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Original Title:	Stonemouth
ISBN:	1408702509 (ISBN13: 9781408702505)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Stewart Gilmour
Setting:	Stonemouth Kincardineshire, Scotland

Stonemouth

Iain Banks

Hardcover | Pages: 357 pages

Rating: 3.78 | 6039 Users | 566 Reviews

Commentary During Books Stonemouth

iain (m.) banks writes supersmart sci-fi books that "you wouldn't understand, karen."

but he also wrote this, which i am proud to say i completely understand, and i really enjoyed.

it is a crime thriller, set in a small town in scotland, which is presided over by two competing, but not actively warring, gangster families who have made their fortunes and reputations getting their hands dirty. and not by doing any manual labor, yeah? although whacking people is, i suppose, technically "manual."

stewart gilmour has returned to his hometown for a funeral for one of the family's patriarchs, after having been run out of town five years earlier in a "romeo and juliet gone bad" situation. he and his juliet didn't plan a suicide pact so much as "he cheated on her", and then had to escape to london when her thug-brothers came looking for him. he became successful in exile, but never really got over his past.

so now he is back in town for the funeral of the man who also happens to be his ex-fiance's grandfather. will he see old friends? will people try to hurt him?? will he reconnect with his scorned love? will he reminisce and kick himself for his mistakes?? will the two families start to feel the tension when the prodigal returns home?? will there be supplementary mysteries to drive the plot? yes, all of these things.

and it is very good. he does the smalltown thing so well, and his supporting characters are well-drawn and sweet and funny (or terrifying, depending on the character), and he manages to create a believable microcosm, complete with backstory childhood flashbacks and a shared history of loves and grievances. so many scenes came to life with a vibrancy that made me feel as though i were an observer rather than a reader, and the bantering and anecdotes were just spot-on. (the pop-tart story was probably the funniest one, with the most perfect delivery)

the only problem i had was with the pop-culture references. they just seemed oddly misplaced in the world banks created, for some reason. it was the one instance where he didn't seem in control of his prose, and they jutted out at me. maybe it's because he has this reputation as being a brilliant, brilliant man, "you wouldn't understand them, karen," and when brilliant people talk down to us, it just feels off, but this might just be a personal gripe and others might not notice.*

but - yes - a great thriller with great characters. and i didn't feel confused or dumb even once! at least, not because of the book - life is a different story.


* i have since read other reviews of this book on the goodreads, and no - it is not just me!! phew.

come to my blog!

Mention Appertaining To Books Stonemouth

Title	:	Stonemouth
Author	:	Iain Banks
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 357 pages
Published	:	April 5th 2012 by Little, Brown (first published 2012)
Categories	:	Fiction. Cultural. Scotland. Mystery. Contemporary. Crime

Rating Appertaining To Books Stonemouth

Ratings: 3.78 From 6039 Users | 566 Reviews

Piece Appertaining To Books Stonemouth

This is a book about the relationship between the past and the present. It is a subject Banks writes about a lot, and a common factor between his realist fiction and science-fiction. In the latter case, the present happens to be the past, in the former, vice-versa.The protagonist specializes in floodlighting and his first word is 'Clarity'. This automatically makes me think he will be an unreliable narrator but Banks could well be playing a double-bluff game. That opening word also reads like an

I really really really enjoyed Stonemouth. It's a very typical Iain Banks with definite comparisons to The Crow Road. It's set in a remote Scottish village with a cast of violent mafia styled characters (Are the Murstons really the Sopranos?) There's drugs, sex, gambling, murder....Stonemouth has it all. Sadly, there won't be any more books from Iain Banks. I've still got The Quarry to read and I think I'll go back through some of the older novels over time. But if you've never read any of his

Romance NoirScottish writer Iain Banks died earlier this year [2013]. I had not heard of him until seeing his name in the best-of-the-year lists of several writers for the Guardian and the Observer, so I thought I would try one. At random, though; I have no idea if this novel is among his best or even typical of his style. But it is pretty darned impressive.Open the book, and you immediately wonder whether this should not have been shelved in the mystery and thriller section. It begins in

A young man, Stewart, returns to the small town that he grew up in to attend the funeral of an elder of an influential and shady family and revisits old wounds and the act of indiscretion that causes him to leave his childhood home in the first place. The premise is interesting enough, but the patchy writing and stilted dialogue are letdowns to an otherwise promising story.Perhaps Banks tries too hard to make the setting and the youth of the protagonist credible - e.g. isn't it always the young

I loved this book. I've read everything Banks has written and think this is probably his best, certainly up there with them anyway and better than his recent novels. Why? Because its a simple story written very well. He doesn't confuse the reader with science or technology, this book is set in the real world and is utterly believable. Such is his way that I couldn't help but read it quickly but then I realised I'd finished it and was going to miss it. The relationship between Stewart and Ellie

I've been kind of cherry picking the most notable Banks novels so far, and this is the first that I had no prior knowledge of, so was slightly worried it wouldn't be as good. No need to worry - very enjoyable book. I've come to realise it's his characters and their interactions that I really love about his writing - very real, and human feeling, and often quite evocative of my childhood growing up in Scotland. Interesting, compact and engaging story essentially about a relationship with a girl,

The dialogue in this book is superb, I could see how it would translate into great TV or film. This is a thoroughly good yarn too; centred around a found man who skips town after upsetting a local crime family, the plot held my attention throughout, as did the love story which is the real meat of the book. In summary, it's an excellent read and in my eyes only fell short of 5 stars because it's not quite as good as Dead Air (not many books are!)