Published: 2009
What They Say: Imagine a world that is one of infinite parallel worlds, that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Presiding over this world is the Concern, an all-powerful organisation whose operatives possess extraordinary powers. There is Temudjin Oh, an unlikable assassin who journeys between the high passes of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and a wintry Venice; Adrian Cubbish, restlessly greedy City trader; and the Philosopher, a state-sponsored torturer who moves between the time zones with sinister ease. Transition is a high-definition, hyper-real apocalyptic fable for terrible times.
What Elaine Says: Wow. Right where does one start with a book like this? You might want to find a comfortable seat.
Transition is only the second Iain Banks book I have read
(The Wasp Factory being the other) and I’m happy and terrified to say this
messed with mind in just the same way.
As I’m sure most readers of this blog are away, Banks also
passed away earlier this month after his battle with cancer. I was about halfway through this book when I
heard and it made reading the last half a rather more touching affair. It really is a loss to the literary
world. Banks was a phenomenal
author.
Transition is a bit of an oddball in the Banks canon. It appears that after some debate it was
actually released in America under Iain M Banks (Banks’ sci-fi pseudonym). I’m not sure I’d call it sci-fi but it’s
certainly speculative fiction and I can see why the US used the Iain M Banks
name to avoid confusion.
So what’s it all about? Well having read it, it’s still
quite difficult to explain. Transition
is set during what is deemed ‘the golden time’ between the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the fall of the twin towers, a time when we didn’t realise quite how
good we had it. The plot is based on a
rather complicated multiverse theory wherein (if I’ve got it remotely right)
there are as many versions of Earth as we choose to imagine. The story unfolds through many different narrators
including a self-serving city trader, a state contracted torturer who refers to
himself as ‘the philosopher’, and a world hopping assassin. Following so far?
The stories do eventually intertwine but for the most part
they are fascinating in their own right and that’s even before coming to the
overall story arc (a shadowy multiworld organisation known as ‘The Concern’) .
The sections of the book told from the point of view of ‘The
Philosopher’, generally made me retch and I mean that most literally. Banks is an author that has the power to make
me physically react to what’s on the page.
I’m not sure if that’s normal but my goodness is it powerful. There are moments when I was so uncomfortable
with what I was reading I simply couldn’t carry on. My husband seems to think this is a bad thing
and wonders why I persevere reading something like that. To be honest, I’m not sure why but surely
it’s the sign of a truly great author?
Then we have the sections of book told from Adrian’s point
of view (the self-serving city trader).
These made me laugh, a lot, and normally out loud on the bus.
I was confused, amused, repulsed, but always enthralled by
this book. I have so many questions
after reading it I kind of want to read it again but then there’s also a whole
host of Banks novels out there that I’ve yet to experience. If only there was some sort of multiverse
whereby I could relive Transition and read the rest of his novels
simultaneously.
RIP Iain Banks
Elaine's Rating: 9/10
Quotes:
“Perdition awaits at the end of a road constructed entirely from good intentions, the devil emerges from the details and hell abides in the small print.”
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