Stonemouth

A Novel

By: Iain Banks

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth. After five years in exile his presence is required at the funeral of patriarch Joe Murston, and even though the last time Stu saw the Murstons he was running for his life, staying away might be even more dangerous than turning up. An estuary town north of Aberdeen, Stonemouth, with its five mile beach, can be beautiful on a sunny day. On a bleak one it can seem to offer little more than seafog, gangsters, cheap drugs and a suspension bridge irresistible to suicides.

And although there's supposed to be a temporary truce between Stewart and the town's biggest crime family, it's soon clear that only Stewart is taking this promise of peace seriously. Before long a quick drop into the cold grey Stoun begins to look like the soft option, and as he steps back into the minefield of his past to confront his guilt and all that it has lost him, Stu uncovers ever darker stories, and his homecoming takes a more lethal turn than even he had anticipated.

Tough, funny, fast-paced and touching, Stonemouth cracks open adolescence, love, brotherhood, and vengeance in a rite of passage novel like no other.

©2012 Iain Banks (P)2012 AudioGO

Good story, good performance

Not a native english speaker so I sometimes have a hard time comprehending accents but the Scottish accent by the narrator was clear enough. 4/5

I came in with no expectations and liked the story and writing. While there weren't any big twists or real mysteries, I found the flow of the tale enjoyable as it followed the protagonist's thoughts, actions, and quite typical male behavior as he discovers more about what happened to him that caused his exile. The book also has its funny moments. Not specially heart-warming or heart-wrenching, the story is... heart-stilling? Writing is really strong to make the story hold. 4/5

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who just listened to something they are having a hard time moving on from and wants a palette cleanser. 4/5

Beautiful

Beautifully written, beautifully performed. All around a delightful experience. Well worth your time and money.

Comfort food in book form

Setup: the mmc, Stewart, is returning to Stonemouth - his hometown in the north of Scotland - for a funeral. We find out immediately that he was run out of town years ago (on pain of death) for a transgression he commited against the daughter of the local wiseguy. Note, the town is completely run by two families of petty gangsters. As the tale progresses we realise that what the mmc did all those years ago wasn't so bad (it was a crime of the heart) and the town tough guys aren't all that tough (lots of threats almost no follow through).

If I was rating this book solely on the prose I would have given it 5 stars. It has a flowing, easy, intimate way about it. But plot? What plot? It's more like sitting in your gran's front room and listening to her spill the tea about everyone in town. It has elements of romance (although it doesn't explore feelings enough to meet that threshold).

The story is written from the 1st person male POV. And I'm not sure he was a reliable narrator. I kept wondering 'where does this guy sit in the hierarchy?' For example, events in the book indicate Stewart has always ranked quite high on the desirability scale. He had dalliances with and commitments to the towns most attractive/influential daughters, he was intelligent, and later got a great job. But his inner monologue paints him as firmly average: non-confrontational, insecure, incurious, even cowardly. It's the writer's prerogative to structure the book this way of course, but I wanted more intrigue, more mystery, and more chutzpah from the mmc.

SO suprised!

This book was so good, I was surprised at how good it was. I really didn't think I would like it, and it kept me at the edge of my seat at times, I really enjoyed the characters in this book. All the way until the end I was not sure what would happen, raised my heart rate! Great read!

Interesting change for fans of Banks' Sci-Fi

It's a good story, with strong characters. I enjoyed the reading performance, and would reccomend this book.

Peter Kenny is the man

Entertaining story with well written, fun characters. Really enjoyed the internal dialogue of the main character Stewart. Peter Kenny does a fantastic job as always with his narration. Fun easy listen.

such good writing. normally a sci-fi guy but Iain sure knows how to tell good stories.

kinda hated Stewart. kinda felt like he was a version of me. Great writing my Iain. we'll done sir.

Peter Kenny is an excellent voice actor.

Love this story. I'm not sure i needed quite so much description of luscious, fawning about afar makes women or girls sexy. It was really good in spite of those moments.

Scottish accent

I was surprised how easy it was for the characters to find a partner for sex and how violent their world is.

Lorna Doone with cell phones

This is a Romance not a scary noir novel. The marketing on it is all wrong. Yes there are gangsters but they are cigar store Indian gangsters. Mostly this is an amusing view of guys playing verbal volleyball in Scotland. Stewart Gilmour, the pov, is well drawn as a self- deprecating, ambivalent chicken. Most other characters are more than a little cliche. The three main women are better than the rest. There’s no real story here. 5 years earlier Stewart cheated on his girlfriend and her family, local drug dealers, are prepared to risk everything to pay him back, improbable even in Scotland. It has fun moments. Banks writes well and I’m sure he’ll agree with that. But if, like me, you think you’re getting an even grittier Get Carter, no, this is not that.