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The Business
 
 
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The Business (Hardcover)

by Iain Banks (Author) "'Hello?' 'Kate?' ..." (more)
2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
RRP: £16.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown; First Edition edition (12 Aug 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316648442
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316648448
  • Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 926,812 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #81 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Banks, Iain

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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

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

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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'Hello?' 'Kate?' Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

78 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (15)
3 star:
 (20)
2 star:
 (22)
1 star:
 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.7 out of 5 stars (78 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Lost in the woods, 25 Aug 2003
By monlibu "monlibu" (london) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Business (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.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My first Banks: and surely *not* the last !, 16 Aug 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Business (Paperback)
Iain Banks won another reader by writing this grand book. I wonder why some of the readers are disappointed - I could not put the book down and it cost me quite some sleep. The book's plot gripped me, all the way to the end. Some changes in time and place were a bit brusque, but nice after understanding what they are about. It also made me think a bit about how the people and the corporations in this world seem to work, but not too much to bother me. Let me take a look which Banks book I'll read next ...
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8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A very disappointing read, 15 Sep 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Business (Paperback)
When I first began to read this book I was excited by the possibilities, the ideas were there in the powerful and very secret 'Business' but it all fell apart and never actually went anywhere. I waited and waited for something to happen but it never did. It was a very disappointing read, it was boring and didn't even seem to want to try and grab the reader’s attention. I do believe it is the only book I have ever read in which nothing ever happens, there isn't even any interesting characters for the reader to care about. It was terrible from start to finish and the ending was just bizarre and completely unbelievable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars A Bad Business
Sometimes books have a slow start, but eventually they get going, `The Business' did not even do this. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sam

1.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published 9 months ago by P. A. Ferguson

1.0 out of 5 stars 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 11 months ago by THE Music Enthusiast

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 22 months ago by cluricaune

2.0 out of 5 stars Certainly NOT the business...
Well written, good characters, but to be frank: simply not worth the effort. If this was a movie, I would advise you to wait until it came out on free TV.
Published on 3 April 2006 by mjcrobbie

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 xanthe_r

1.0 out of 5 stars This really is Iain Banks worse book
Iain Banks has written some very good books. He has also written "The Business" and "Dead Air". In his good books, a dark mystery gradually unfolds as the plot twists and... Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2003 by John Ault

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly - not Banks at his best
I've read most of Banks's books. His Culture novels are such a great alternative to the political correctness and ambition of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another 'must read' from a superb storyteller
Yet again Iain Banks has written another brilliant book. Its always a pleasure to read any of his writings. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2001 by peterp82@hotmail.com

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing read on a potentially good theme
This is the one and only book by Banks that I have read and to be honest it has turned me off venturing to read any of his other novels. Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2001

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