Rating: 
Summary: Banks Builds a Bridge You Want to Travel On
Review: In this strong novel, Banks blends scenes of emotion with an almost "Brazil"-like world...The lead character is a man trapped in so many different ways, who takes you through an almost dream-state world that becomes more and more like a nightmare...except for the interesting lady who helps him through it. Shifts from one point of view to another in completely different existences are enjoyable, not confusing, and tie together wonderfully at the end. A great read.
Rating: 
Summary: A bridge worth crossing
Review: My 4th Banks book, and a very satisfying trip. He is a fascinating writer - I really can't say it any better than the other positive reviews. I was introduced to Iain by friends in Australia while I lived there, and glad to see that his books are making it to the US. A great, highly imaginative author - his books are a journey, and you'll be glad you took the ride at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Nontraditional Narrative
Review: My only previous experience with Banks's work was his twisted first novel, The Wasp Factory, so this surreal and complex work was initially a bit of a surprise. However, having since learned that he also writes science fiction under a slightly different name, this book's style makes more sense. The story here is of an amnesiac man who finds himself on The Bridge, a giant structure and society that seemingly has no end. However, there's also the parallel story of apparently the same man, set in a more recognizable reality. It appears this "real" man is in a coma, and his existence in the world of "The Bridge" is a coma-induced dream state. Further complicating the matter are chapters featuring a barbarian warrior who is wandering around a fantastical realm battling wizards and monsters, looting towers, and tupping wenches, all the while recounting his adventures in a thick Scots dialect (think James Kelman or Irvine Welsh). Some (indeed, many) readers will find this crosscutting and the lack of traditional sequential narrative rather frustrating. However once one accepts that this is not going to be a conventional novel, the ride is rather invigorating. The chapters with the warrior are some of the funniest stuff I've read in a long time. Bank's ultimate aim seems to be merely to provoke questions about reality, memory, imagination, and the like (cf. films like Jacob's Ladder or The Sixth Sense). First published in 1986, the book is a clear influence on Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares. And oh yeah, the fictional Bridge is based on the Forth Rail Bridge, which was built about ten miles west of Edinburgh just before the turn of the last century.
Rating:
Summary: An intense compelling read.
Review: Numerous tales intertwine here, each intriguing and pulling the reader onward. I felt like I was bobbing in a troubled sea, waves and currents increasing from many directions until they finally generated a great concluding waterspout. All of the curious characters are finely wrought; John Orr and his dreams real and made up, his temptress Abberlaine Arrol, the barbarian swordsman and his familiar, Andrea and her lover(s). Not unlike seeing some movies of late ("The 6th Sense" comes to mind) I felt ready and needing to reread "The Bridge" upon its conclusion. To help settle the images, ideas and plots that it had planted in my imagination, and because the delicious texture and pace of the novel invites the wish that it wouldn't end quite yet. I can't call this CyberPunk, but it feels familiarly like it. I can't say that it's post-apocolyptic but it feels that way too. Two of my favorite genres disguised as the dark world of Iain Banks' "The Bridge". An intense compelling read indeed!
Rating:
Summary: An intense compelling read.
Review: Numerous tales intertwine here, each intriguing and pulling the reader onward. I felt like I was bobbing in a troubled sea, waves and currents increasing from many directions until they finally generated a great concluding waterspout. All of the curious characters are finely wrought; John Orr and his dreams real and made up, his temptress Abberlaine Arrol, the barbarian swordsman and his familiar, Andrea and her lover(s). Not unlike seeing some movies of late ("The 6th Sense" comes to mind) I felt ready and needing to reread "The Bridge" upon its conclusion. To help settle the images, ideas and plots that it had planted in my imagination, and because the delicious texture and pace of the novel invites the wish that it wouldn't end quite yet. I can't call this CyberPunk, but it feels familiarly like it. I can't say that it's post-apocolyptic but it feels that way too. Two of my favorite genres disguised as the dark world of Iain Banks' "The Bridge". An intense compelling read indeed!
Rating:
Summary: One of those books everyone should read
Review: Seriously everyone. At least anyone capable of both reading and thinking. What more can one say?
Rating:
Summary: A unique book
Review: The Bridge was the first Iain Banks book I read. I read it during a Christmas vacation, and it became one of the best vacations I have had for that reason. I rushed out to buy my next Banks book before I even finished The Bridge, and I haven't stopped since. Not all his books are equally fascinating, but you owe it to try both his SF and his "mainstream". I was pleased to read in an interview that he has himself roughly the same opinions on his own books that I have, i.e. The Bridge is one of the very finest. It is rather unlike anything else I have read.
Yours, Eolake Stobblehouse
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Disturbing
Review: The first Banks novels I had read were "Excession" and "Feersum Endjinn", both great stories, but neither prepared me for the emotional and disjointed affront that is "The Bridge". The imagery of this novel was so vivid that it has made a permanent impression on me - I almost feel as if I had lived it's contents - not too surprising considering the dreamlike quality of the work, but effective nonetheless. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful feit of imagination
Review: The previous reviews of this book have been poor and I don't understand why. The Bridge is a compelling story of a man in a coma. If the reader accepts this fact and understands that the guy telling the story is in the coma patient and in a land where the ramblings of his mind hold no bounds, then they will be able to enjoy it for what it is. This is not a conventional novel. It does not have a major plot and a big climatic ending. It is a wonderfully imaginative voyage of the human mind dealing with all its insane thoughts and wild inclinations. Expect sudden changes, chaotic dreams and be prepared to draw your own conclusions from the book. If you do this you will de fascinated by the unlimited imagination of Iain Bainks.
Rating: 
Summary: It Tried
Review: The story started strong. The bridge was fascinating and strange. As the story went along, the dreams into the real world became annoying. It wasn't very long until I figured out what was really going on so the the end was no big deal. I am giving it 3 stars because the story took a huge chance and dared to be vary different and I admire that. It just didn't work for me.
| 
