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The Business

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The Business

By: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Harriet Kershaw
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About this listen

Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organisation whose origins predate the Christian Church. Financially transparent, internally democratic it wants to buy its own state in order to acquire a seat at the United Nations.

Kate's job is to keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach encompasses Silicon Valley to the remote Himalayas. In the course of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and the assumptions of a lifetime. She must learn to keep the world at arm's length. To take control, she has to do The Business.

©1999 Iain Banks (P)2013 Hachette Audio Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Business

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Critic reviews

"Imagination, wit and complexity are Banks' hallmarks and The Business is no exception" (Sunday Express)
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Another collection of great ideas beautifully woven together by a master word smith.
I love Banks sci,fi work and although this is definitely not sci fi, it is a lovely read with all his imagination and his wonderfully sense of humour.
Oh Mr Banks the literary world is missing one of its brightest stars, it was far too early for you to leave us.

Yet another good read

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An excellent story (well, it's Iain Banks so say no more) really brought to life by the superb narration of Harriet Kershaw--a wonderfully gifted narrator who I will be seeking out for further titles.

Fabulous!

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I'm a fan of Iain Banks's novels since The Wasp Factory, and am well used to the range of subjects and storylines that he created. I must confess that I'm a bit bemused by this one. It's more of a mood piece than many of the others; nothing weird, no great twists. It creates its' own world, with characters coming and going, countries being visited, and business practices being discussed. You don't need to understand the latter, I'm glad to say. The lead is a woman who has her outlook on life, which doesn't really change, well not until the very end when suddenly it does. Maybe it was just me and everyone else would have seen it coming. It felt tacked on, but others may feel differently.
Harriet Kershaw did a good job of the narration, although my wife said she didn't like her voice. Kershaw managed to show a good range of accents, and her male voices (unlike some other female attempts at them) were good and didn't resort to almost comical tones. She didn't need to inject real pace at any point of the storyline, but always conveyed a suitable mood.
I'm not sure who to recommend this book to. It's not a clearly male novel, with it's woman lead and non-stereotypical business types, but it's definitely not a chick-lit book either (yes, I know women read all sorts of other books as well, my wife is one of them). I think maybe Banks was exploring a range of things with this novel; I'd be intrigued to read any comments he has made about it. Have a listen if it touches your interests, but don't expect a page-turner in any respect.

Good, interesting, but not a page-turner.

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l was suprised how much i enjoyed the narration,having expected Scottish accents.lenjoyed the main character's ppersonality,her being female a large part of this.l loved her travels, the scenery descriptions and also the mystery with its sense of danger l will read it again!

The Business

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A typical Iain Banks novel. As with several others it involves a large gathering at a big house, although this appears nearer the beginning.

On reservation is that during discussions between an American woman and a Scottsh women, the accents blend into one another

Typical Banks

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I’d forgotten just how much I enjoyed this story from Banks so this was a great reminder. The performance was mostly good, apart from some appalling Scottish accents near the beginning that were akin to scratching finger nails down a blackboard.

Excellent

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I can't remember why I chose this book, perhaps it was critics reviews or in the sale but admittedly it's not my usual fare.

Even with that in mind though I think it's poorly written. Very poorly written and simplistic, no depth to characters at all. At no point was I looking forward to starting the next part, I just slogged through it slowly. I would have returned it but it was in a deal of some sort so couldn't I think.

The narrator does an ok job with what's been given to her but it's not enough to make this book good.

Maybe I got confused about the authors name. Aren't there two Iain Banks..? Who knows! I'll choose more carefully in the future.

2D characters and clichés all the way

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As a big fan of Ian Banks (especially the Culture novels) I was very disappointed by this dull and ultimately pointless story.

Disappointing

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The story itself is not that bad, but the voice acting is very difficult to listen to. When she reads male charachters she sounds like 2 kids in a trench coat trying to get in a bar.

The worst Banks book I have read

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inane rubbish, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, awful characterisation, childish plot and conclusion left so open presumably for another book sale.


pants!

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