in this story – is basically the story of his life over a non-defined period of time. The whole story is narrated in past tense, but some of the sections are more past that others. Spread troughout the novel, with only sporadic references to what time perspective the different anecdotes have in relation to each other, Banks takes the reader on a frequently frustrating ride. Specifically, when the anecdotes are at their climax, the silly little asterisk1 warns you that there is another jump in time, and you have to plough through another 25 pages of other anecdotes (which, in turn, will keep you on edge), before continuing the story at the previous climax.

1) Be sure to watch out for the * marks. Every now and then I had to go back and re-read several pages because the story line stopped making sense, only to discover I had overlooked the little * signifying that something happens to the narrative

It might be worth noting that Prentice doesn’t have the entire narrative either – every now and then an undefined omniscent narrator steps in and tells you sections of the story that Prentice finds out about later – strange, but it works really well.

In a very clever way, Iain Banks has managed to write book with several parallel story lines about one persons’ life (and the people who – either directly or indirectly – affect him)

Granted – The Crow Road is not The Wasp Factory, and the “twist” in the plot is not all that unpredictable. However, the sheer readability and literary value of the book is definitely significantly higher in The Crow Road then many of the other books I have read the last few years. (less)

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Jun 01, 2011 Jackie rated it 1 of 5 stars

There are two parts in this book which I really found beautifully written. The first is on page 25,

“These were the days of fond promise, when the world was very small and there was still magic in it. …… Then, every day was a week, each month a year. A season was a decade, and every year a life.”

The second was the incredible discussion on the meaning of life and death on page 484.

“Was Fergus Urvill anywhere still? Apart from the body – whatever was left of him physically, down there in that dark...more

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Aug 23, 2011 Pamela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beware reviews that declare the author is a "phenomenon" (William Gibson), or is an "enfant explosif" (Scotland on Sunday), or "the most imaginative novelist of his generation" (The Times). Or perhaps you just have to beware my reviews.

I doggedly stuck with this novel to the end. Perhaps because I paid full price for it (based on the above plaudits) and thought it might be worth it? Ho hum. Not very believable depiction of two generations of a not very interesting extended family and friends. Bu...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Matthew Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-group-books

A first foray into the world of Iain Banks for me and, whilst the story gripped and the language sparkled, by the end I was just a little disappointed. It seemed to me that the novel couldn't decide whether it was a family saga, a murder mystery or a tartan clad bildungsroman, and while all these elements were enjoyable and well written, they never quite gelled into a completely satisfying novel. I think I would have enjoyed hearing less from Prentice and more from Kenneth, exploding Granny McHo...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction-modern-ish

The Crow Road struck a major nostalgic chord within myself; the books main narrator and protagonist, Prentice McHoan, is roughly my age and brings to life his youth during the 1980's and early 1990's, and as as well as narrating his tale, he evokes the history, the culture and politics of those years. As well as The Crow Road being essentially a murder/mystery, a different take on crime fiction in many ways, it contains the trial and tribulations of three generations of two related Scottish Fami...more

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Mar 25, 2010 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, older-women-younger-men

_________________________________________

(Gratuitous cross-promotion)

I wrote this minimalist review as a protest against notgettingenough's intolerably wordy screeds. For example, look at her recent review of Jeremy Clarkson. I mean don't. Don't!

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Jul 26, 2012 Tom James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I've read this year. From the opening line of 'It was the day my grandmother exploded', I knew I was going to love this book. Throughout the book, there are a number of noteworthy quotes and passages, all used to make you think, or for the simpler purpose of making you laugh.

The Crow Road follows the life of Prentice McHoan and his family. It deals with a number of themes, including coming of age, death, love, relationships and religion. The narrative al...more

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May 31, 2012 Tyler rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: stopped-reading

I was disappointed by this book, and stopped reading after a bit under 200 pages.

My head was spinning at the constant back-and-forthocity of the flash{backs,forwards}. Maybe the author thought it was fun to make us figure out what time period we were in now, and who was the effective narrator at any point. I found it more taxing than fun.

