Dead Air by Iain Banks

[Vertigo]

Dead Air is the story of an aggressively political shock jock set in the aftermath of September 11th, and the rather strange love affair that he inadvertently slides into. In between making his political diatribes on air, Ken Nott lives the fast life of a minor celebrity full of parties, booze, drugs and women. And that’s about it. I was disappointed by the lack of substance in this book; Ken Nott is not a nice man (I was unable to empathise with him at any time in the story) and a large part of the book is devoted to his political rants which felt like nothing more than Banks taking a very self-indulgent swing at just about every political target he could find. Banks’s politics are never far away from his mainstream (non science fiction) writing and that’s something the reader must accept if reading his work, but here any restraint he might normally have applied has been completely lifted. All Nott’s targets and political points were standard predictable liberal complaints about intolerance, racism, interference, oppression etc. All good points but all far too well worn long before this book was published and they rapidly became no more than tedious passages (best skipped) that contributed nothing to, and left little room for, what was ultimately a fairly thin plot.

Probably the most disappointing book I have yet read from Banks.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I felt similar after Espedair Street. Except I don't think that even had much politics in it.

 

[Paul_C]

Whilst I'm a big fan of the "M" books, there are a number of his other books that I've struggled with. Song Of Stone didn't seem to amount to much (I'll read it again one day just to be sure) and I had a few goes at starting Whit before I read the whole thing. I liked The Bridge (read again recently) and Transition was ok (already read twice), but I couldn't tell you the plot of any of the others (I've not read them all) that I've read.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

Probably the most disappointing book I have yet read from Banks.

If it helps, it's probably one of the most disappointing he wrote. It's a long time since I read it, but all I remember is a sense of deflation.

I felt similar after Espedair Street.

Ah. Either that's one of the few I haven't read, or it was so bad I've tried to forget it

 

[Vertigo]

I felt similar after Espedair Street. Except I don't think that even had much politics in it.

You can't help but draw similarities between the two as both present a life of irresponsible excess driven by too much money, and you are right that Espedair Street had much less politics (there was his socialist drinking mate from whom, I seem to recall, he hid his fame and money) but in Dead Air the politics definitely comes front and centre. Now I don't have a problem with that per se, after all political literary fiction has a long and noble history, but I didn't feel Banks was offering anything new politically speaking; it was all worn out old '90s liberal values that, though highly commendable in their principles, have been heavily done to death since probably the first days of the anti-Nazi League back in the '70s. Consequently I just found it boring.

Whilst I'm a big fan of the "M" books, there are a number of his other books that I've struggled with. Song Of Stone didn't seem to amount to much (I'll read it again one day just to be sure) and I had a few goes at starting Whit before I read the whole thing. I liked The Bridge (read again recently) and Transition was ok (already read twice), but I couldn't tell you the plot of any of the others (I've not read them all) that I've read.

I'd agree that Song of Stone (like Espedair Street) is equally lightweight (by Banks's standards). I've not read Whit yet so can't comment on that . I loved The Bridge with its surreal dreamscape quality (probably my favourite non SF of his) and Transition I thought was great but really an 'M' book and, in fact, I believe it was published with the 'M' in America.

If it helps, it's probably one of the most disappointing he wrote. It's a long time since I read it, but all I remember is a sense of deflation.

It is reassuring to know that I've maybe put his worst behind me now!!