The Steep Approach to Garbadale

By: Iain Banks

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

The Wopuld family built their fortune on a board game called Empire, now a wildly successful computer game. So successful, in fact, that the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the Wopulds out. Alban, who has been evading the family tentacles for the last few years, thinks Spraint should be treated with suspicion, but he also has other things on his mind. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he yet over Sophie, his teenage love, who'll be present at the forthcoming family gathering - part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting - in their highland castle?©2007 Iain Banks (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The most imaginative British novelist of his generation." ( The Times)

the steep approach to garbadale

very british, very funny and intelligent. beautiful reallife charcters and a swinging end
- pleasure to listen to, especially the scottish parts.

Quality

Great Narration, great story. It´s clever and unpretentious. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would heartily recommend it.The narration is superb.

A non SF story by Iain Banks.

Where does The Steep Approach to Garbadale rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top. It's a good story. The actor reading it does a very good job. It's an enjoyable listen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Steep Approach to Garbadale?

Tough question to answer.

Have you listened to any of Peter Kenny’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I think I have, but I'm not sure. He's very good.

Who was the most memorable character of The Steep Approach to Garbadale and why?

I listened to the story about a month ago. The lead character is the most memorable, but it's told from his pont of view, so that's no shock.

Well performed

The book is entertaining, if a little self-indulgent in parts. It provides a funny insight into families born into money and the family firm. It's not a book I expected from Iain Banks, so don't go looking for sci-fi.

A recurring theme is unrequited love, and the message seems to be that one can delude oneself for a long time about the qualities of a past love. It is clever in that even while the characters are claiming to not have certain character flaws, they are in fact demonstrating them.

The narrator is excellent - he has really thought about how to best perform the book. The audio quality is also among the best on audible.

NOT BAD

I HAVE READ ALL OF BANKS FICTION AND WISH MORE WAS AVAILABLE ON AUDIO ESP. AUDIBLE.
THIS WAS ENTERTAINING, BUT IT READ A LITTLE BETTER THAN WHEN I LISTENED TO IT. CHECK IT OUT.