"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." So begins Iain Banks' "The Crow Road, " the tale of Prentice McHoan and his complex but enduring Scottish family. Prentice, preoccupied with thoughts of sex, death, booze, drugs, and God, has returned to his home village of Gallanach full of questions about the McHoan past, present, and ...
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"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." So begins Iain Banks' "The Crow Road, " the tale of Prentice McHoan and his complex but enduring Scottish family. Prentice, preoccupied with thoughts of sex, death, booze, drugs, and God, has returned to his home village of Gallanach full of questions about the McHoan past, present, and future. When his beloved Uncle Rory disappears, Prentice becomes obsessed with the papers Rory left behind -- the notes and sketches for a book called "The Crow Road." With the help of an old friend, Prentice sets out to solve the mystery of his uncle's disappearance, inadvertently confronting the McHoans' long association with tragedy -- an association that includes his sister's fatal car crash and his father's dramatic death by lightning. "The Crow Road" is a coming-of-age story as only Iain Banks could write -- an arresting combination of dark humor, menace, and thought-provoking meditations on the nature of love, mortality, and identity.
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Add this copy of The Crow Road to cart. $3.93, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by MacAdam/Cage Publishing.
Add this copy of The Crow Road to cart. $3.97, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by MacAdam/Cage Publishing.
Add this copy of The Crow Road to cart. $12.93, good condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Macadam Cage Pub.
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Seller's Description:
This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear. This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear.
Add this copy of The Crow Road to cart. $32.57, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Macadam Cage Pub.
Add this copy of The Crow Road to cart. $58.94, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Macadam Cage Pub.
Add this copy of The Crow Road [Signed] to cart. $100.00, good condition, Sold by Second Story Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Rockville, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1992 by MacAdam/Cage.
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Seller's Description:
Book. Octavo, 501 pages. In Very Good plus condition with a Very Good plus condition dust jacket. White slipcase with silver gilted lettering along front and rear cover and spine and mild wear along tail edge. White and forest photo spine with white and black lettering. Dust jacket has mild shelving wear and mild wear along spine. Boards have staining along front board and front joint, and mild wear along head edge. Textblock has mild wear along head edge and mild staining along head edge. Signed flat by Banks on loose card between front pastedown and end page. Shelved Alcove #1. 1382126. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
"It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony with Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallenach." This was the first Iain Banks novel I read, but it wasn't the last. It is brilliant - so imaginative, energetic, and original that I truly couldn't put it down. Plus the first paragraph is one of the greatest EVER. This is a wry, poignant, sexy family saga which paints a vivid picture of growing up in Scotland in the early nineties. Prentice McHoan is an attractive hero, a sarcastic, self-deprecating college student who begins to question his family's past, and in the process uncovers a ten year old mystery. He is also preoccupied with sex, drugs, alcohol, death, his relationship with his estranged father, and the unrequited love of his life. The wonderful thing about The Crow Road is that it's so unexpected: when you are positive you know what will happen next, Banks veers in some completely new direction. And the language is always fresh and engaging. To borrow a phrase, Banks jitterbugs up one page and watusis down the next: "Grandma Margot was humming to herself; she sounded happy. I wondered if she was recalling her tryst in the Lagonda's back seat. Certainly I was recalling mine; it was on the same piece of cracked and creaking, buttoned and fragrant upholstery - some years after my gran's last full sexual experience - that I had my first. This sort of thing keeps happening in my family." Don't walk, run to buy this book. You won't be sorry.
![The Crow Road [Signed]](https://www4.alibris-static.com/imageid/2080416588_t.jpg)
