A review by windhover
Lanark by Alasdair Gray

4.0

This book is really good but not one I would recommend to everyone. The protagonist can be pretty nasty at times and foolish at other times. The novel is split into two clear sections: one that is fantastic and strongly allegorical; the other, a realistic story of the development of a young artist, like Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. The two link up fairly well, but there is still a distinct shift in the feel at the transitions between the two.

Here's a quote I liked: "A good life means fighting to be human under growing difficulties. A lot of young folk know this and fight very hard, but after a few years life gets easier for them and they think they've become completely human when they've only stopped trying."