Banks becomes more annoying even as I continue to admire his storytelling. In Canal Dreams, there is a haunting portrayal of the central character of Hisako Onoda, who becomes more complex and hence more likeable and interesting as the facets of her life are revealed bit by bit. Apart from Banks' by now stereotypical portrayal of the carefree sex life of a dominant female character (which in itself is a good thing, and yet I can't help feeling there's something not quite right about Banks' return to such characters) we have someone who we care about as a reader, and we care about the people around her and her interactions with them. But at the end a serious of monstrous wrongs are perpetrated and a complete and destructive revenge is wreaked. And I'm left wondering what the point of it all is. I don't mind bleak books and I don't demand happy endings but this just feels amoral somehow. ( )

A powerful and violent novel. ( )

It seems to be a love it or hate it, and having read it I now see why. I liked it a lot, but I'm not sure that I'll re-read it.

The surface story is simple enough -- a famous cellist goes on a world tour by ship, because she is so phobic about flying she can't bear to step on a plane. Her ship is caught up in a civil war as it passes through the Panama Canal. Initially there is nothing but tedium, as three stranded ships huddle together for safety -- tedium, and for Hisako the chance of a love affair with an officer from one of the other ships. But then the boats are seized by a group intent on using them in an escalation of the war that has until now not directly touched them. There follows a slow study of the psychology of a hostage situation where the hostages are initially well-treated, and then the explosion into violence when the hostages' usefulness comes to an end.

But more than that, it is a study of how someone who suffers from a severe phobia need not be a coward in other things. Hisako remains passive while there are other lives at stake; but the hostage takers fatally underestimate a woman who has more than music in her troubled past.

It's short, dark, and a quite frank revenge fantasy. It's not the best of Banks' work, but if you like his books it's worth trying.

Comments thread: http://julesjones.livejournal.com/122... ( )

Woman is afraid of flying, so she travels by boat, through the Panama canal. She's a violinist. But then, guerilla fighting gets them stuck right where they are. As it turns out, she's not only a violinist.
I read the book in one go. ( )