Reviews

Verdict: Bank's beefy bildungsroman is slowgoing at first but develops into a full-blown universe of Scottish multigenerational shenanigans. Despite certain elements of Scottish culture and language that non-British readers might find slightly perplexing, this novel is a monument to fiction. Recommended for all libraries. Background: In another break from his usual sf output, Banks (The Steep Approach to Garbadale) artistically shifts voice, perspective, and time, forming both a mild mystery and an existential examination. Banks's habit of teasing readers with an inkling of important information, and then taking a roundabout path to providing the payoff, is a particularly insidious way of keeping one interested and turning pages. The main character, Prentice, with his wicked sarcasm and uncanny ability to distinguish women's perfume brands by smell alone, is wholly sympathetic. As he rollicks between heavy substance abuse and hangovers, he slowly comes to realize the key to the mystery about his beloved missing uncle. The depictions of sibling relationships are particularly successful.--Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos P.L., CA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

When Prentice McHoan, the irrepressible hero of Banks's wily novel whose loves include drink, cars, girls and history, returns from university in Glasgow to his family home in Gallanach for his grandmother's funeral, his thoughts turn to his uncle Rory, a travel writer who disappeared eight years earlier. When Prentice runs into Janice, an old girlfriend of Rory's, the two wonder together if Rory has gone "away the Crow Road" (Scottish for "died"), and Janice reveals that Rory gave her a folder of his poems and notes before he disappeared. Rory's writings are tantalizingly cryptic and turn out to include outlines for a novel-in-progress titled Crow Road. Fueled by his uncle's notes, his own curiosity and a good bit of brown liquor, Prentice sets off to find his uncle in an engaging narrative that admirably balances bawdy Scottish humor, crafty character development and some good old-fashioned mystery. Prentice finds his closure--for better or for worse--and things are tied up neatly (maybe too neatly) by the end. Readers unfamiliar with Banks's prodigious output have a great starting point here. (Aug.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.