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Iain Banks is always something of a safe retreat. His books are always on a tangent from conventional fictional narratives, invariably dealing with something of the darker side of human nature. Faced with a huge selection of books in a bookstore near Manly beach, I was at something of a loss. I recognised a few authors, and whilst wanting to indulge in some Australian authored fiction (to better appreciate the countries literary heritage), I really didn’t know where to start. All said, I was also after a book to loose myself in, and Iain Banks is positively perfect in that regard. Whit continues this in true Banks form - telling the story of Isis Whit, who is the Elect of God in an obscure cult located in Scotland. She is sent out into the world at large with little other than an inflated tyre, £19 in (Scottish) notes, and a jar of ‘elexir’, to locate her cousin Moroy, who has renounced her faith and - seemingly - energetically embraced some of life’s pleasures outside of Isis’s Luskentyrian faith.

Whilst selecting obscure scenarios, the book none the less deals with universal themes, as Isis builds up a new understanding of both the world at large, and the world from which she came: All is not well at home, and her investigations and experiences open up her thinking.

There characters are well considered and portrayed. Told in the first person, it portrays Isis’ life as normal, and ours as just peculiar. This about face on many of our assumptions and perceptions makes for a refreshing viewpoint on many common assumptions; similarly life within a cult is portrayed, enabling us to perhaps better understand a small part of our society, and to review what normality is.

Newcomers to Banks would find Whit a more than comfortable introduction to his books. That’s certainly not to say that his books are unapproachable, just that “The Wasp Factory” is the end of a scale where readers get plenty of surprise and shock for there money (with Whit and The Crow Road safely at the other). Definitely a good read for anybody at a loss, and in need of solid holiday reading fair.

Overall, 7/10 : Nothing particularly taxing. It’s a good enjoyable read, and is a great choice for holidays.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 4th, 2004 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.