The Crow Road: 'One of the best opening lines of any novel' Guardian

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Now, I wish I could remember just what it was that made the penny drop, but I can’t. I mean, usually a beautiful assistant says something stupid and the clever scientist says, “Say that again!” and then comes up with the brilliant plan that’s going to save the world as we know it...but as far as I remember it just came to me.’ As Gabriel is shelving books—alphabetically, by first word in first sentence—in Aziraphale’s shop, he comes across many-a-classic, including Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and Iain Banks’ The Crow Road. But he also comes across a book with the first line “It was a nice day.” This is, of course, the opening of Good Omens the novel. Hamm’s thoughtful, instinctually touched reading of the line is enough to make any fan a little teary. The name of Nina’s coffee shop, Give Me Coffee Or Give Me Death, is apparently a shout-out to a famous stand-up sketch by Suzy Eddie Izzard, in which he explains why the Spanish Inquisition would not have worked if carried out by the Church of England, because they would just offer victims “tea and cake or death?” and everyone would choose cake.

I haven't seen a thread for discussing The Crow Road yet, which we are shown at least 3 times in S2. This post will have the most convincing (to me) connections to the book and I'll post some of the more far fetched stuff below. These aren't perfect parallels; like the body switch in S1 is loosely inspired by Tale of Two Cities (except they both switch and both live) and the final 15 is loosely inspired by the first proposal in P&P, we're just looking for ideas or themes that Neil might be playing with. So excited to hear what others have found too! Either way, you may be wondering what it all means. That’s what we’re going to find out! We’re going to explore the spiritual meaning of crows. We’ll look at their symbolism, and explore the possible meanings of different types of encounter.The linking present-day narrative is that the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) has appeared on Earth and presented himself at the bookshop that serves as Aziraphale’s terrestrial cover story, but in the form of an amnesiac human who has no idea why he is there. The problem is, nor do we: the significance and mechanics of the story remain unclear as Hamm, previously one of the strongest supporting characters, now has to do his best with a basic affable-ignoramus role. In McHoan, Banks has created a faulted, sometimes frivolous and always wildly entertaining character who introduces us to his merry band of sometimes semi-psycho friends and family as he delves into a family mystery. This is a book best read alone unless you want to spend a lot of time explaining to others why you are often laughing out loud--but it begs for a book club to share it with! But that interpretation misses the deeper spiritual meaning of death as a process of transformation. As well as the family of Kenneth, Prentice and others, there is a rich family who live in a rebuilt castle - at various points in the narrative, it is a ruin, is being rebuilt, and finally is lived in. The main character in this family is Fergus who marries Fiona, sister of Kenneth and his brothers. A third family are very poor and one of them comes into conflict with Fergus when they are both boys. One member of this last family, Ashley, is a vividly realised strong female character, and part of the suspense in the story is whether or not Prentice will finally realise that she is a mu

In episode six, when Gabriel and Beelzebub meet in the pub The Resurrectionists, the TV is playing the film The Spirit of St Louis, a film about Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic in which Lindbergh is saved when he is woken by a fly. This Bildungsroman is set in the fictional Argyll town of Gallanach, the real village of Lochgair, and in Glasgow, where the adult Prentice McHoan lives. Prentice's uncle Rory disappeared eight years previously while writing a book called The Crow Road. Prentice becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies. The first thing to notice is the context for your meeting with the crow. Was the encounter something could reasonably be expected to happen in the course of a normal day? Did you, for example, see crows whilst out walking somewhere where there are lots of wild birds? The crystal ball in the magic shop seen in Episode 4’s 1940s-set minisode ‘Nazi Zombie Flesheaters’ is the same one used by Anathema Device in season one. But the idea of the crow as messenger lies behind an alternative interpretation. Some people believe that the appearance of a solitary crow is a message from a deceased loved one. As such, it can bring consolation in times of grief. 2. Many Crows

What is The Crow Road? 

The Scottish setting is used to full extent here - Banks has a real sense of the place he's writing about. His Scotland is a place full of beauty and myth, even employing the obligatory imagery of castles, mountains and lochs without sounding tired and cliche, effortlessly presening the experience of growing up as a young lad in Scotland as unique and magical. He certainly romanticizes it a bit, but does so without the descent to posh sentimentality - he obviously remembers his own growing up in Dunfermline very well. Characters even use a fair amount of Scottish dialect, none of which feels forced - it contributes to their personalities and lets the dialogue flow smoothly, without sounding false. There's also a fair amount of humor in this book, sometimes grim - but also outrageously funny, such as Prentice's exploding grandmother (who herself was quite a character). Although the novel is full of death, it manages to walk the crow road with laughter, never truly losing its high spirit. In addition to this broad symbolism, the details of your meeting with a crow may affect its meaning. Let’s take a look at some of the different scenarios and what they could signify. 1. A Single Crow Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, a war novel which coined the phrase “catch-22” for a situation in which a problem is impossible to solve because of contradictory rules, and the solution to the problem may also be the cause of the problem. Opening line: “It was love at first sight”.

Almost seven years ago now,” says an impossibly young Joe McFadden in the guise of Prentice McHoan, “my Uncle Rory set out from his girlfriend Janice’s house in Glasgow – to ride a motorbike up to my father’s house in Lochgair. He never got there.” So begins BBC Scotland’s masterful four-part adaptation of Iain Banks’s sprawling, addictive family saga, instantly plunging viewers into the central mystery: what happened to Rory?Banks tells his story mostly through Prentice's eyes, employing him as the first person narrator - and does an admirable job at creating a character who is sympathetic but also at times unlikable, who behaves like a jerk and is often not aware of things around him, but with whom we cannot help but sympathize, because we can remember full well how confused we were at one point in our lives or another. Parts of novel are set in another timeline and told in the third person, letting the reader see the past of Prentice's family and its members present themselves, instead of being interpreted by someone else. What could easily have ended up as a mess works perfectly and gives the reader a more intimate insight into the storyline and the formation of its characters - in particular his father Kenneth, whose stories about Scottish myths and legends capture the attention and minds of children. Even though the sections are chronologially out of sequence they compliment one another, never feeling artificial, showing how times past haunt the times present. The novel combines menace (it contains an account of a "perfect murder") and dark humour (note the opening sentence: "It was the day my grandmother exploded.") with an interesting treatment of love. Banks uses multiple voices and points of view, jumping freely in both time and character. Even minor characters like Prentice's grandmother, the fictional town of Gallanach, and his family's home in Lochgair receive careful description, giving Prentice's life depth and context.