I also feel like the author wants to be a bit Nabokov with his language. He peppers in fifty dollar words like susurration which is fun when I know what they me...more

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Jul 07, 2009 Erica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, scottish, general-fiction

The Crow Road by Iain Banks begins with the memorable line "It was the day my grandmother exploded." This line is, in fact, a good indication of the rest of the novel. This novel is full of similarly pithy one-liners and hooks (another good example being the start of chapter five: "Right, now this isn't as bad as it sounds, but...I was in bed with my Aunty Janice.") but unfortunately aside from amusing me with the occasional one-liner the book didn't do much for me.

At first, due to the vertigino...more The Crow Road by Iain Banks begins with the memorable line "It was the day my grandmother exploded." This line is, in fact, a good indication of the rest of the novel. This novel is full of similarly pithy one-liners and hooks (another good example being the start of chapter five: "Right, now this isn't as bad as it sounds, but...I was in bed with my Aunty Janice.") but unfortunately aside from amusing me with the occasional one-liner the book didn't do much for me.

At first, due to the vertiginous style of narrative and its constant switches in time and focus it is hard to pin point any one main character or plot except that all the vignettes center around one family. With time, however, it becomes apparent that novel is following a main character, Prentice, through a fairly linear plot with the rest being flashbacks and the like to relevant scenes in the history of his family, whose sordid past he uncovers throughout the novel.

The history of the family seems to be more eventful than the average one, but not to an unrealistic degree. The novel begins at Prentice's Grandmother's funeral where we meet the family. In order of appearance, more or less, they are Uncle Hamish, who is possessed of several peculiar ideas about religion and how one's life is tallied up after death; Prentice's father Kenneth, a devout atheist who Prentice is currently not speaking to over religious differences; Prentice's little brother James, who spends most of the novel in Australia and doesn't appear to do much worth mentioning in the novel other than being moody and listening to his Walkman; Prentice's mother Mary, who is generally warm and loving and motherly; Aunt Ilsa the world traveler, Uncle Rory who rode off on a stolen motorcycle years ago and hasn't been heard from since, Prentice's older, and if you ask Prentice smarter, funnier, and all-around better, brother Lewis; Uncle Fergus, the widow of Prentice's Aunt Fiona and father of twins, he is also the richest and most powerful man in town and the uncle of Verity whose beauty is matched only by her poor taste in men and who has won Prentice's heart. Last but not least I'd be remiss if I did not mention Ashley, who is not a member of the family, but is rather a family friend. Prentice didn't get along with her much during school and in fact broke her nose with a snowball containing a rock. Despite this fact she spends a fair amount of time in the novel taking care of him while he blubbers drunkenly.

All of these people and more populate the novel following a rather predictable path based on the introductions given at the beginning of the novel. I don't recall being surprised by any incident in the novel, which is saying something for a novel that mostly just bounces from incident to incident. A large number of said incidents seem to involve sex or large amounts of alcohol, or both. At what might be called the climax of the book (pun totally intended) a very controlled movement of certain muscles in a pulse-like fashion leads to one character confessing their love to another in Morse code.

Overall the novelty of the bizarre incidents and one-liners wore off pretty quickly and I didn't find anything particularly deep to sink my teeth into. The only part of the book that was even remotely challenging was the non-linear plot structure, but after latching onto the one main through line even that was relatively easy to deal with. There were a couple interesting bits contemplating religion or death, but overall nothing that I haven't seen said before and said better. When I finished the novel there wasn't any issue that I was left pondering or anything at all that really stayed with me. The main thought that went through my head at the end was a vague feeling of disappointment that it ended in more or less exactly the way I had predicted at the beginning.

To be fair I'm not a fan of strictly realistic fiction. A second fact that might bias me against the book is that it contains a lot of contemplation on religion and despite the fact that it is of a mostly atheistic bent I just don't find religion to be quite as interesting a subject for infinite contemplation as most people seem to. With those disclaimers in mind I'd give the book three stars out of five.

People can be teachers and idiots; they can be philosophers and idiots, they can be politicians and idiots…in fact I think they have to be…a genius can be an idiot. The world is largely run for and by idiots; it is no great handicap in life and in certain areas is actually a distinct advantage and even a prerequisite for advancement. Iain Banks, The Crow Road

“Fairness is something we made up,” he said. “It’s an idea. The universe isn’t fair or unfair; it works by mathematics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry…Things happen; it takes a mind to come along and call them fair or not.” Iain Banks, The Crow Road

“Prentice, have you been reading crime novels instead of your history books?”

