- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C; Large Print edition edition (1 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0754014037
- ISBN-13: 978-0754014034
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,960,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Business
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
After the shock impact of the excellent The Wasp Factory in 1984, Iain Banks' work has split along two lines. On the one hand, he has written a series of acclaimed science fiction novels (with a devoted following, their own fan magazine and inclusion of his middle initial); on the other hand, a number of diverse, and eclectic, forays into contemporary fiction (for example, the successful television adaption of The Crow Road).
The Business is the ‘90s success story run riot. The eponymous organisation is ancient, rich and invisible. All it lacks is a certain political clout, something the Business has avoided for centuries but with which it is now beginning to toy. A seat in the UN is at stake as Kate Telman, Level 3 executive, is drawn into the (rather polite) machinations of her superiors. Those expecting John Grisham may be disappointed. No bad thing, perhaps: Kate's personal-professional life-- there is, of course, no conflict here for the successful individual of the ‘90s--is the main concern. Banks' interest is in the moral debates about the position of the Business in a world it finds easy to manipulate, drawing the reader into a discussion of the place of the multi-national in contemporary economic and cultural life. "A lot of successful people are less hard-hearted than they like to think": is one view put forward, and not the only romantic but equivocal sentiment hiding somewhere in The Business.--John Shire --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Consistently engaging....From its hilarious opening, a telephone conversation with a man who has lost his teeth, to the touching finale...it hardly misses a beat. SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Slick and streetwise. SUNDAY TIMES 'Banks' ability to make you feel you're there remains as sharp as ever. TIME OUT '...a slick, blend of thriller, dark comedy and offbeat love story, bursting with set pieces and sly wit. EMPIRE '...Satisfyingly readable to the end' MAXIM 'THE BUSINESS is his tenth novel... and reveals no slackening in his imaginative energies' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Imagination, wit and complexity are his hallmarks and THE BUSINESS is no exception' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'THE BUSINESS is the business' INDEPENDENT 'This is a gripping read and the reader has a close rapport with Telman. It is truly remarkable that a man can write so convincingly in the first person as a woman.' FOCUS 'Banks does the business and delivers a tale which is as well-paced and intricately written as it is scary.' MINX 'THE BUSINESS is both personal odyssey and a cracking thriller.' MIDWEEK 'Witty and enjoyable.' BIG ISSUE
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
My name is Kathryn Telman. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
My name is Kathryn Telman. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Business is a fair fairy story, at least in concept. There’s a prince seeking a princess, a Queen resigned to her bed for 25 years with a broken heart, a palace of a thousand rooms, snow-capped mountains, pied piper children, an all powerful James Bond style baddie organisation. And like any good fairy tale it tries to have a moral, arising from one hot pretext set just outside of reality. Banks lays it on thick but really fails to bridge the gap between fairy and really.
That pretext is the Business itself, founded in times before modern civilization. The problem, unusually for Iain Banks, is that there is a lack of grasp of what this story is all about. Is it a licence to discredit the misty corporate world of international business? Is it about surviving on overhwhelming capitalist power through duplicity? Is it about human relationships, disrupted intimacy, and misplaced loyalty? Or is it just about a prince seeking a princess?
By the end, there aren’t any answers. You are left feeling a little cold in the Himalayas.
But it’s just such a great idea for a book. The shame is nothing of that mysterious corporate world is uncovered. The Business has worldwide influence and domination. It’s rich and powerful. It seeks a seat at the United Nations by buying up under nourished and unknown nations. Kate is the ambitious Level Three executive at its heart. Yet most of the 400 pages are devoted to her globe trotting and excruciating detail about her in-flight experiences; buying clothes; meeting whoever….
Banks introduces some thriller tension at the start; colleague has teeth taken out by dark adversaries, Kate uncovers a Business factory hiding some dark secret, the Board are either homely uncle / aunty characters or underworld nearly gangsters. Great, but we are then subjected to a long winded “travels with Kate” until we understand any link at the very end.
You have wonder what it’s all about. Don’t be prepared to be too disappointed as Iain Banks has the undoubted and undisputed skill in writing and there’s never a word out of place, but overall it doesn't gell. Hot plot lines are introduced, and then disappear to the sidelines. Some motives never get off the ground. With a bit more discipline, this could have really rocked.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Another excellent and very readable (too readable - I easily read it in an evening) Banks. The story is a grower - for most of the book I wasn't sure where it was heading but that just kept me reading. Quite a "light" take on the whole conspiracy theory thing - very gentlemanly behaviour from the protagonists in retrospect. However that is the nature of the business. I wonder if the business is the very seed of The Culture?
Interestingly the content is very contempary - it mentions pinochets detention in the uk for example. Its also odd reading about places that I know well - the buisness used to have offices in Blythswood square for example - just down the road from our offices...
There are two reasons that I have only given it four stars. The first is that although the attempt at a female protagonist is excellent there are one are two places where it didn't quite convince, and secondly it ended too early - although it would be interesting to have a follow up with a different character set against the events instigated by this book.
If you like Banks though rush out and buy this.
Format:Paperback
When I first started reading this book I really didn't want to read it! and as I read the first chapter (in a grumpy cant be bothered sort of way)I became hooked and it became one of those not putdownable reads......without giving too much away its an interesting read set in many countries with a shadowy big "business" corporation and a heroine........ by the end I really did care what happened to the characters,......try it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unmemorable
Much as I adore the writing of Iain Banks, I think it tells you a lot that it was only upon reaching the end of this book that I realised that I had read it a decade ago.
Published 19 months ago by Mrs. Nicola Clements
Still treading water
Iain Banks, once the most powerful fiction writer of his generation and author of two of my all time top 20 novels (The Wasp Factory and The Bridge), has been treading and water... Read more
Published 21 months ago by A. Warmington
lukewarm
I had high hopes for this as I loved the blurb on the back cover, it did its job and hooked me, sadly the book itself was a let down. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2010 by N. Graham
A different sort of book
I liked this book because it didn't really fit into a genre. It was almost a thriller but it wasn't pacy enough for that. It was completely interesting though. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2009 by MimDee
Cringeworthy Effort From Someone Who Can Do Better
This is a stinker! I've read a few Iaiaiain Banks novels before and have only picked this up recently, but it was awful. Read more
Published on 7 July 2009 by Mr. P. Bevan
A Bad Business
Sometimes books have a slow start, but eventually they get going, `The Business' did not even do this. Read more
Published on 1 April 2009 by Sam
Iain's Stinker
I'm glad I've read the other reviews here, particularly those that don't rate this book. I am only at chapter 4 and was wondering whether to proceed any further. I won't bother. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2008 by P. A. Ferguson
How Can Such a Great Writer Produce Such a Dull Book?
One of the many things I like and respect about Iain Banks, besides the trademark darkness of his work, is his sheer versatility when it comes to crafting a novel. Read more
Published on 31 July 2008 by THE Music Enthusiast
A netsuke monkey and a twelve sided thruppeny bit
Iain Banks was born in Scotland in 1954 and published his first book - "The Wasp Factory" - in 1984. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2007 by Craobh Rua
Banks best book
This is his best work. It presents a entirely credible world, set within ours. It is only a slight stretch of the imagination to believe that there is an such a... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2006 by London girl
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