Whit

There are far too many novelists and novels in my own opinion. I started this one years ago and quickly gave up. However my curiosity was reawakened when the author came out the victor in not one but two upmarket quiz programmes a few days ago, so I tried again. It was worth it: this book improves as it goes along. I still think there is a certain amount of padding here and there. The reference to Scottish dishes with an Asian flavour - haggis vindaloo, tandoori stovies or some such - was amusing the first time, but the list on p201/2 in this edition is blatant word-spinning. The second paragraph on p176 is the kind of verbiage that articulate people fall into when their concentration is slipping. The incident of the attempted rape near the disused railway bridge is out of context - this part of the story is not about the narrator's experiences but about the locality, and it highlights an interesting aspect of the content of the book. Banks is obviously fascinated by his (and my) native Scotland. The dilapidated railway bridge near the headquarters of the religious cult that is the central theme of the story was part of a line from Balloch to Stirling, as unlikely a route as was ever laid in the railway mania. I was intensely interested in what Banks told me about it, and to return the favour I can inform him that it made its junction with the line to Perth not at Bridge of Allan but at Stirling itself. I think Banks just loves saying `Gargunnock' and `Kippen' to judge by how often he mentions these villages, and he leaves us in no doubt of his fascination with the Pendicles of Collymoon just for its name. The setting is largely rural central Scotland with flashbacks to the Western Isles. The narrator also makes an Odyssey to London, Essex and the West Country in pursuit of a renegade cousin, and the patois of Glasgow and Essex, as well as the Texan grandmother's idiom and attitudes, are all reproduced with an acute ear for the way such speakers really sound. The scene-setting is really rather brilliant. Obviously there is no point in looking for realism in a totally fictional religious cult, but it gets more convincing as one becomes used to it. This is a work of imagination, but my attention was well and truly held by the truthfulness of the depiction of the London squat, the vendors of the racist newspaper and the various drivers with whom the narrator hitches a lift, even if there's just a suspicion that Banks is spinning the last of these out. The book is full of wry humour, and very well put together after the opening chapters. The adolescent narrator gets through a lot of growing up in not many years, but the process is neither ridiculous nor squalid, both of which can be said about what happens to Richard Adams's poor Maia. Some of the writing is very good indeed, like the end of chapter fourteen, and some of the jokes are very good too, like the one about the IRS on p232. It would probably be wrong to pigeonhole this novel into some p

Apparently this isn't one of his more popular books, for reasons I can only speculate . . . in his other wildly criticized work (Canal Dreams) it's fairly obvious what the problems are and your tolerance for those problems is what will make or break the book . . . here any problems aren't quite clear and frankly I don't see any. The book isn't as "shocking" as other Banks book have been, either through the perverse or violent or whatever, but I don't think that's something he's known for as much as those are aspects of some of his novels. It's also a lot longer (I think only Crow Road tops it in pages) than most of his stuff and not as "literary" in style. It's fairly straightforward on the surface, almost earnestly so. But you know what? I like it. The novel tells the story of nineteen year old Isis Whit, the Elect of a what basically is a Cult founded by her grandfather in the middle part of the century, based around peace and love and some other stuff. They have a Festival every four years and her cousin Morag, who is to be the guest of honor, writes a letter stating not only is she not showing up, but she's given up the faith. So Isis goes out to find her but it's not as simple as that and by the time she's done she'll have found out a lot of unpleasant things. Banks gets credit for depicting the cult followers are normal people who are just looking for Truth, so to speak, and coming across as wacky, but essentially levelheaded, as opposed to a bunch of brainwashed zombies. He also gets credit for his sympathetic and balanced portrayal of Isis, who is somewhat naive and very devout but he manages to make her charming instead of annoying, her religious faith is seen more of a natural extension of her instead of a brick she keeps hoisting on people. If there's any big problem with the book it's that the other characters are not as three dimensional as she is and some come off as a tad one-note. Banks alternates the story of Isis' search with the history of the Order itself, weaving in the story and amending it constantly as Isis starts to discover that not all is what it seems. It also provides a look at British life at the end of the 20th century through the eyes of someone who has kept herself mostly separate from that life. Throughout he throws the poor girl into all sorts of amusing situations and tosses out revelations that are not so amusing and I found it a fairly fast and witty read, rarely dragging and consistently entertaining throughout. Perhaps it's not as incisive as it could have been, but it's deftly told and the twists and revelations all work (ie they make sense but they aren't immediately obvious) . . . except the fact that the narrator is the member of a cult the book is about as straightforward as they come. Maybe that turns people off from it. I don't know. I, for one, would recommend it to any Banks fan, it may not singlehandedly propel him to the ranks of the literary masters but it doesn't detract from

I'm trying to catch up on Banks--I had four novels of his on my to-be-read shelf, and thought it time to get to them. I do not know why I was procrastinating, for Banks is one of my favorite authors.The general consensus about this book from the usual sources was that it was one of Banks' minor works, if not his worst since Canal Dreams, roundly despised by Banks fans. Personally, the one Banks novel that I have not cared for was The Bridge, and I suspect that my opinion of that book would change if I read it today. While I can not put Whit next to The Player of Games, Espedair Street, or The Crow Road as one of my favorites, I enjoyed this book much more than I expected given its reputation.The title refers to the last name of the main character, one she shares with several other characters in the book including her grandfather, Salvador Whit, the charismatic leader of the Luskenyter cult. One of the cult doctrines is the reverence for those born on Leap Day, and the Beloved Isis is a third generation Leapyearian. The cult is preparing for one of their special events, the Festival of Love, when they get a letter from Morag, Isis's cousin who is an international music soloist and the festival guest of honor, claiming that she is an apostate (i.e., no longer a cult believer) and will not be attending the Festival. Isis is elected to go among the Unsaved (thus the subtitle) to find Morag and bring her back into the fold.Isis starts off somewhat naive, it not as oblivious as Candide, at least as innocent. It is not hard to see that her growth as a character in this novel is to lose that naivete, to grow up and confront her faith, the world, and the "truth." I loved the endless revelations about the Cult and its background, and the plot had plenty of twists and turns that prevented you from predicting the outcome. If I had to quibble, though, it would have to be in the quick metamorphosis Isis goes through, from innocent and incredulous to world wise and tough. You get some glimpses--foreshadowing--that Isis is not just a waif, but the suddenness of the change is still a little jarring.I can see that this might not be everyone's cup of tea, the subplot regarding faith, trust, and truth appealed to me. Banks is brave to have a main character who is not only religious, but not a follower of a major denomination or belief. I'm convinced the guy could make almost anybody appealing.

Whit looks at a religious cult in contemporary Britain, and a teenage girl's travel and discovery of her family's history. Banks has described himself as an "evangelical atheist", and is famous for dark and awesome plotting. We might expect an apocalyptic cult and gruesome secrets.They're not here, and I think the restraint makes the book much better than going for outright shock. (If you want Aum Shinrikyo or Heaven's Gate you know where to get it.) This is a much more gentle and sympathetic look at the beliefs and life of a person as ordinary and extraordinary as any other.It is perhaps not Banks's best, but it's still very good. If you liked his Culture books but are afraid the "straight" non-sf books might be too dark then this could be a good place to start.

Great satire of society, morality and religion. The occasional Scottish/Indian jokes may be a little opaque to a non-Scot but the main content is a masterful blend of irony and drama. Iain Banks does not compromise, he writes what he thinks is good, we need more virtuosi of this caliber