Whit by Iain Banks

Whit by Iain Banks

Whit has been on my reading pile for over a decade, probably closer to to and I can't explain why I didn't try reading it before. It's now done and I'm glad I did. Like many of Banks' non scifi work, Whit is set in Scotland (for the most part) and like Crow Road, The Steep Approach to Garbadale and Stonemouth, it focuses primarily on a dysfunctional family and its secrets. What sets it apart is that said family is in fact a religious sect. Isis, our central character, is a 19 year old girl who, born on a February 29th like her grandfather and founder of the sect is therefore the Elect of God. She is sent on a mission to bring her stray cousin back into the fold of the cult. I expected a road movie that would act as a path to enlightenment, and that's absolutely not what I got, which is great. Banks excells at writing the strangest situations yet making them utterly engrossing and believable. Maybe not his best, but a really great novel.