'[entry title]'
privacy...viewable submitted...Apr 28, '08 spoilers...major
Um ... well. I was kind of bored for the first two thirds or so, wondering when it would pick up and why Iain Banks thought I'd be freaked out by a child killing people (which, for whatever reason, I wasn't, really). Then the whole baby thing happened and someone told me there was an amazing twist so I got a bit excited/grossed out - that hospital scene was written very well, really liked how Banks puts off and puts off the crucial detail until the very end of the explanation, even describing what happens afterwards beforehand - very frustrating, very engaging. However, I didn't find the twist that amazing. I mean, I realise the lack of respect for personhood Frank's father showed was awful, but that had already been demonstrated earlier in the novel, and I suspect that that particular expression of the father's lunacy was chosen largely because Banks presumes transgender issues have some deliciously grotesque freak-factor. Well, they don't. Transpeople [tend to] have unimaginably painful lives and I was a bit pissed off that Banks saw fit to warp this frankly heartbreaking issue and exploit it in order to shock people.
Also, how in fuck's name are we supposed to believe that Frank went his whole life without realising he had a cunt?!
I'm giving this a three, but out of ten I would give it five.
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