The Crow Road cover art

The Crow Road

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The Crow Road

By: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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About this listen

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.…

©1992 Iain Banks (P)2013 Hachette Digital Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Suspense Fiction Exciting

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Critic reviews

"Riveting...exhilarating...its pace, development, intensity, and, above all, its hip and sexy humour never allow it to flag. Banks reinforces his credentials as one of the most able, energetic, and stimulating writers in the UK." (Time Out)

"As fine and ambitious a novel as any from a Scottish writer since the 1960s." (New Statesman)
All stars
Most relevant
Have so enjoyed this book it makes you laugh out loud. Never read or heard anything from this author before. Thank you to another Audible reviewer I have now found a gem

Laugh out Loud

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Very enjoyable, utterly satisfying family saga and coming of age tale, full of family secrets and discoveries. Iain Banks's humour really twinkled wryly throughout and Peter Kenny's narration was great.

My only criticism would be that it took me a while to get used to the jumping back and forth in time in the beginning and I sometimes wasn't sure who was who and when was when. I'm sure that this is a problem only with the format and you would probably follow this much more easily if you were reading on paper - just takes a bit of concentration at first on audio. (Might be me, I tend to listen whilst cooking & cleaning and sometimes the attention drifts.)
Anyway, enjoy!

Great fun

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The Crow Road has simply the best opening paragraph of any novel.
Instantly hooked.
Banks at his waspish best.

A brilliant story

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The story is a bit hard to follow in places due to the author playing with the sequence of the time line, but it really doesn't matter. The narrator brings the characters to life so that you can recognise them all in their various ages across time. A great listening experience.

A fine story - A wonderful narrator

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Loved this book. A little confusing at times as the timelines jumped but soon adjusted to it.
Highly recommend it.

Excellent narration

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