Iain Banks, The Crow Road

[randy_byers]

I seem to be immune, if not averse, to Banks' mainstream novels. This is the second one I've read, and while I liked it better than Espedair Street, I still found it more than a bit of a slog. It ended well, which almost salvaged it for me, but by then I had built up so much resentment toward the thing that it was probably too late

Comments

[holyoutlaw]

Isn't this one of his very first books, if not the very first?

[randy_byers]

I guess it depends on how you count these things, but it was his ninth published novel. The Wasp Factory was his first.

[holyoutlaw]

I was confusing it with The Wasp Factory, then.

I've liked his SF better than his mainstream, and of his SF, preferred the culture novels. I think we have agreement on this important issue.

[randy_byers]

It's true, we agree on that, although I think you've read at least one of the non-Culture SF books that I haven't.

[janeehawkins]

I tried his mainstream novels and while I respect the writing I find myself caring so little about the stories that I tend to set the book down and forget about it.

[randy_byers]

It's interesting. I went out and looked at reviews of The Crow Road on the interwebs yesterday and found nothing but raves, so I was feeling pretty out of tune with the world.