The Steep Approach to Garbadale

"The Steep Approach to Garbadale" is the latest literary novel by Iain Banks. Alban, exiled son of the wealthy Wopuld family, has been invited back into the fold for a crucial meeting at the family's Highland retreat (the Garbadale of the title). For several generations the Wopulds have made their fortune in producing the boardgame "Empire!", but now an American corporation wants to buy them out. Alban plans to attend this meeting, not only to voice his opposition to the sale, but also because at this congregation - perhaps the last which will involve the whole family - he may be able to find from them answers to questions he has held long in his mind. What is the truth behind his mother's suicide over thirty years ago? And what are his true feelings for Sophie, his cousin and first love? The story is divided between two main timeframes, through which Banks explores the complex web of characters - each one colourful and many of them eccentric - which make up the far-flung Wopuld family. The first of these timeframes takes place in the present, as Alban attempts to rally the family against the American takeover bid. The second takes the reader through various episodes from Alban's past, including his teenage tryst with Sophie. Both are woven together seamlessly and skillfully, in a way which does not disrupt the narrative. Indeed on the whole Banks' style flows well and is easy to read. His command of detail in each scene is excellent and it is possible for the reader to feel fully immersed in every new setting - and there are many, from Alban's childhood home at Lydcombe, Somerset, to exotic Hong Kong, sweltering Singapore, and the hilly environs of Garbadale House. In addition, Banks is expert at capturing on page the raw emotion and humanity of his characters (the intensity of Alban's summer affair with Sophie stands out in particular) but is also able to do humour at the same time, something which is evident in the fast-paced and consistently good dialogue. This is not to say that the book is without its faults. Firstly, the resolution feels somewhat rushed and in many ways too neat for the complicated network of familial relationships that Banks spends the book depicting. Also, though the majority of the book is narrated in the third person, there is also, confusingly, an occasional first-person narrator known as 'Tango', who appears in only three short sections and has apparently very little relevance to the story. These small points aside, however, "The Steep Approach to Garbadale" is a very good and engaging book, and one that I can easily recommend.

I've been a long time fan of Banks, but always more drawn to his science fiction work, which has been consistent and powerful. In "The Steep Approach to Garbadale", he has created a highly sympathetic character, and a richly neurotic family as backdrop. The snapshot storytelling, a difficult skill to master, was used to great effect to illustrate the deep conflict driving the protagonist's actions. While far from "morally traditional", Bank's portrayal of teenage love, as well as modern, disjointed relationships is spot on, and touching. I tremendously enjoyed this book, and would recommend it heartily for new and old Banks fans alike.

Iain Banks has been publishing books in both the fiction/drama and science fiction genres since his controversial first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. During this time he has built quite an international following that is well-justified. His latest effort, THE STEEP APPROACH TO GARBADALE, finds him in fine form and very well may be his best novel to date. The story begins with young renegade Alban McGill being sought out by his cousin, Fielding, who is seeking him on behalf of family matriarch Grandma Win. Alban's family, the Wopulds, have built a fortune on a board game called Empire! (which closely resembles Risk). Empire! has existed for nearly a century and undergone many incarnations during this time --- most recently, a popular video game version. The family had gone into business with an American game company called Spraint, which now owns 25% of the Wopuld Corporation. Fielding's goal is to find cousin Alban and bring him to the family estate at Garbadale for a meeting of the entire family to vote on whether or not they should sell off the remaining 75% of their company to the Spraint Corporation. Alban has stayed away from his family for over nine months for a number of reasons --- disillusionment with the family business and avoidance of certain family members who constantly remind him of controversial events that occurred in his past being the main reasons for his self-imposed exile. Banks does a masterful job of flipping back and forth between the present and the past. In Alban's past, there is controversy over his birth (who exactly is his real father?) and whether or not his birth mother intended to abort him. He is also dealing with his mother's suicide and questions over the events that caused this. The most explicit secret in Alban's past, however, is the summertime affair he had as a teenager with his cousin, Sophie, while staying at Grandma Win's Garbadale estate. Alban has never gotten over the affair or Sophie, and it has shaped him into the man he is today and defined all of his successive relationships (particularly with members of the opposite sex). Banks keeps the reader anxiously turning the pages in a way that a great thriller might. The Wopuld family and their board game corporation at times reminded me of the Ewing family of TV's "Dallas." In this case, family matriarch and the most powerful member of the Wopuld Corporation board, Grandma Win, is the J.R. Ewing of the book. Alban and his cousin spend much of the novel traveling around Europe seeking out family members to encourage their attendance at Garbadale for both Grandma Win's birthday party and the voting on whether or not the family company should be sold to the American Spraint Corporation. Secretly, Alban is anxious to meet up with his cousin Sophie, who he has only seen once in the many years since their secret affair. What Alban does not plan on is the unveiling of certain secrets that shaped his past and may very well change his entire future. It