I gave a small laugh. “No. The worst crimes are always in the history books, anyway.” Iain Banks, The Crow Road

http://sassyshelver.blogspot.com/(less)

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Jun 24, 2011 Begona Fernandez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Decided to pick up this book because it, according to the Guardian, is one of the 1000 books you have to read.

I normally don't like crime novels. They seem to concentrate too much, sometimes, in making their killers or their detectives/policemen too witty and their stories too complicated. Precisely, this book is at first glance, the opposite. The killer is not immensely clever but lucky. He gets away with it for so long because Fiona's death is assumed to be accident and Rory is assumed to be d...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Dane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: other

Ok, The Crow Road. Definitely an Iain Banks novel, and the opening sentences give you a very rough idea of what you're getting into. Seeing as the book description and half the reviews on here quote the start of the book, I may as well too:

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

At first glance absurd, but...more Ok, The Crow Road. Definitely an Iain Banks novel, and the opening sentences give you a very rough idea of what you're getting into. Seeing as the book description and half the reviews on here quote the start of the book, I may as well too:

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

At first glance absurd, but at the same time somberly serious, you really have no idea where the story is going to go, and yet somehow you can tell that you're in for a treat. Except then that feeling continues past the first page and past the first few chapters and through to much of the novel, and you still really don't know what's going to tie it all together, or if it's going to get tied together at all, but you don't care because the whole thing somehow manages to stay utterly engrossing.

The main character is one Prentice McHoan, a young man dealing with many of the issues that young men do - love, religion, drugs, sex, school, and a family that is perhaps more than usually disfunctional. Not the sort of guy I'd probably get along with in real life, but being inside his head as he narrates, there's something about him that's strangely relatable. The book primarily follows his life as a combination of funerals and weddings draw him back to his home and his family, and as he tries to determine the whereabouts of his uncle Rory, who disappeared many years before. Woven throughout this main narrative, however, are flashbacks to earlier points in Prentice's life, and to episodes in the history of the family, going back a number of decades. The jumping perspective can take some getting used to, and definitely isn't for everyone, but after while I stopped finding it so jarring. Taken altogether, a wonderfully written coming of age story mixed with just a enough humor to keep things from getting too dreary, and just enough philosophizing to make you think without being overbearing. The plot, such that it is (you'll notice this is categorized as a mystery), is a little weak, and the resolution is maybe a little too clean, but if you're reading this for a strong, coherent plot, you're kind of missing the point. It's all about the characters.(less)

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Jan 11, 2010 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Crow Road is a revelation compared to the other Iain Banks I've read. While they've been pretty soul-less witty diatribes against the superficialities of a modern lifestyle, the Crow Road incorporates these aspects into a truly moden gothic fairytale. It's beautifully written with a superb turn of phrase, and tells the story of Prentice, a young boy at Uni in Glasgow who hails from Gallanach, a small town in the West Highlands. In the typical style of a self centred teenager, something awful...more

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Jul 19, 2009 Thermalsatsuma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-a-week-2009

It was the day my grandmother exploded.

Now that has to be my favourite opening sentence of any book, ever. It introduces a sprawling saga of three generations of a Scottish family, weaving snapshots and scenes from a history spanning fifty years or so, showing how secrets are concealed and uncovered by the passing of time. It has a large cast, with the nominal protagonist young Prentice McHoan unpicking the mystery of the disappearance of his uncle Rory whilst simultaneously tackling the eternal...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Doug B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

With this, one of the finest openings I've ever read, Banks introduces us to Prentice McHoan and his family as they face life, love, and death in Scotland. This is writing at its finest, from the evocative descriptions of the land, the sharp characterization, the skil...more

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Apr 25, 2010 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, scottish-lit

The Crow Road is not Iain Banks best book, but I understand why it is his most popular (even though I am sure it's the wrong Banks book on that list of 1001 books to read).

• It has the most catchy of openings: "It was the day my grandmother exploded." It's an opening that appears regularly in lists of "best opening lines" and rightly so; it's intriguing, messy and one of the best hooks I can remember reading.

