Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book had some real possibilities, but in the end it tied none of its loose ends together and the "real" story was very mundane. Add to that a real cheat of an ending and you have nothing but an empty and contemptuous feeling for an author who should know better. Don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: You can either like it or HATE it. I liked it.
Review: This book has a surreal "dream" life in it. The characters in the different dreams are of different traits and personalities but eventually you find that they have been made in one conciousness.Because of this, you can either think "hey, this is Iain Banks' BEST book ever!" or "this was by far his worst, blah blah blah..." Unfortunately, the "decision" is fairly random unless you've already read stuff about conciousness and hated it. Personally: I really liked this book. I found that it was best to read a chapter, then sit down and read another. Hard at first, but it flows. You can find out many things about The Bridge, from the fires to the maps to the sex scenes (if you look hard enough) and when I read it, I read it again and again. It suited me, so it was best for me. It's just one of THOSE books. If you like this sort of thing, you're in for a treat.
Rating: 
Summary: *
Review: This book was not quite satisfying enough. I think it was Banks' brilliant dialogue skills and his sense of imposed nostalgia (even though i have not lived through the 70's) that saved the book. I loved some surreal parts at the beginning (Mr. Berkely, the window-cleaner) but as Orr's dreams began to take limelight i quickly lost interest (especially that barbarian). Not seeing the Forth Bridge could have something to do with it i suppose, but even not seeing that can hardly change my perspective from "Ehh it was OK" to "Oh yeah i really really loved that." Didn't possess the same satisfying structure that Complicity or the Wasp Factory did. I'm reading Whit next. Hopefully it'll kick arse.
Rating: 
Summary: Calling all stoners!
Review: THis is great. Really enjoyable. His description is so vivid and amusing. Good one for the tokers out there. Easy and enjoyable to read. Do it!
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not the best place to start.
Review: This is one of Banks' less readable outings. The use of language is just too complex for The Bridge to be considered a page-turner, but it is a book well worth the work for Banks fans. That said, it is perhaps a bad place to start with this author (I would recomend Complicity or The Player of Games, both captivating, well writen books, and considerably easier reads). It involves a man in a dreamscape while lying in a coma (maybe). He has had an accident on a large road/rail bridge and now finds himself on an endless, self-sufficient bridge covered with cities and farmland. He has no memories of his past, but knows that he doesn't fit in. And then things start to get complex and sureal, with bloodthirsty barbarians, war criminals, missing libraries, and a few Banks in-jokes (this book was his third published, but he had already written five [I think] SF books that hadn't sold, a couple of them about the Culture, and that's the why of the knife-missile). An earlier reviewer commented on this book's similarity to Marabou Stork Nightmares by Welsh. The comment that this book seems to draw on Welsh as an influence would be reasonable, except that The Bridge was written ten years before Marabou. Happy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Mindblowing!
Review: This is the first Iain Banks novel I have read and needless to say I'll be back for more. Banks takes on a surreal rollercoaster ride through the human mind. The setting is a is a mythical place called "The Bridge" located inside the mind of a coma victim we know as John Orr. Banks' changing narrative gives added personality to the various characters. An example is the Barbarian, his use of scottish vinacular combined with a mystical underworld setting makes him one of the funniest and most memorable characters ever created. Banks makes us question ourselves, has our means become our ends in themselves? This is alluded to especially towards the end of the book. A paralell is drawn between "The bridge" and life. "...a thing become a place, a means become end, a route become destination..." Surely a bridge is used to take us somewhere but what happens when it has no beginning and no end? Banks has clearly had an affect on other scottish writers such as Irvine Welsh, one can't help but see the similarties with "Marabou Stork Nightmares". What ever you take from this book one can't look past the outstanding talent that is Iain Banks, I relish the thought of starting another of his novels.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Surreal!
Review: This was my introduction to Iain Banks and believe it or not I picked it up because I liked the cover. What greeted my inside, however, was much more brilliant. In retrospect (and its been two years or so since I read The Bridge), I have to credit Banks with my obsession for Scottish fiction. The Bridge is a unique work. Its very surreal and yet it remains compelling. It is simply hard not to read. As I've now learned after reading several of his other works, both science fiction and "regular" fiction, Banks likes to inject a moral lesson or two as well. The Bridge is no exception. Do yourself a favor and read The Bridge. Then buy all the Iain Banks you can!
Rating:
Summary: Strange and delightful
Review: This was the first, and so far, only Banks book I have read, and it was a great place to start. From the first page, Banks' writing reels you in with a mysterious storyline and almost lyrical prose. The ease at which he takes something so commonplace as a bridge and turns it into something out a nightmare that perhaps showed up in the dreams of Kafka is almost frightening. The entire novel exudes strangeness, with odd events happening and everyone taking them for granted.
Banks dreams up a plausible culture that would live on an enormous bridge and takes us through page by page. Given, some of the parts are extremely odd and hard to read (the parts with the monologue in Scottish come to mind), but they only add to the ultimate mystery of the book: who is John Orr and what is the Bridge? I recommend that everyone try to figure it out. An excellent novel
Rating:
Summary: Ah yes, The Bridge
Review: What can one say about a novel that only appeals to people so pretentious that they think anything incomprehensible is a work of genius. Ok, I admit, I get the story. I just don't think the rather simplistic tale he's telling really justifies the baroque prose. Finnegan's Wake this isn't...
Rating:
Summary: One of the most original work i've ever read .
Review: You realy have to read the book in order to understand how great it is. All i can say is that it is extremely fascinating and that my mind fails to grasp how a human being can intrgrate in his work such incredible ideas. I recommend his s.c. books as well.
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