Customer Reviews

Walking on Glass Hb

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was only his second novel so he's not exactly at the top of his game yet, but it shows quite a bit of ambition. It's a story divided into three apparently separate parts. You have one guy who's in love with this rather mysterious girl and it goes through how they met and how he falls for her. The second part involves a rather paranoid fellow who thinks that the world is out to get him and lives his life by that assumption. And the third . . . well the third part is weird. Basically it's two people in a castle (very reminicent of a certain famous fantasy castle) who have to play games that they don't know the rules for and by winning they get a chance to answer a riddle that might let them escape. Banks basically writes three excellent short stories and then attempts to link them by the end, which is where the tale starts to fall apart. The link between the first and second (non-weird) stories are a bit on the coincidental side but at least make sense, while the other links are really stretching it and comes off as more forced than anything else. However, as I mentioned all of the parts are excellent written and stand up fairly well on their own, the first story's revelations are surprising and overall that was the most emotionally involving story. The paranoid gent in the second story was interesting and his attempts to stay ahead of the ubiquitious "they" are sort of fun, in a "glad I'm not him" sort of way, but his story seems to serve no purpose in relation to the overall theme itself. And the last one . . . I don't know if Banks had started writing his SF tales at this point but the castle and the people in it, while borrowing from that certain fantasy castle I mentioned earlier, shows ten times of the imagination of the other parts and even other SF books. The other two stories make them novel interesting, the addition of the third part pushes it into "excellent" territory and basically made the book for me. Its revelations are also the most mind-boggling (I only guessed part of it) but again only have a tenuous relation to the rest of the book. So if you go into this as reading three quasi-linked short stories in one book, you'll find this is an excellent read and Banks certainly gets points for both trying and coming pretty close to pulling it off. Fortunately, he would get better with practice (see the structure of "Use of Weapons" which is nearly flawless).

This book was not a satisfying read. I feel Banks could have concentrated on one plot, rather than split it into three: the juxtaposition of "surreal" with "real" doesn't sit very well with me. Also, as another reviewer has said, the links at the end are very weak indeed. But there are brilliant moments of precise language and humour. The images presented to me via Banks were superb; they just needed a good tweaking as far as plot's concerned. But, it's worth a read. Sort of.

How do we judge reality? Banks creates three realities, twisted through a series of connections that seem to simaltaeously disprove one another. How can we know which is real, can reality only exist in a form we can relate to, or is it indeed every bit as ludicrous as one dimensional chess? Are they all real, or creations of a mental patient in a hard hat? Each scenario is systematically destroyed by logic, stripped bare by coincidence. Not least the idea of reality Banks has us cling to. All this in the journey from an office to a girlfriend's flat. You can't say fairer than that. Five Stars.

Walking on Glass is typical Banks in the sense that the main characters psyche is completely probed by the reader to the point where more than a simple relationship is formed. These main characters, actually 3 sets of main characters linked by a way you will never guess (although you will try and cry desperatley too) find themselves in a mental war with themselves and the reader is caught in the middle - as usual Banks. Their pain , their frustration and their madness is catching as if it were happening for real. Why? Because they relate to parts of our pschye that is real, and this is the connection that Banks makes. When you are caught in this mess, you can't stop reading it to try and resolve what is now, a personal issue with you the reader. This book is so original (as all his I've read are) that now, I suffer. I used to read King, A.C.Clarke, and recently "The Wheel of Time" series by Jordan. Since Banks, they all bore me. I continue to read them, but they only enforce my belief that Banks is a true artist originale and they are merely story tellers. By the way, The only place I have found these books is in a bookstore within a small shopping centre call "Parleet" in Oslo, Norway. Every trip I take to Europe I search book stores for his books and only at Parleet have I succeeded. They have all his books there and I was able to get a copy of Whit, Wasp Factory, and Walking on Glass all with original B&W covers. Speaking of Whit, that book was also truely original although not as exciting as WoG and WF.

There are lots of words to describe Banks and his work (both as Iain, the fiction author and Iain M., the science fiction author)  creative, imaginative, surreal, bizarre, thought provoking, occasionally twisted. All are appropriate and easily applicable to Walking on Glass.

