Walking on Glass

Walking on Glass is as underrated as it is brilliant. Iain Bank's enigmatic novel of artifice and the inherent failings of humanity has often left readers bemused and frustrated. This reviewer has little more to offer in terms of unlocking the complexities of this awesome book, save that part of Bank's brilliance is the way he never patronises his reader; choosing to tell his tale and allowing the books pervading theme of ambiguity to transcend from page to person.

It would be easy to dismiss Walking on Glass as three separate stories that are destined to collide, but in doing so one would negate the true symbiotic and symbolic facets that flow through the narrative.

Graham Park is a young man in love with Sarah ffinch, a mysterious, aloof woman he meets at a party. As he walks to meet her at her flat the story charts how Park met Sarah. And studies his growing, yet doomed, expectation.

The second character is Steven Grout a man with supposed delusions that he is trapped in a world that is not his, tormented by an enemy determined to keep him there.

And finally there is Quiss, a prisoner in a ramshackle castle; forced to fathom the rules to board games to win the right to answer the ultimate conundrum and set himself free.

Walking on Glass is a story of manipulation and isolation. It is a tale that challenges and teases human frailty; its characters trapped by their own sense of perplexity and weakness. Readers may find the lack of resolution unsettling, yet they will forever consider this a small price to pay for such an exhilarating read.

Superb!

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? (0/3 people found this helpful)

I decided to take the "morning-after-the-night-before" approach with this review, generally because I thought, having slept on it, I would gain some clarity on this book. I have, and, well I haven't...

The book is basically split into three parts. The first story is based around a second-year art student called Graham. Introduced to a girl called Sara at a party, he falls in love with her. The rest of his story seems to focus upon the next six months of their rather "shaky" relationship, leading up to the typical (i.e. shocking) Banksian climax. The second story revolves around Steven Grout, a man who is deeply paranoid and feels that everyone is out to get him. Thirdly, we have the Kafkaesque story of Quiss, an old man, trapped in a castle, forced to play impossible games for the chance to solve a riddle and therefore win his freedom.

I came to this book off the back of "The Wasp Factory" and "Complicity", two books which I enjoyed immensely precisely because we can relate to the characters in the story. Although in both of these books, the twists are shocking, to some extent at least, they are justifiable given what has come before. I won't spoil "Walking on Glass" for those of you who haven't read it but the sexual twist at the end of Graham's story will leave you feeling a bit cheated. I suspect (as other reviewers have pointed out before me) that a second reading would help you see the clues that reveal how Graham's story ended, but that doesn't detract from the fact it was done for shock value, something we have seen performed much more effectively in his other books.

For those of you who have seen "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (the last of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) you will see the somewhat existentialistic ending of Quiss' story coming a mile off. For those of you who expect there to be a climatic collision between the three stories at the end of the book, you will be disappointed - blink, and you will miss the connection between the three. For those of you wanting some sort of closure in a book, look elsewhere, this story inevitably leaves you with far more questions than answers.

Bewildering but beguiling (6/8 people found this helpful)

In truth this isn't so much a novel, but a trio of short stories that kind of come together at the end and some of the stories are more appealing and easier to digest than others. In truth, the story of the game players in the glass prison left me bewildered at times, but I kept chugging along thanks to the humour and intrigue. The other stories were easier going but maybe not as engaging.

I finished this book feeling a bit let down but impressed nonetheless by the quality of the writing. I'd say it possibly the most intellectual Iain Banks book I've read so far, but that doesn't make it the best. Worth a read, but not the best starting point for people new to Iain Banks as I suspect it would put many off from reading his other (and better, in my opinion) books. I think it would have to be a very generous person to give this book anything more than three stars.

Three in one. (4/6 people found this helpful)

Walking On Glass consists of 3 seemingly distinct storylines, whose characters never actually meet, but whose tales seem curiously linked. The first tale concerns the hopelessly romantic artist Graham Park and his tentative affair with the mysterious Sara ffitch - a story that ends with a viciously unexpected twist. The second tale concerns the mishaps of the obviously mentally deluded Steven Grout, whose paranoia is taken to extremes both hilarious and tragic. Finally, long before Iain Banks clearly divided his science fiction output under the name Iain 'M' Banks, the third tale is of two prisoners forced to play games in a decaying castle on a far future Earth. Taken on their own each of the three tales is rich in language and character, with the storylines tending towards the tragic. The linking between the tales of Graham Park and Steven Grout are fairly direct, as one unknowingly affects the other, but the links to the far future tale are less explicit - are the two games players a delusion born of Stephen Grout's science fiction literature strewn room, or are the modern day characters themselves merely fiction? Are they two other metal patients glimpsed from afar at the novels end? Or are they voyeurs from the future influencing the actions of the modern day characters? Walking on Glass offers no definite answers, but offers a dream-like state where the characters tales dance around one another in a hypnotic fashion. The Wasp Factory was a vivid debut, but Iain Banks tops it with this startling second novel. Highly recommended.

...but you might enjoy it more (8/11 people found this helpful)

We have three separate stories, which we cycle through, so we have the first part of each story in turn, then the second part of each, and so on.

We make assumptions, we make presumptions and we draw early conclusions about the characters and the plot. Mostly because it is in our nature to do so, but also because Banks deliberately encourages us, steering us towards our undoing.

As a result the book is something of a game between author and reader. On a purely intellenctual level I would rate this 4 stars, but ultimately the book has to stand up as a good read, and on that basis its drops down to 3 stars.

It is certainly well written - clever and witty. But it suffers from its format. With 3 short stories there is no room to develop the cast, so we end up with a collection of cartoon characters. Devices rather than individuals.

Some books leave you wanting more. This left me amused but with no real sense of enrichment. But as I said at the beginning, you might enjoy it more.

Iain Banks

Reader Reviews:

Walking on Glass (2/2 people found this helpful)

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? (0/3 people found this helpful)

Bewildering but beguiling (6/8 people found this helpful)

Three in one. (4/6 people found this helpful)

...but you might enjoy it more (8/11 people found this helpful)

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