Posts Tagged ‘Iain M. Banks’

Iain M. Banks is a Scottish writer who produced literary and science fiction. He is a must read for all scifi fanatics. I only say this to the purists because if you are not a scifi purist, you might find Banks challenging. This is a review of FEERSUM ENDJINN, one of his scifi books. I have no idea if his lit fiction is easier to consume. That is not my genre. He wrote his literary fiction under the name: Iain Banks…without the “M” middle initial. 

The Short Review

I recommend FEERSUM ENDJINN with reservations. Yes read for these reasons: 

1. If you want to gather the fathers and mothers of scifi into your knowledge base, you need to read Banks. Some would say, start with Consider Phlebas (the first novel of his Culture series). I will read that one next. Review will follow.
2. Banks writes honestly in that he is someone who sees technology in his story as a power that infects every aspect of culture (will explain more in the longer review)
3. You find a story thread in this novel that creates tension. The mystery is embedded in the story and characters and even the style of writing, but the reader has to work to figure out the narrative.

My reservations: 

1. Very little of the arc is made plain to the average reader, the story is a nut to crack. Not everyone wants to work that hard.
2. 4 points of view give the narrative its shape, not all of those POVs are created equal
3. One POV is told from the perspective of a creature, probably a bird of some type. It does not know traditional spelling so the reader will have to endure paragraphs that are confusing…reading sentences like this: That woz how we used 2 reech our hoam, 1 ov thi birdz tells me. The narration written in this form is about 1/6 of the book and it was very unpleasant for me to read…even though I knew Banks was doing something experimental and interesting. I wanted to like it, but didn’t.

The Longer Review:

FEERSUM ENDJINN is a story, rated PG or PG-13…Regarding the PG-13 rating, there is a reference to a character in bed with two women…and a couple of other random references to sexual desire that might deem the book PG-13…however, those references reveal character and were not given much airtime overall. For the most part, the characters are not interested in, or engaging with sex. Violence is also not prominent in this story.

The mystery lies in the future earth and in what form it is inhabited. Four characters give the sense of what this reality might be. Seemingly, Earth is really messed up. People are living underground and there is a battle between AI and a computer program that gives human beings their existence. I didn’t fully understand this dynamic from the text, but read a few articles to help me grasp the full meaning. The story was imaginative and made me wonder about the world, but overall…I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters. Maybe Gadfium (on of the POV characters), but ever he/she only sometimes evoked my empathy. I call Gadfium he/she because of the story world that brings characters back from death, but sometimes in male or female or even animal form. 

A book that requires this much work to understand is not a joy for everyone. However, if you want to read the really nerdy people on Banks like Professor Joseph Heath you might begin to understand how groundbreaking was Banks’ vision of the future.

When I read Consider Phlebas later this year, I’ll comment on this more, I hope. For now…you have to read one Banks novel if you’re a fanatic and this one could be the one for you.