This book hasn't been reviewed too kindly, but I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I'm a long-time Banks reader and, though I don't much like his SF, his literary fiction always gives me something to think about. True, it's not as good as some of his earlier novels, but I found myself liking the protagonist, Alban, very much. He's a kind of black sheep who has all but abandoned the family business, but finds himself enmeshed in the debate about the proposed American buy-out as an advocate for not selling. For Alban, who owns so few shares that his voting power is virtually irrelevant, it's a matter of principle. Alban is very much a lefty and resents the commercial imperialism of the Americans. That resentment comes to the fore near the end of the book, when he lets fly at one of the (admittedly stereotypical) American executives about everything he hates about American politics and foreign policy. It's not subtle, but it adds a political dimension to the way you interpret the book. Indeed, you could read it as a leftist political statement against US imperialism - at least partly. Interlaced with the business stuff is the family stuff, notably Alban's obsession with his cousin Sophie. Yes, it's a little soapy, but I found it quite fascinating. The family story is told through narrative that jumps backwards and forwards in time. Time-jumping can be annoying if not done well, and I think Banks does it well enough here. I didn't find it obtrusive or confusing. For me, it progressively built layers of complexity that illuminated the family dynamics. Certainly the novel has its flaws, but nonetheless, I think it's Banks' best effort since Complicity.

Since we share a common language and cultural heritage, you'd think Americans and Brits would see the world the same way. Well, we don't, and that's the point of Iain Banks' wry and clever take on globalization and its discontents. This novel celebrates the thorny particularity of its English and Scottish characters, pitting them against the seductions of American-style global capitalism. Alban McGill is a member of the Wopuld family. For over a century, the Wopulds have made a nice living selling the Victorian-era board game Empire! (it resembles Risk) first in cardboard and then in electronic form. When an American videogame company lobs in a bid to buy out the Wopulds, Alban's grandmother, Win, the iron-willed matriarch who runs the company, summons the clan for a meeting at Garbadale, the family estate in Scotland. Alban's conflicted about the sale. The family can't resist so much money, he thinks, but should resist American cultural hegemony on general principles. He's even more conflicted about the Wopuld family: when he was two, his mother killed herself by wading into the loch at Garbadale wearing a stone-filled coat; he has unresolved feelings for his cousin Sophie, with whom he had an adolescent love affair; he climbed the ladder in the family firm, only to lose heart in his early thirties and resign. Since then he's drifted, working as a forester, intermittently touching down in the bed of Verushka, the quirky Glasgow mathematician he may even love, and vaguely trying to align his life with his leftish political sentiments. Banks writes a tight, colloquial prose that deftly captures the inner worlds of Alban and his compatriots. The messy aftermath of Alban and Cousin Sophie's teenage affair is told with a graceful emotional restraint that seems to be the peculiar province of British writers. And he's perceptive about the difficulties of getting a proper emotional grip on a corporate job. Alban wants meaning from his work, but sees that capitalist firms, family-run or otherwise, often squeeze out meaning while they're squeezing out profits. After meeting up with his cousin Fielding, Alban makes a half-hearted attempt to organize family opposition to the Spraint Corporation's buyout offer. The story climaxes at the Garbadale gathering and there the tumblers of the plot click smoothly into place. Alban resolves his feelings for Sophie and figures out what Verushka means to him. The family votes on the sale. When Win unwraps the mystery surrounding the death of Alban's mother, a well-prepared-for plot shock is nicely delivered. Two Spraint executives arrive to convince the family to accept their bid for the company. Unlike the nuanced portraits of the Wopulds and Alban's Scottish mates, the Americans are caricatures. The senior executive is a platitude-spouting capitalist tool; his underling is a born-again, right-wing supporter of America's intervention in Iraq. In his interactions with them, Alban becomes a s