If you live in Great Britain, you may or may not know that there is currently a television adaptation of this book on Mondays on BBC2, and this is the reason I decided to reread this novel. The Crow Road is a sublime story of an eccentric Scottish family living in the north of Scotland (I'm somewhat shaky on Scottish geography, but if you're familiar with Lochgair or Gallanach, assuming they exist, well, that's where the action takes place). It's a story that spans a couple of generations and the history of the family is mainly told in flashback form, which can be a little confusing as you reorient yourself to whichever character is now leading the narrative, but in a way this adds to the atmosphere.

The plot of the book ostensibly revolves around the disappearance of Prentice's (the protagonist) uncle Rory. However, even if the tale were just about the everyday events in the McHoan and related families, it would be a lovely yarn. The strength of the characters and the detail that Mr. Banks puts into them is superb. You have Kenneth McHoan, father of Prentice, a storyteller for his children and a fierce rationalist, Prentice himself, lovelorn and a bit of a self-confessed waster, Verity, the subject of his desires, and Ashley, the girl he should be lusting after, and just enough more characters to give you the true feeling of family life without confusing you with too many new names and faces.

If you are wondering what I think of the TV version so far, well, it's only had one episode, but I thought they were going too fast through it. Having said that, it's apparent that Mr. Banks' free-flowing style wouldn't work on the screen and so the producers have had to string the story together in a more coherent manner. The casting seems good to me at the moment, but I'll reserve judgement until I see tonight's episode.

PS. If you think there's a very short time between this review and the one of Memnoch the Devil and either I put off reviewing the Anne Rice book, or I was reading them at the same time, well, no, I wasn't and I didn't delay the Memnoch review, it's just that The Crow Road is such a good book I read it in two days...

Ben gives it:

Price: £6.99
Published by: Abacus (ISBN 0-349-10323-2)

last updated: 11th November 1996