Espedair Street 
I bought this having wandered into a book shop aged 16, in the Summer of 1987. I was taken by its strange black and white lumpy cover. We were an immediate match. It was my Catcher in the Rye and Iain Banks was my hero. I have subsequently re-read it and it takes me back to being 16 and all those clumsy feelings about wondering who I would be when I was older and how it would all turn out still reverberate like a favourite song. I have no idea whether this is a good book or not - objectively
At first I was wondering what all the fuss was about, why some friends thought this was Banks' masterpiece. It seemed a fairly simple tale of a rock star looking back [from the dizzy heights of his early thirties!] on his life so far with the way his band was formed and how he felt about it now. But gradually I realised there was more to it than that, the book's structure more complex and the layers within the plot more intriguing. As Danny's life was revealed, so I became more fascinated with

Yet another solid classic from Banksy. It's so hard to write a book about music no one has ever heard, but this comes very, very close to getting the songs in your head without ever hearing a note. The mood of the book goes from grim to elation and down again steeply. Banksy has a wicked way with writing character deaths and there's a couple in here you wouldn't believe would be possible, but everything is set up just so, making them as real as any others.A rock "legend" in hiding the lead
Just brilliant. I love Iain Banks' books. I laughed. I thought. I cried. I walked in another's shoes. You can't ask for more.
I loved this novel. As with The Wasp Factory, I have my younger brother to thank. We were both keen musicians in our day, and he was a bassist - as is the protagonist of this story.It's a first-person recollection by the bassist in a successful supergroup. He was the driving creative person, but always felt a little alien because he wasn't part of the original line-up, and came from a poor working-class background; whereas they're all middle-class. When we meet Daniel Weir he's living as a
After learning about the untimely passing of Iain Banks a few years ago, I made it a task that I would finish reading his quite substantial body of work, both his contemporary novels (of which I had read several over the years, starting with the infamous Wasp Factory back in the very early 1990's) and his Science Fiction based ones, written under Iain M. Banks. In fact I had started on the Culture novels before I learned he was dying. He was a great writer, his contemporary, more 'mainstream'
Iain Banks
Hardcover | Pages: 256 pages Rating: 3.88 | 6666 Users | 223 Reviews

Declare Regarding Books Espedair Street
Title | : | Espedair Street |
Author | : | Iain Banks |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | First Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 256 pages |
Published | : | July 5th 2001 by Little, Brown (first published 1987) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Contemporary. Music |
Ilustration During Books Espedair Street
Daniel Weir used to be a famous - not to say infamous - rock star. Maybe still is. At thirty-one he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He's made a lot of mistakes that have paid off and a lot of smart moves he'll regret forever (however long that turns out to be). Daniel Weir has gone from rags to riches and back, and managed to hold onto them both, though not much else. His friends all seem to be dead, fed up with him or just disgusted - and who can blame them? And now Daniel Weir is all alone. As he contemplates his life, Daniel realises he only has two problems: the past and the future. He knows how bad the past has been. But the future - well, the future is something else.Point Books In Favor Of Espedair Street
Original Title: | Espedair Street |
ISBN: | 0316858552 (ISBN13: 9780316858557) |
Characters: | Daniel Weir |
Setting: | Glasgow, Scotland |
Rating Regarding Books Espedair Street
Ratings: 3.88 From 6666 Users | 223 ReviewsRate Regarding Books Espedair Street
Ive always been impressed by Iain (M.) Banks range. Whether hes writing about an hermaphroditic serial killer and his/her mechanical wasp oracle, a man in a coma living a second life on a vast hyperreal bridge of the mind, a bored gamer compelled by artificial intelligences to play the ultimate game on a distant planet, or a brilliant woman whose place in an omnipotent corporation takes her to a kingdom in the Himalayas, Banks always maintains his artistry and deliberate social relevance withoutI bought this having wandered into a book shop aged 16, in the Summer of 1987. I was taken by its strange black and white lumpy cover. We were an immediate match. It was my Catcher in the Rye and Iain Banks was my hero. I have subsequently re-read it and it takes me back to being 16 and all those clumsy feelings about wondering who I would be when I was older and how it would all turn out still reverberate like a favourite song. I have no idea whether this is a good book or not - objectively
At first I was wondering what all the fuss was about, why some friends thought this was Banks' masterpiece. It seemed a fairly simple tale of a rock star looking back [from the dizzy heights of his early thirties!] on his life so far with the way his band was formed and how he felt about it now. But gradually I realised there was more to it than that, the book's structure more complex and the layers within the plot more intriguing. As Danny's life was revealed, so I became more fascinated with

Yet another solid classic from Banksy. It's so hard to write a book about music no one has ever heard, but this comes very, very close to getting the songs in your head without ever hearing a note. The mood of the book goes from grim to elation and down again steeply. Banksy has a wicked way with writing character deaths and there's a couple in here you wouldn't believe would be possible, but everything is set up just so, making them as real as any others.A rock "legend" in hiding the lead
Just brilliant. I love Iain Banks' books. I laughed. I thought. I cried. I walked in another's shoes. You can't ask for more.
I loved this novel. As with The Wasp Factory, I have my younger brother to thank. We were both keen musicians in our day, and he was a bassist - as is the protagonist of this story.It's a first-person recollection by the bassist in a successful supergroup. He was the driving creative person, but always felt a little alien because he wasn't part of the original line-up, and came from a poor working-class background; whereas they're all middle-class. When we meet Daniel Weir he's living as a
After learning about the untimely passing of Iain Banks a few years ago, I made it a task that I would finish reading his quite substantial body of work, both his contemporary novels (of which I had read several over the years, starting with the infamous Wasp Factory back in the very early 1990's) and his Science Fiction based ones, written under Iain M. Banks. In fact I had started on the Culture novels before I learned he was dying. He was a great writer, his contemporary, more 'mainstream'
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