• Apart from some characters in a couple of his lesser known "mainstream" novels, the Mc...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Charlotte rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

If I could choose no stars I would have. I really cannot stand books that have characters I don't care about. No one in this mess of family / extended family / friends of family was remotely memorable. I could care less about their issues as well. I read this book because it's on the 1001 books list and I have never read anything by Iain Banks before - and I wasn't missing anything. The reviews for this book were great - so I was very disappointed in it's lack of eh - everything! Brilliant - not...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Kyle Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

not my favourite Banks novel but still a good read...

has his usual staples, god, drugs, death, sex, cars, whisky, scotland, politics (of the left-leaning variety, there's some good thatcher jokes), pop culture (some good star wars references, mentions of the pixies (yay!) and was it just me, or was lewis a thinly veiled, scottish version of bill hicks?) and a plentiful dollop of black humour...same old, but that's why he's my favourite author (living anyway)

not the most satisfying ending (the la...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Mark Love rated it 3 of 5 stars

Despite a battered copy of The Crow Road sitting on my bookshelf for 15 years I couldn’t be sure whether I had read it before or not, so decided to complete my holiday reading list with it.

The book centres on the happennings and history of the McHoan family, in rural scotland, from the perspective of Prentice – a university student preoccupied with the usual preoccupations of students. But an old family mystery surrounding the disappearance of his Uncle Rory triggers a chain of events, with goth...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've had this book by my bedside reading it slowly for a while. It's a long one, but very engaging. The main character here is Prentice, a young man at university in Scotland. We follow his relationship with his father and the stubbornness of both. We see his fascination for his uncle Rory who disappeared years before. We see his trials and tribulations in his love life. As the book progresses, so does Prentice. He learns about himself, his feelings, and his family. Centered around the small com...more

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Dec 25, 2009 will rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've now started this review six times, deleting what I have written each time. Can I just start in the middle of the review because I can't think of anything clever to say at the beginning?

I'm not sure that there is much of a plot to this story, and what there is could actually make a very short essay. However, Mr. Banks manages to build a huge story around a thin plot, and you don't feel cheated. There was no point in the story that I felt dragged, there is no feeling of "padding". It is just...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Fab Librarian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prentice McHoan is a young man, interested in all the things young men tend to be interested in: sex, drugs and alcohol. He is also suffering from a painful unrequited love and is no longer talking to his much loved father after an argument about God. The McHoan family is certainly rather complicated and Prentice is determined to unravel one family secret, what lead to Uncle Rory’s disappearance eight years ago?

I loved this book from the beginning: “It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Gregory rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was a tough choice going between a strong four and a weak five, but as a novel with a mystery element that sustained momentum until the end, I had to eventually come down on the five side. A brilliant novel, and just some great writing out of context. There were times I was moved to read stuff to Wen, often without giving her context, just because I loved what he what written, and she appreciated it just as much as I did. A couple times I felt context was necessary when I read her excerpts, b...more

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About Iain Banks

This author also publishes science fiction under the pseudonym Iain M. Banks.

Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edi...more This author also publishes science fiction under the pseudonym Iain M. Banks.

Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.

Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1982. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. He currently lives in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge.

As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He was a signatory to the Declaration of Calton Hill, which calls for Scottish independence.

In late 2004, Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street. In an interview in Socialist Review he claimed he did this after he "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns." He relates his concerns about the invasion of Iraq in his book Raw Spirit, and the principal protagonist (Alban McGill) in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale confronts another character with arguments in a similar vein.

Interviewed on Mark Lawson's BBC Four series, first broadcast in the UK on 14 November 2006, Banks explained why his novels are published under two different names. His parents wished to name him Iain Menzies Banks but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and he was officially registered as Iain Banks. Despite this he continued to use his unofficial middle name and it was as Iain M. Banks that he submitted The Wasp Factory for publication. However, his editor asked if he would mind dropping the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy". The editor was also concerned about possible confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a minor character in some of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels who is a romantic novelist. After his first three mainstream novels his publishers agreed to publish his first SF novel, Consider Phlebas. To distinguish between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M', although at one stage he considered John B. Macallan as his SF pseudonym, the name deriving from his favourite whiskies: Johnnie Walker Black Label and The Macallan single malt.

His latest book is a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012.(less)

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Quotes from The Crow Road

“People can be teachers and idiots; they can be philosophers and idiots; they can be politicians and idiots... in fact I think they have to be... a genius can be an idiot. The world is largely run for and by idiots; it is no great handicap in life and in certain areas is actually a distinct advantage and even a prerequisite for advancement.” — 19 people liked it

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.” — 18 people liked it

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