As previous reviewers have mentioned, the construction of the book is odd  each chapter is divided into three parts, each following a different story line. Each is very intriguing on its own and, until the end, these lines seemingly have little to do with each other. While it can be maddening trying to find a common thread and hard not to just skip ahead to figure it all out, the scenes that Banks sets up are irresistible.

Its difficult not to like this book, or at the very least be intrigued. Unfortunately its difficult to find in the United States but easy to order from the Amazon UK site. And well worth the extra shipping costs.

Probably it's getting a little bit boring with all these books by Iain Banks - but I'm definitively not bored by all these books. And this one is just another great example (not as good as Complicity, but certainly on one level with The Bridge and The Wasp Factory (but not bloody at all)). The content: Three different stories, their chapters woven together in the usual Banks manner. The stories are so different that they can't have a connection: A man unlucky in love, a second one totally paranoid, and a third one forced to play games like "chinese scrabble" or "one dimensional chess", which seems to be set in a castle on a foreign planet. As usual, lots of surprises at the end of the book, but then everything just falls into its place in the end - in a very simple, BANKSish way. Recommended.

I have to admit right up front that I have absolutely no idea what `Walking on Glass' is about! I suspect it is the kind of novel that has to be read at least twice, paying a great deal of attention each time, before it can be deciphered. It's not actually a convoluted or complicated story, just obscure. Three seemingly unrelated stories are alternated until towards the end of the novel when they come together. The first story is centered on Graham Park who is infatuated with Sara ffitch (and no, that's not a typo), a woman who has a secret - one that the reader, and Graham, doesn't learn of until their final scene together. The second story revolves around Steven Grout, a bizarre, paranoid, deeply disturbed man who thinks he is from another time and place. The final thread of the novel takes place in what is apparently the implausibly distant future: Quiss and Ajayi must complete complicated puzzles to win a chance to solve a riddle to earn their freedom...

The threads come together in the end in a manner that left me guessing as to what the hell was going on and what I hadn't quite understood. I suspect there are a number of literary references that I didn't pick up which may have helped. Banks writes in a very engaging style that, despite the contortions of the story, is easy to read and hard to put down. This is his second non Science Fiction novel, after the much more decipherable `The Wasp Factory'. The far future scenes, with their SF settings and conventions, are obviously where Banks feels most comfortable.

See also my review of Banks' `Consider Phlebas'.

Of all the Iain Banks books I've read this has got to be the best! Hell! it's just addictive. I don't read very much, never have, but I couldn't put this book down. Having read the other reviews you'll be familiar with the basics of this book. Each chapter is divided into three sub chapters, and of these (depending on your nature) you will be drawn to one of these sub chapters more than the others. The natural tendency when reading is to skip the other sub chapters since their contents never seem to overlap anyway. Do this at your peril! Just like a really long, but hilarious joke, the best bit is right at the end. It's at this point that, if you've any powers of observation whatsoever, you will spot the link. And a masterpiece of a link it is! At about three quarters of the way through the book you'll find out why it's called "Walking on Glass." If you have any appreciation for genius you'll stop at this point and pay hommage to one of the best authors! of our day. If I haven't given you reason enough already to stop what you're doing RIGHT NOW and order this book, I'm about to because this book, in it's own ingenious way, questions our very existence. There's much, much more to this book than meets the eye. If you don't love it then there's something wrong with you.

I'm kind of in the middle of a Banks binge, trying to get a few of his non M books read (Iain Banks = fiction, Iain M. Banks = SciFi).

