The Crow Road
From its bravura opening onwards, THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel. 'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.' Prentice McHoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the McHoan past, present and future, he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death, sex, drink, God and illegal substances...
Stats for nerds
13recommend
21mentions
20people
2013–2026years
62% recommend38% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I disagree. Many novels have great openings. "The Horse's Mouth" by Joyce Cary had me from the opening paragraph. I could say the same about "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier or "the Crow Road" by Iain Banks.
We nicknamed "the Matrix Reloaded", the "Mattress Resprung", because for me it illustrated a major problem in films and books... The beginning and end are great but they sag in the middle like an old mattress.
- "Best" is always too hard - here are a handful that I love.
Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susannah Clarke
The Crow Road - Iain Banks
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Black Holes & Time Warps - Kip Thorne
The Inventions of Daedalus - David E H Jones
The Cuckoo's Egg - Cliff Stoll
I hope one or two of those float your boat!
- I loved The Bridge! The first three Culture novels are exceptional: Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons. Highly recommend all three. The rest are probably great too but I haven't read them yet.
I also recommend The Crow Road.
- Yeh, The Crow Road. I met him once working a book signing. He was brilliant, incredibly down to earth, very very funny and an all round good bloke. His books have kept me enthralled, especially Dead Air and Complicity. Helluva read.
- It is -- and it isn't -- fiction, but "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks has been useful to me to reflect on what inter-generational relationships and communities mean and how they develop over time. Enjoy your literary journey.
- “It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
A fabulous first line, from The Crow Road by Iain Banks. Doubly good for me since a friend asked me for a recommendation for an interesting read, and I later discovered that he had sent it, unread, to his grandmother for her birthday.
