Member Reviews of forthcoming books.

Rated of 5

This is a beautiful and compelling story, well-crafted with insights into human nature and the life of a small town through multiple generations.

An excellent book!

Rated of 5

My comprehension difficulties were twofold. First, Crow Road is very much a Scottish book, and doesn’t appear to have been Americanized (Americanised?) for US publication. Result: I spent a lot of time with the OED looking up words and expressions I didn’t know. Since I love dictionary spelunking this was more than fine with me.

The second challenge was due to the writing style. Sudden switches between times and characters and points of view were tremendously confusing at first. As I grew more used to the style, and got to know the characters, time frames and locations better, I found it invigorating rather than frustrating.

So the (eventually) enjoyable challenges of comprehension, plus very clever, often funny writing, and interesting characters and plot twists, made Crow Roada fascinating read for me.

Rated of 5

In McHoan, Banks has created a faulted, sometimes frivolous and always wildly entertaining character who introduces us to his merry band of sometimes semi-psycho friends and family as he delves into a family mystery. This is a book best read alone unless you want to spend a lot of time explaining to others why you are often laughing out loud--but it begs for a book club to share it with!