Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Abacus (2008), Edition: New Ed, 372 pages
Description
Daniel Weir used to be a famous - not to say infamous - rock star. Maybe still is. At thirty-one he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He's made a lot of mistakes that have paid off and a lot of smart moves he'll regret forever (however long that turns out to be). Daniel Weir has gone from rags to riches and back, and managed to hold onto them both, though not much else. His friends all seem to be dead, fed up with him or just disgusted - and who can blame them? And now Daniel Weir is all alone. As he contemplates his life, Daniel realises he only has two problems: the past and the future. He knows how bad the past has been. But the future - well, the future is something else.
User reviews
LibraryThing member trinityofone
A novel about the rise and fall of a Scottish rock bank, told from the perspective of its bass player, Daniel Weir (nickname: Weird). Nothing revelatory, but since I’m fascinated by band dynamics and performance personas, there was a lot for me to enjoy in this. Especially since Banks’ opening
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description of Danny states that he’s tall, with lank, greasy black hair, and a hooked nose—it’s Snape in a band! (Seriously, I could not shake this image for the entire rest of the book.) But oddly, what I think I enjoyed most was the descriptions of Danny (once he’s retired and gone into hiding, pretending to be somebody else) getting drunk and wandering around Glasgow with his buddies. The aimless drunk Scottish banter—that’s what I loved. Perhaps because it seemed the most real? Show Less
LibraryThing member ropie
An easy book to read and like, particularly so if you are familiar with the 'rock giants' of the 1970s. I suspect a lot of the inspiration came from the story of Fleetwood Mac and an interest in this type of music certainly helps. The excesses, the highs and the lows are all there and the tale is
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really built on rock 'n' roll clichés, although the characters and story telling charm of Banks mean that the novel flows very nicely. The descriptive prose throughout is as good as ever from Banks and I was quite taken with the Gormenghast-style house of Daniel Weir (built by fictional Glaswegian Victorian businessman Ambrose Wykes, whose name was later used in a song by Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet!) Show Less
LibraryThing member kevinashley
Daniel Weir - Weird to his friends, and to some that aren't his friends - is a rock star. Or was one. Or will become one. This novel is his story told, as Banks often likes to do, in a style that lurches from present to far past to intermediate time, hovering ever close to an Event that seems to
This novel is a real achievement; easy to read, funny and poignant in equal parts and somehow managing to avoid the many cliches of the tortured life of the rock star who comes from nowhere, messes up, loses it all and finds fulfilment. It does this despite the fact that the cliches are there but they flit past without you noticing and somehow Banks manages to say something different while they do so. There's cliches from elsewhere as well, including McCann, one of Danny's many drinking partners who could have walked out of the life of Rab C Nesbitt. But here they're fresh or they're funny or seemingly original.
You'll care a lot about Danny in ways you won't expect to and you'll be willing everything to turn out OK for him. That's not always the case with Bank's lead characters but it's certainly so here.
There's some of the real sounds of Glasgow speech in this book although Banks does a good job of making it clear to those who don't have the ear, only lapsing once or twice into the need for direct translation.
A real pleasure of a book in many ways.
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define the character's present life and troubles. We do find out what the Event is, it isn't as central to everything as it might be and Mr Weir has a lot more story to tell.This novel is a real achievement; easy to read, funny and poignant in equal parts and somehow managing to avoid the many cliches of the tortured life of the rock star who comes from nowhere, messes up, loses it all and finds fulfilment. It does this despite the fact that the cliches are there but they flit past without you noticing and somehow Banks manages to say something different while they do so. There's cliches from elsewhere as well, including McCann, one of Danny's many drinking partners who could have walked out of the life of Rab C Nesbitt. But here they're fresh or they're funny or seemingly original.
You'll care a lot about Danny in ways you won't expect to and you'll be willing everything to turn out OK for him. That's not always the case with Bank's lead characters but it's certainly so here.
There's some of the real sounds of Glasgow speech in this book although Banks does a good job of making it clear to those who don't have the ear, only lapsing once or twice into the need for direct translation.
A real pleasure of a book in many ways.
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LibraryThing member macha
quietly introspective look at a man who gets carried away on the tide of his own life, until it stops. and then he's got to decide what he wants, what he's responsible for, and how to get there.
