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 First edition | |
| Author | Iain Banks |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Peter Kenny |
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Scribner |
Publication date | 1992 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 501 |
| ISBN | 0-349-10323-2 |
| OCLC | 27936578 |
| 823/.914 21 | |
| LC Class | PR6052.A485 C76 1993 |
The Crow Road is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1992. [1]
The novel describes Prentice McHoan's preoccupation with death, sex, his relationship with his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, a missing uncle, cars, alcohol and other intoxicants, and God, against the background of the Scottish landscape. [2]
This Bildungsroman is set in the fictional Argyll town of Gallanach, the real village of Lochgair, and in Glasgow, where the adult Prentice McHoan lives. Prentice's uncle Rory disappeared eight years previously while writing a book called The Crow Road. Prentice becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies.
The estrangement from his father concerns Prentice's belief in a higher power and purpose, and in life after death, all of which his father denies.
A parallel plot is Prentice's gradual transition from an adolescent fixation on one young woman to a more mature love for another.
Prentice's efforts to make sense of Uncle Rory's fragmentary notes and the minimal clues surrounding his disappearance mirror his efforts to understand the world and his place in it. The narrative is nonlinear, leaping back and forth with little or no warning, requiring the reader to piece things together.
The novel combines menace (it contains an account of a "perfect murder") and dark humour (note the opening sentence: "It was the day my grandmother exploded.") with an interesting treatment of love. Banks uses multiple voices and points of view, jumping freely in both time and character. Even minor characters like Prentice's grandmother, the fictional town of Gallanach, and his family's home in Lochgair receive careful description, giving Prentice's life depth and context.
The book follows Prentice's journey of discovery about himself, those he loves, and the ways of the world.
"The Crow Road" is the name of a street in the west of Glasgow, but serves as well as a metaphor for death, as in "He's away the Crow Road". The appropriateness of this title becomes apparent as the novel progresses.
The Crow Road was adapted for television by Bryan Elsley for the BBC in 1996. [3] See The Crow Road .
The Crow Road, Iain Banks, Abacus, 1992, ISBN 0-349-10323-2
Iain Banks was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies. After the success of The Wasp Factory (1984), he began to write full time. His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas, appeared in 1987, marking the start of the Culture series. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
The Wasp Factory is the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1984. Before the publication of The Wasp Factory, Banks had written several science fiction novels that had not been accepted for publication. Banks decided to try a more mainstream novel in the hopes that it would be more readily accepted, and wrote about a psychopathic teenager living on a remote Scottish island. According to Banks, this allowed him to treat the story as something resembling science fiction – the island could be envisaged as a planet, and Frank, the protagonist, almost as an alien. Following the success of The Wasp Factory, Banks began to write full-time.
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Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram is a nonfiction book by Iain Banks, first published in 2003. It is his only nonfiction book.
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Lochgair is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies on the coast of Loch Gair, a small inlet on the west of Loch Fyne. The A83 road runs through the village.
Hamish Macbeth is a Scottish mystery comedy-drama television series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 26 March 1995 to 4 May 1997. It is loosely based on a series of mystery novels by M. C. Beaton. The series concerns a local police officer, Constable Hamish Macbeth, in the fictitious town of Lochdubh on the west coast of Scotland. The title character was played by Robert Carlyle. It consisted of three series, with the first two series containing six episodes and the third containing eight.
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The Hydrogen Sonata is a science fiction novel by Scottish author Iain M. Banks, set in his techno-utopian Culture universe. The hardcover edition was released on 4 October 2012 in the United Kingdom, and on 9 October in the United States. The book's release marked 25 years since the publication of Banks' first Culture novel. A paperback edition of the book was released on 5 September 2013 in the United Kingdom, and on 10 September in the United States. The Hydrogen Sonata was Banks' last science fiction novel, as he died of gall bladder cancer in June 2013.
Stonemouth is a 2012 novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. The novel was published on 5 April 2012 by Little, Brown and Company and follows a man returning to a small seaport town after being forced to flee five years earlier. The Irish Times picked the book as one of their "Books to Read in 2012".
Good Omens 2 episode 2 ~43:30