- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown (22 April 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0356206521
- ISBN-13: 978-0356206523
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 218,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Crow Road
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Product Description
Review
Banks has woven a warm and funny story, rich with characters and adventures. An utterly enchanting piece of fiction...it marks a return to his brilliant best. NEW WOMAN (This is Bank s’ finest novel yet. INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Hip and sexy humour....Bank reinforces his credentials as one of the most able, energetic and stimulating writers we have in the UK. TIME OUT (The Crow Road is tight with detail and closer observation and creates a strong sense of a particular period of growing up. THE INDEPENDENT )
Magic is the book's keynote. It echoes in descriptions of evolution that pass from the factual to the elegiac and on the mythical. It calls most insistently when intensity - of love, lust or grief - burst through limited expectations or circumstances to release poetry. THE TIMES (Banks keeps death in its place, under the boot of wit which knows that the most significant romance can blossom whilst your youngest brother is up to the elbow in Sugar Smacks looking for the plastic toy. OBSERVER )
The tense horror of the book...is done with considerable imaginative subtlety and a fine touch....This is as fine and ambitious a novel as any from a Scottish writer since the 1960s. It is also unquestionable Bank's best work to date. NEW STATESMAN (A magnificent, rambling family saga…his best novel yet. FOR HIM ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Hip and sexy humour....Bank reinforces his credentials as one of the most able, energetic and stimulating writers we have in the UK. TIME OUT (The Crow Road is tight with detail and closer observation and creates a strong sense of a particular period of growing up. THE INDEPENDENT )
Magic is the book's keynote. It echoes in descriptions of evolution that pass from the factual to the elegiac and on the mythical. It calls most insistently when intensity - of love, lust or grief - burst through limited expectations or circumstances to release poetry. THE TIMES (Banks keeps death in its place, under the boot of wit which knows that the most significant romance can blossom whilst your youngest brother is up to the elbow in Sugar Smacks looking for the plastic toy. OBSERVER )
The tense horror of the book...is done with considerable imaginative subtlety and a fine touch....This is as fine and ambitious a novel as any from a Scottish writer since the 1960s. It is also unquestionable Bank's best work to date. NEW STATESMAN (A magnificent, rambling family saga…his best novel yet. FOR HIM ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
Paperback reissue of Iain Banks' masterly novel THE CROW ROAD
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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First Sentence
It was the day my grandmother exploded. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was the day my grandmother exploded. 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
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not just Iain Banks' biggest book, but his best in my opinion. This sprawling tale of dark family secrets and unrequited love is a modern classic and highlights Banks' talent for characterisation and believable cringeworthy situations. His heroes are never without their flaws and never lose their ability to strike a chord with the reader and such is the case with the sardonic, smart alec Prentice.
Iain Banks books are always easy to read but this one requires a tad more discipline than his others as it's not always immediately obvious which of the many characters is narrating each chapter. However, the book flows beautifully and builds to a magnificent and unexpected climax.
A great read for confirmed Banks fans and the unitiated alike who wish to indulge themselves in a great read. Hats off, Mr Banks.
Iain Banks books are always easy to read but this one requires a tad more discipline than his others as it's not always immediately obvious which of the many characters is narrating each chapter. However, the book flows beautifully and builds to a magnificent and unexpected climax.
A great read for confirmed Banks fans and the unitiated alike who wish to indulge themselves in a great read. Hats off, Mr Banks.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Banks is a pretty honest fellow. As a writer he doesn't consciously set out to make his heros and heroines 'good', infact he certainly packs them with faults and foibles. A bit like real people in fact. Prentice is the same, and he's all the more enjoyable to listen to for it. "The Crow Road" is supremely enjoyable and, as has been said already, works in every way, delivering what you want out of it. When I first read it it spoke to me about the confusions of leaving your teenage years behind and the need to mature. Now, it's a rattling good murder mystery with some rather scathing politico dialogue thrown in. But there's more in the mix and you'd have to find it out for yourself.
When Banks signed my battered old copy a couple of years back he smiled at the state of the cracked and dog-eared and well-thumbed book, then he wrote "Ha!" on the last page which, if you've read it, you'll understand.
Love it.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is only the second Iain Banks novel that I have read, the first being The Wasp Factory. Consequently, I really wasn't sure what to expect - would this be similarly dark and psychological? In some ways, yes, but essentially it is a sweeping family saga, crossing three (and almost four) generations. Despite the interweaving threads and movements back and forwards in time, Iain Banks' writing makes the story easy to follow. This is partly due to the strongly drawn characters; each is distinctive and memorable without resorting to caricature. What I loved most was the shifts between comedy, pathos, tragedy and suspense, all carefully orchestrated and never jarring. For me, it was a book that totally drew me in and I thoroughly looked forward to escaping into it on my commute to and from work each day.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The crow road book
What a wonderful book, I just could not put it down! What a fascinating story of murder, family and all the secrets that go with it! This has got to be one of my favourite books. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jock8272
The Crow Road
Thank you to Mr banks for this very entertaining book. This was the choice for our "Book Club" and when I purchased it I had no idea of the contents but was intrigued as my... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Barbara E Mackie & William Mackie
Ian Banks The Crow Road
This was an enjoyable read, the story set on the west coast of Scotland.
This was a tale full of intrigue in line with other stories from the same author. Read more
This was a tale full of intrigue in line with other stories from the same author. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. Eaves
Then he remembered the Observatory...
I found this to be a slow starter and I was nearly halfway through it until I started chiming with its vibe, so to speak. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Eileen Shaw
The metaphorical road to maturity
This is the first non-sf novel of Iain Banks that I have read. Well, it was certainly different from what I was used to. Read more
Published 12 months ago by ManInsideTheHelm
Great family saga
I couldn't put it down. Says it all really. Contains my favourite first line ever in a book and pretty much kept me gripped thereafter. Read more
Published 12 months ago by stew
Pointless!
Here's an idea Mr Banks, have a point to your story!!! Complete and utter dribble, the worst book I have ever read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Martin Tapp
Overrated
Personally I'm not that taken with Banks. I've read three of his books now and find that they are over-written, generally weak in plot and unconvincing in characterisation. Read more
Published 15 months ago by molondas
Hoots mon!
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. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Irwin Winterchest
It was the day my grandmother exploded.
Prentice is a 22-year-old student in Glasgow, just back to his own little town of Gallanach for his grandmother's funeral. Read more
Published on 11 May 2010 by Alessandra F.
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