Scan barcode
A review by facsimiler
The Business by Iain Banks
4.0
An interesting tale of manipulation and deceit...
Kathryn Telman is a Level 3 executive in a clandestine, global organization that calls itself The Business, which has survived for thousands of years with its roots in the Roman Empire. Level 1 executives are board members and all of them have personal wealth estimated in the billions.
Kathryn has risen quickly, and is one of the youngest people ever to achieve her current rank (she is in her late 30's). While ambitious and living a luxury, jet-set life of privilege, with her home in the hills above Silicon Valley, her life is now a far cry from her underprivileged upbringing in Scotland. Discovered selling candies at a high mark-up price, she chances to impress the wealthy and mysterious Ms. Telman, and is eventually adopted by her, with her mother's permission and support. Ms. Telman was a senior executive in The Business, and Kathryn had been groomed to follow in her footsteps.
Taking a sabbatical year to study new technologies, for which she has developed a reputation for the early identification of successful products and trends, Kathryn finds herself enmeshed in The Business's attempts to claim a seat at the United Nations by effectively taking over and running a small country.
As successful and as shrewd as Kathryn is, she still finds herself manipulated and lied to in order to further the goals of both The Business and some of its more senior executives.
All in all, this is a good read, full of Banks's trademark humor, thoughtful observations and darker undercurrents. I personally found the nature of The Business a little unrealistic: the way Banks describes it makes it sound like any large, acquisitive, multinational conglomerate—if a little more democratic in its internal operations than others—but doesn't explain how the organization maintains its secrecy. In practice, it must recruit people from other companies, but how does it prevent their operations from becoming known more widely known when their operatives choose to depart? We do not get to find out. Nevertheless, I'm sure conspiracy theorists will love the concept of The Business, and will even be able to conjure up one or two real-world matches.
However, I personally found the ending a little lame, and despite the opportunities provided by the plot, there is little in the way of menace or excitement.
Kathryn Telman is a Level 3 executive in a clandestine, global organization that calls itself The Business, which has survived for thousands of years with its roots in the Roman Empire. Level 1 executives are board members and all of them have personal wealth estimated in the billions.
Kathryn has risen quickly, and is one of the youngest people ever to achieve her current rank (she is in her late 30's). While ambitious and living a luxury, jet-set life of privilege, with her home in the hills above Silicon Valley, her life is now a far cry from her underprivileged upbringing in Scotland. Discovered selling candies at a high mark-up price, she chances to impress the wealthy and mysterious Ms. Telman, and is eventually adopted by her, with her mother's permission and support. Ms. Telman was a senior executive in The Business, and Kathryn had been groomed to follow in her footsteps.
Taking a sabbatical year to study new technologies, for which she has developed a reputation for the early identification of successful products and trends, Kathryn finds herself enmeshed in The Business's attempts to claim a seat at the United Nations by effectively taking over and running a small country.
As successful and as shrewd as Kathryn is, she still finds herself manipulated and lied to in order to further the goals of both The Business and some of its more senior executives.
All in all, this is a good read, full of Banks's trademark humor, thoughtful observations and darker undercurrents. I personally found the nature of The Business a little unrealistic: the way Banks describes it makes it sound like any large, acquisitive, multinational conglomerate—if a little more democratic in its internal operations than others—but doesn't explain how the organization maintains its secrecy. In practice, it must recruit people from other companies, but how does it prevent their operations from becoming known more widely known when their operatives choose to depart? We do not get to find out. Nevertheless, I'm sure conspiracy theorists will love the concept of The Business, and will even be able to conjure up one or two real-world matches.
However, I personally found the ending a little lame, and despite the opportunities provided by the plot, there is little in the way of menace or excitement.