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The Business

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The Business

By: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Harriet Kershaw
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About this listen

Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organisation whose origins predate the Christian Church. Financially transparent, internally democratic it wants to buy its own state in order to acquire a seat at the United Nations.

Kate's job is to keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach encompasses Silicon Valley to the remote Himalayas. In the course of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and the assumptions of a lifetime. She must learn to keep the world at arm's length. To take control, she has to do The Business.

©1999 Iain Banks (P)2013 Hachette Audio Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Business

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Critic reviews

"Imagination, wit and complexity are Banks' hallmarks and The Business is no exception" (Sunday Express)
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l was suprised how much i enjoyed the narration,having expected Scottish accents.lenjoyed the main character's ppersonality,her being female a large part of this.l loved her travels, the scenery descriptions and also the mystery with its sense of danger l will read it again!

The Business

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It’s good to hear an intelligent and strong female lead character, with anticipation and unexpected turns.

Descriptive language

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A typical Iain Banks novel. As with several others it involves a large gathering at a big house, although this appears nearer the beginning.

On reservation is that during discussions between an American woman and a Scottsh women, the accents blend into one another

Typical Banks

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I'm a fan of Iain Banks's novels since The Wasp Factory, and am well used to the range of subjects and storylines that he created. I must confess that I'm a bit bemused by this one. It's more of a mood piece than many of the others; nothing weird, no great twists. It creates its' own world, with characters coming and going, countries being visited, and business practices being discussed. You don't need to understand the latter, I'm glad to say. The lead is a woman who has her outlook on life, which doesn't really change, well not until the very end when suddenly it does. Maybe it was just me and everyone else would have seen it coming. It felt tacked on, but others may feel differently.
Harriet Kershaw did a good job of the narration, although my wife said she didn't like her voice. Kershaw managed to show a good range of accents, and her male voices (unlike some other female attempts at them) were good and didn't resort to almost comical tones. She didn't need to inject real pace at any point of the storyline, but always conveyed a suitable mood.
I'm not sure who to recommend this book to. It's not a clearly male novel, with it's woman lead and non-stereotypical business types, but it's definitely not a chick-lit book either (yes, I know women read all sorts of other books as well, my wife is one of them). I think maybe Banks was exploring a range of things with this novel; I'd be intrigued to read any comments he has made about it. Have a listen if it touches your interests, but don't expect a page-turner in any respect.

Good, interesting, but not a page-turner.

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An excellent story (well, it's Iain Banks so say no more) really brought to life by the superb narration of Harriet Kershaw--a wonderfully gifted narrator who I will be seeking out for further titles.

Fabulous!

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