LibraryThing member HagbardCeline
Successful rock star tries to return to his roots anonomously.
LibraryThing member drewadamson
Book is set in Paisley, my home town. Loved the detail, but what really frustrated me was that he got one bit wrong re local geography, which completely lost me. if I hadn't known the area it wouldn't have bothered me. Great characterisatiion, drawn with a fine brush.
LibraryThing member chikwan
Entertaining, enjoyable, fairly light read
LibraryThing member comixminx
By god the man could write.
LibraryThing member randalrh
I'm not interested in biopic or rock stars or really any of that, which makes it all the better that this book kept my attention via story, character, and general believability on an emotional level within a generally unbelievable set of circumstances.
LibraryThing member MiaCulpa
I first heard of "Espedair Street" when it made a list of "100 Books to read before you die". By the time I'd made it a few chapters in, I was beginning to question whether "Espedair Street's" inclusion on the list was a joke by the compliers, or whether they firmly believed that seemingly
So, basically this is about an old Scottish musician who wanders around Scotland, hears about the deaths of his former band mates and finds the plot amble towards an unsatisfying conclusion. Others may enjoy it more.
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non-entities are considered "must-reads".So, basically this is about an old Scottish musician who wanders around Scotland, hears about the deaths of his former band mates and finds the plot amble towards an unsatisfying conclusion. Others may enjoy it more.
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
The best rock & roll novel I've ever read.
Full of hope and despair (hmm, think that's what that title word is all about?), quirky humor and brilliant wit.
This is one of Banks' earlier books, and one of the last that I haven't yet read by him. He's just always excellent.
Full of hope and despair (hmm, think that's what that title word is all about?), quirky humor and brilliant wit.
This is one of Banks' earlier books, and one of the last that I haven't yet read by him. He's just always excellent.
LibraryThing member antao
In the 90s I was shagging left and right but after a while I wanted to spend some time on Christmas without girl distractions because of my exams in January. I knew that the TV would be dreadful for the Christmas period. So I decided to go to the library for some books. Looking through the shelves
I've always viewed it as being like a mirror to 'It's a Wonderful Life'. The one where George got out of Bedford Falls and made something of himself. But what he made wasn't what it could have been if he'd never left... Or something. It's a quite grey and downbeat in mood novel, as the narrator looks back over his life ... but that final image, of the small child riding around on a tricycle festooned with multi-coloured ribbons…
NB: I should have read the "M"-Banks, and not the without-"M"-Banks…
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I tried to pick things that would not be more upsetting. Then I came across “Espedair Street”. Iain Banks! I thought, just the thing. At least there won't be some happy ending that would be quite unbearable. At least I can depend on Banks not to inflict that on me. So I read it, drank plenty of beer, was getting through Christmas pretty well all round. And then, at the end, he sets off on the train to Mallaig to try to find his long lost love...I said to myself: WTF? And then he gets to the little village she is living in she is not home. But someone tells him that she is in the village hall. So he goes there and she is putting up Christmas decorations. And it turns out that she had been hoping he would ask her to go away with him when the band took off... And they have a happy every after re-union... AT FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!! I was laughing my ass off. But I had genuinely taken it out of the library because I thought it was a safe bet not to have a romantic happy ending. What are the chances, and all that?I've always viewed it as being like a mirror to 'It's a Wonderful Life'. The one where George got out of Bedford Falls and made something of himself. But what he made wasn't what it could have been if he'd never left... Or something. It's a quite grey and downbeat in mood novel, as the narrator looks back over his life ... but that final image, of the small child riding around on a tricycle festooned with multi-coloured ribbons…
NB: I should have read the "M"-Banks, and not the without-"M"-Banks…
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LibraryThing member Andy_Dingley
A novel of wish fulfillment, where the aspiring (but as yet niche) novelist writes down his dream of having been a rock star instead. But it's Banks, so the "rock star" lifestyle is the sort of prog rock that electronic engineering students end up listening to and then playing. And of course, it
Great writing, but I never loved this, in the way I loved most of his writing in the same era.
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all goes horribly wrong.Great writing, but I never loved this, in the way I loved most of his writing in the same era.
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Language
Original publication date
1987