The Crow Road (1992)

 

After adoring the miniseries during Capaldi Fall, I decided to check out the book it was based on.  Penned by Iain Banks, a Scottish writer I’d never read before (clearly an oversight,) this is a fantastic book with intriguing characters, excellent prose, and an absorbing mystery.

 

The story and general shape of the plot remains the same.  Prentice McHoan, a searching 20-something from a small town, is drawn into the question of his uncle Rory’s disappearance.  All he has to go on are scraps of Rory’s writings and the word of various family members.  Along the way, secrets are unearthed, people are senselessly lost, and Prentice wrestles with a God he’s not entirely sure he believes in.

 

I enjoyed Prentice well enough in the miniseries, but he’s even better here.  He narrates about half the book (a number of chapters take place in flashbacks before he was born or when he was a child, and these sections are written in third person,) and he brings to the story a voice that’s alternately observant, hilarious, and emotional.  He’s a disaffected young man who’s too smart and too smart-alecky for his own good, and his simmering aggravation with some of the more trying characters is a stitch. 

 

The book fleshes out Prentice and co. quite a bit.  Like my beloved Donna Tartt, Iain Banks seems to have a talent for incidental details that don’t have a huge impact on the story but add delightfully to who the characters are.  I think of Prentice’s old habit of tapping his foot to insult people in Morse code, or a description of the way his grandmother uses a cast on her leg to scribble to-do lists, recipes, and directions.  Additionally, the flashbacks are given a larger backdrop.  Prentice’s search for the truth moves along slowly, with dozens of seemingly-disparate threads that gradually coalesce into a complete, game-changing picture.

 

Overall, having now read the book, I’d say the miniseries is a terrific adaptation.  It’s not as detailed, of course, and there’s isn’t room for enough of Prentice’s wonderfully funny and insightful narration, but it certainly captures the spirit and theme of the book.  Furthermore, the characters feel genuine, and it does a fine job of dramatizing a tricky story that constantly jumps around in time.

 

Funny how things work out, huh?  Doctor Who led me to PC, who led me to a great miniseries I might not have seen otherwise, which led me to a top-notch book I otherwise probably wouldn’t have heard of, which led me to a talented author I previously knew nothing about.  I love making new discoveries, and this was definitely a good one.  I’m looking forward to reading more of Iain Banks’s work.

 

Warnings

 

Swearing, sexual language and content (including sex scenes,) drug references, and a few scenes of violence.