This is the first non M book that I think could have been an "M". Walking on Glass has three stories that come together towards the end. The first story is about a man walking to the house of the woman he loves to tell her how he feels. Along the way he recalls moments he spent with her and how he felt at the time, he is walking on air. The second story is about a man that just quit his job before they could fire him. He knows they are out to get him. His tormentors are relentless. He has to avoid their microwave guns and the lasers in the axles of cars. He knows that if he tells what he knows they will lock him up (in a hospital) to keep him quiet. The third story is about a couple who have been locked in a castle until they either kill themselves, or until they can answer a riddle. To give an answer to the riddle they have to figure out the rules to a game and play it to it's conclusion, games like Chinese Scrabble or spotless dominoes. The riddle they need to answer is: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

Iain Banks does a wonderful job of putting the reader inside the head of the characters, so you don't just feel for them you feel with them. Walking on Glass is on the dark side and contains adult situations and some suffering.

As I was reading I knew what it was like to be each of the characters. To be in love, to understand what it would be like to believe there are tormentors out to get you, or to be frustrated with trying to learn a game just so you can try to solve an impossible riddle.

Towards the end of the book there were times that the suffering was so intense that I felt physical pain and could not stop reading for fear that the pain would stay with me. The stories come together and the ending was perfection that left me completely satisfied and happy that I read this book.

Iain Banks first novel, The Wasp Factory, was published in 1984. In the years since, he's won critical acclaim, topped best-seller lists and has even written Science Fiction books under the cunning nom-de-plume 'Iain M. Banks'. He's also seen this book, "The Crow Road", adapted for television by the BBC in 1996. "Walking on Glass" is his second book and was first published in 1985.

The book is made up of three sub-stories and - though it might be difficult to believe - they all come together at the end of the book. Graham Park is the first character we meet - he's in the second year of his course at Art School in London. He moved up to the city from the country, and initially found the transition a little difficult. He'd taken no chances in `protecting' himself - he'd always been a little guarded, a little cool...a little bit too careful all round. Now, however, he's about to take a bit of a risk. On a Tuesday afternoon in late June, he leaves school with a collection of drawings under his arm. They all share the same subject : Sara Ffitch. Graham had been introduced to Sara by Richard Slater - the one real friend he's apparently made since he arrived in the city - and has been besotted with her since the moment they met. Sara has split from her husband, and has a biker boyfriend called Stock. However, having spoken to her on the phone that morning, Graham thinks that Stock is about to be shown the road - and that he's about in line to fill the position. As he walks from the school to her apartment, he looks back over how things have progressed between them...

Steven Grout, on the other hand, isn't having such a good day. He makes his first appearance losing his job with Islington Council. He had been working with the Highways Department and (unsurprisingly) his behaviour has been causing a great deal of concern. Finally, having attacked both a cat and a co-worker close to the Canal, his boss is making it quite clear if he steps out of line once more, he'll be sacked. Steven snaps, and - believing it to be some sort of victory over `Them' - quits. Unfortunately, finding himself out of work isn't Steven's only problem. He only walks on the cracks in the pavements, wears a hard hat at all times (to protect his head from accidents "they" - the Tormentors - have arranged) and believes he's under attack from a microwave gun (a secret weapon "they" only use at the most inconvenient times). That's not to mention the laser attacks from passing cars...although you can't see them or feel the lasers, he knows the Tormentors were take points off him with every strike. He believes he is actually one of the mightiest warlords in history, having fought a key role in the final battle between Good and Evil. Unfortunately, something had gone badly and he'd been sent to Earth, as both a punishment and a test. He's determined to win through, by finding both "the Key" and the Way Out...perhaps unsurprisingly, he expects to find a lot of his clues in his collection of sci-fi.

Quiss, meanwhile, is an old soldier who fought in the Therapeutic Wars - he has been imprisoned in a strange castle with Ayayi, a female who fought on the opposite side. Both have somehow managed to disgrace themselves, and the castle serves both as a punishment and provides a last chance of redemption. Working together to play a series of games they don't know the rules to, they are given a chance to solve a riddle - if they provide the right answer they will be freed and allowed to carry on with their lives.

This is probably one of Banks less well-known books, and he has written better admittedly. It also seems that if he revisited some of the ideas he used here in later books - particularly with "A Song of Stone" and "The Bridge". However, that doesn't mean "Walking on Glass" should be avoided. However, don't let any of that put you off - it's still well worth reading. It's a bit of fun watching what happens, and trying to figure out how the characters are connected.