Scan barcode
reading_on_the_road's review
4.0
Anyone who has ever briefly returned to the small town they grew up in and found everything to be more or less exactly as they left it will find a lot to enjoy in this novel. Would have been 5 stars but for a few annoyingly unanswered questions.
vanessar's review
4.0
After five years away, Stewart is back in his home town of Stonemouth. He has returned to attend the funeral of a man he first met as an adolescent - a man who happens to be the father of Donald Murston, the head of one of two criminal gangs that run this small Scottish town with the approval and respect of the police. It soon becomes clear that Stewart was forced to leave town five years earlier by the Murstons following a misdemeanour and has only now been allowed to return for a few days. A truce appears to be called in the first chapter, but things swiftly go downhill for Stewart as this initial goodwill does not appear to be shared by all members of the family. As he reconnects with old friends, he tries to come to terms with his guilt over past deeds and regain contact with former love Ellie (also of the Murston clan) while trying to stay in one piece.
Stewart is a typical Iain Banks hero in that he is smart and somewhat cocksure. While not as cocky and prone to ranting as the guy in Dead Air he is, like him, in love with an unfeasibly beautiful woman with dangerous connections. Stewart’s friends are all likable characters, ranging from the endearingly dim to razor-sharp witty. By contrast, the gangsters of the protagonist’s generation are all pretty thick and very violent. The novel is fast-paced, funny and an enjoyable quick read. Some of the descriptions, especially of the very minor characters who only appear once or twice, are to the point and highly recognisable. My only quibble is with the female characters in this novel. Ellie (the love interest) seems almost too good to be true: beautiful, intelligent, calm and controlled, she stays out of the family business without rebelling against it but can’t seem to stick with anything since the events of five years ago. Her sister Grier is slightly more interesting: slightly less beautiful and much less calm, she is a bit more proactive than the passive Ellie. I felt both women could have been made more interesting. But in the end they are only supporting characters in this story about Stewart’s rite-of-passage realisation of what’s important in life.
Stewart is a typical Iain Banks hero in that he is smart and somewhat cocksure. While not as cocky and prone to ranting as the guy in Dead Air he is, like him, in love with an unfeasibly beautiful woman with dangerous connections. Stewart’s friends are all likable characters, ranging from the endearingly dim to razor-sharp witty. By contrast, the gangsters of the protagonist’s generation are all pretty thick and very violent. The novel is fast-paced, funny and an enjoyable quick read. Some of the descriptions, especially of the very minor characters who only appear once or twice, are to the point and highly recognisable. My only quibble is with the female characters in this novel. Ellie (the love interest) seems almost too good to be true: beautiful, intelligent, calm and controlled, she stays out of the family business without rebelling against it but can’t seem to stick with anything since the events of five years ago. Her sister Grier is slightly more interesting: slightly less beautiful and much less calm, she is a bit more proactive than the passive Ellie. I felt both women could have been made more interesting. But in the end they are only supporting characters in this story about Stewart’s rite-of-passage realisation of what’s important in life.
roba's review
4.0
The Iain Banks I've enjoyed most that isn't an Iain Mmmmm Banks for (checks publication date of The Crow Road) 21 years!
Many of the Iain Banks obsessions are here: a bridge, a ridiculous death, guilt about being well-off and socialist etc. - possibly just to make the author happy, if nothing else. Which is absolutely fine because Iain Banks when he's happy makes for great books. Solid and matter-of-fact and foggy and dreamy.
Also, I think Banks handles both smartphones etc. and the first generation to grow up with them second nature, something that's always a danger and has been really messed up by much younger writers. That's what I think, anyway, though I'm not of the generation best placed to judge. The only note I wasn't sure of was when he has the narrator listen to Plan B. Does that mean Banks thinks he's meant to be cool? Or an idiot? Does it mean he is cool? Or an idiot? I've no idea. Anyway, I didn't let that sentence stop me enjoying the book (for more than a couple of pages).
Many of the Iain Banks obsessions are here: a bridge, a ridiculous death, guilt about being well-off and socialist etc. - possibly just to make the author happy, if nothing else. Which is absolutely fine because Iain Banks when he's happy makes for great books. Solid and matter-of-fact and foggy and dreamy.
Also, I think Banks handles both smartphones etc. and the first generation to grow up with them second nature, something that's always a danger and has been really messed up by much younger writers. That's what I think, anyway, though I'm not of the generation best placed to judge. The only note I wasn't sure of was when he has the narrator listen to Plan B. Does that mean Banks thinks he's meant to be cool? Or an idiot? Does it mean he is cool? Or an idiot? I've no idea. Anyway, I didn't let that sentence stop me enjoying the book (for more than a couple of pages).
fankle's review
4.0
I listened to an audio book version narrated by Peter Kenny. Very well read/performed. Enjoyable story. A solid 3.5 more than a 4 but am feeling generous so will round it up.
janhicks's review
4.0
This is one of the best Iain Banks novels I've read. It's on a par with The Crow Road for plot and character realisation. Banks is very good at creating flawed but likeable characters. As with many of Banks' leading men, Stewart is a bit of an idiot, but not an annoying idiot. He's just human. The rest of the cast of characters could easily have been ciphers but Banks imbues them with enough humanity to make them matter as people as well as tools to move the plot along. The story itself is funny and sad and tragic and scary, set in a remote Scottish town run by rival criminal families who maintain a veneer of civility while using murder and violence as a means to control the population when their power is threatened. Stewart has had to leave town for a stupid mistake that offended one of the families and is now returning 5 years later for a funeral. He has to negotiate the politics of the town as though he's in a mediaeval court. As the book progresses, we find out what it is that Stewart did, and who else was involved. It's an ancient story that could have been a Greek tragedy or a play by Shakespeare but instead spans the first two decades of this century.
creepysnowman's review
4.0
I'd only previously read "The Wasp Factory" by Banks, and none of the sci-fi he's most known for.
I found Stonemouth to be a gripping read; though, I must admit, it took awhile to get over the fact that nothing supernatural was going to happen.
That said, I enjoyed the characters immensely, and thought there was a depth to most of them that made the story thoughtful and rewarding.
There is a bit of a Romeo and Juliet flavour to the book at times, with the two ruling families in the "toun", but it's never used to cop out on the relationships, and the characters taking ownership for their actions.
Worth a read.
I found Stonemouth to be a gripping read; though, I must admit, it took awhile to get over the fact that nothing supernatural was going to happen.
That said, I enjoyed the characters immensely, and thought there was a depth to most of them that made the story thoughtful and rewarding.
There is a bit of a Romeo and Juliet flavour to the book at times, with the two ruling families in the "toun", but it's never used to cop out on the relationships, and the characters taking ownership for their actions.
Worth a read.
tomlloyd's review
5.0
Loved it. A simple story that nevertheless kept me wanting to read on for hours because of the flawed humanity of the characters and the warm, easy prose of a Scot writing about Scotland. The innate humour of the prose and quiet sadness made this elegant but not forced and a pleasure to read from start to finish.
halfmanhalfbook's review
4.0
Some of this book is classic Banks: highly charged situation, dysfunctional main characters and an unnerving start, but it doesn't quite have the same twist that a lot of his other fiction has.
That said, it is written very well, and makes for a compelling read. Can only give it four stars though.