Customer Reviews

Bunker Man

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am somewhat reluctant to post a review only a few days after I've read the book but I've had Bunker Man on my 'to read' pile for several months. I read all the reviews long before I bought the book but I finally decided it was something that I wanted to read despite the negative reviews, being a fan of Scottish fiction. And I've got to say that I was marginally impressed.

To address previous reviews, yes, the book is graphic, offensive, contains horrible language, is not a mystery, is hardly a thriller, and lacks a certain amount of character development, as most of it is spent on protagonist Robbie Catto. Having said that, if you don't mind any of the above, I think that Bunker Man is a fine piece of Scottish fiction.

This book paints a rather unsettling picture of a school janitor as he sinks into a psychotic paranoia. And yet, the reader can't help but see some good in him even after he's done his best to alienate himself from society and the reader's sympathies. At the very least McLean is gifted at eliciting emotion from the reader.

If you're a devotee of Scottish fiction and have a strong constitution, give it a try. I was more than happy I took the time to read it. I guess its because of the presence of the bunker, but I was immediately reminded of Iain Banks' similarly controversial yet brilliant Wasp Factory. McLean's style of fiction fits well into that of his contemporaries such as Banks, Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and James Kelman.

This is a wonderfully written book that does what really good fiction should do: it stays with you and makes you rethink its characters' motives and actions over and over.

I write this in response to the reviews which call this book irresponsible and/or perverse and/or glorying in immoral behavior. I find this critique to be without basis. If reading books or watching plays about immoral activities is immoral, then let's start with banning Macbeth and move on from there.

Yes, this book is creepy, but that's the point. It is extremely effective creepiness.

Haunting and disturbing. Not for those who dislike strong language and graphic descriptions of sex activities. I loked the book for the wonderful portrayal of place. The writer catches speech rhythms perfectly--including prolific use of four letter words, commonly used in those parts. The author describes Robbie's descent into insanity while maintaining the readers sympathy for him almost to the end, at the same time rousing pity for his victims. However the book fails at the end --it stops as if the author had got up from his desk one day and never returned. Something else was needed to round off the story without leaving the reader hanging. Reads like a promising first novel by a writer who will go far.

I would first like to say that I'm not one who is easily offended. Icurse like a sailor and am tired of PC. I try to give everything its fair shake and try not to make snap judgements about things, especially literature, until I have all the facts. That being said, this book ended up thrown against my wall when I finished it. I felt violated, not only by the disgusting and horrible actions by the characters in the book, but by the book in general. I was generally unimpressed by the writing, the characters had little to no redeeming qualities. You can see this in the detailed descriptions of various sex acts, most of which are extraneous to the already muddled plot. What about that Bunker Man? How incidental was he? There is the question of whether or not he exists and is just a part of Rob's psyche. I don't know, and frankly I don't give a damn. If I could give this a 1/2 star or a negative star, I would.

This was a hard book. It's well-written technically, and the Scottish dialect gives it a certain charm. The first third, at least, was pretty enjoyable. But the subject, this apparently well-adjusted man's descent into madness and jealous brutality, makes it hard to recommend. I tend to try and encourage my wife to read books I've finished and enjoyed, but not this one.

One thing that bothers me about the book is that there's no investigation as to what causes Robbie to descend into this madness: apparently he hasn't always been this way, or at least no one else has noticed it, but he sinks deeper and deeper into this ghastly, inexorable schizophrenia. It sort of has the feel of a play in that regard, something from Tennesee Williams or Ibsen.

As an aside, I saw the author at a reading shortly after the book came out, and he certainly didn't seem like the sort of person who would have crafted a book so bleak and brutal.

Here we have yet another Scottish writer (cf. Iain Bank's "The Wasp Factory", Irvine Welsh's "Filth")who seems to have mastered the art of entering the head of a total psycho and writing about it all in a very unsensational offhand way so that the tension sneaks up on you. This is a very short and quick read, and I don't want to give anything away, but I'll just say that it's a pretty disturbing portrait of a man's decent into paranoia. BTW, there's lots of sex--much of it pretty unpleasant. Not everyone is going to like the ending, but I thought it was effective and the best resolution for all that preceded it. A good example of economic, yet evocative, writing.

The writing is good but in general, the story lacks originality. Maybe I've read too many books of this sort, but the plot development and the ending itself were far from surprising. Maclean should have spent more time in developing the characters other than Robbie Catto. Using perspectives other than Robbie's to present story details would leave the reader with a more complete understanding of Maclean's intentions. Is this a story about insanity creeping up on someone? Or is it a story about how accepting modern people are of another's mental instability and their willingness to turn a blind eye? I was doubtful that the Bunker Man character even existed outside of Robbie's head for most of the book. This seems due to Maclean's unintended obliqueness -- and a problem with keeping Robbie's viewpoint front and center all the time. On the positive side, this didn't take long to read and some of the writing is exemplary. Not the sections which deal with the sexual trysts between Robbie and the yo

Painful to read (mentally, physically, and Psychologically), Bunker Man is one of those novels you keep reading in hopes it will get better only to have your hopes battered mercilessly. Rob's disregard for everyone, the students he is supposed to protect, and even for his own wife makes him a very unsympathetic character. You almost wish he would be institutionalized if not killed by Bunker Man, as the novel's cover sets you up for. Despite being the title character, Bunker Man is barely present in the novel. This is one of the most offensive novels I've ever read. It overflows with crudity that sinks the weak almost non exsistant plot. It seems at many times that MacLean doesn't care about any of his characters which I find lacks discernment. I fail to see how anyone could praise this fault ladden novel, yet alone publish it. If you could rate this book for what it deserves, I would rate it a black hole.

This was the most appaling piece of literature that I've ever read. Rob, the main character, is never presented as remotely likeable or sympathetic due to the terrible and unremorseful ways in which he acts. Ultimately, Rob hurts every other character in this book (especially the females) both physically and mentally. The worst part for me was that never once does the prose stop to consider the consequences of his actions on the rest of the characters. I realize that creating such a mentally ill character such as Rob so craftily may be viewed as a real literary feat on the author's part. On the other hand, I don't feel as if the plot and the repercussions of the character's actions were dealt with responsibly by McLean. It was a struggle to get through the entirity of this novel due to Mr. McLean's sadistic and misogynist imagination. I felt as if it all went from bad to worse. I would also give Bunker Man the negative star rating if it was an option.

Bunker's a clunker, and even one star is too generous.

As literature (and I have to use the term loosely to apply it to this text) this book stinks out loud. Bunker Man is offensive on many levels, and poor writing is definitely one. The plot is pathetically predictable (a flaw McLean couldn't mask even by breaking up the story's continuity with incoherent, unnecessary scenes promoting random acts of violence) and the characters are so flat they function more like pawns than people.

Perhaps the only interesting thing about this book (and this is a stretch) was the characters use of Scottish words (but since the author is actually from Scotland, this can hardly be hailed as a feat of technical genius.) And, unfortunately, the brief pleasure of learning that to "ken" something was to "know" it, soon faded as I discovered that crossing the `language barrier' had brought me to the appalling place where I "kenned" far more about certain things than was necessary.

To say this book is unsettling would be somewhat misleading. As horrific as I found the story and language, I was sickened less by the graphic, perverted content than by the realization that not only is there a person in the world who would choose to write something like this, there are people who would agree to publish it because (perhaps most disturbing of all) they thought there would be a market for it.