This is pseudo-fantasy or plain fiction from Banks. The Bridge is a seemingly infinite, self-contained structure, no one sees the ends of the Bridge and no one leaves it. The book is about society in a very restricted sense, in this case, the Bridge society is very 'vertical' - the higher up you are, the higher up you are... Banks gets in his usual shots against society and religion, though by the end of the book, I was really wondering if it had much of a point. There are many dream sequences that may or may not have something to do with the main plot. I read it, but can't really say I enjoyed it that much. ( )

This is not a typical Iain Banks novel; nor is it a typical english novel. Which is not to say that it is revolutionary, or strikingly different in form, or that it says something striking which other novels have yet to do, because it is none of these things.

What it is is a halfway house between the novels of Iain Banks, an occasionally controversial writer of fiction, and Iain M. Banks, the widely-lauded writer of science fiction. Who are, of course, one and the same person. Until now, though, I thought Banks had managed to keep his two authorial voices well separated. In this novel, there are clear signs of one world appearing in another.

The story opens with a car crash, and then undergoes a number of abrupt changes. Three stories are interwoven. One is of a man living in a society which appears to be confined entirely to an apparently endless bridge, with many levels and a complex society. Another relates a serious of fantasy adventures of a Glaswegian (well, he speaks that way) swordsman who appears to occasionally have got trapped up in some classical Greek myths. And another of a man who goes to university in the 1960s in Edinburgh and meets the love of his life, although it takes him some time to realise it. The first two stories clearly don't take place in any real world, and it is here that Bank's SF voice emerges, even including the knife missiles that appear in some of his Culture stories.

The thread that ties these together is not particularly original and was obvious to this reader from the outset (as it was to at least one other reviewer) but it appears that this isn't the case for everyone so I I'll refrain from alluding to it. But it doesn't detract from the readability of the tale or the engagement with the characters.

In fact, this is one of Bank's most likeable non-SF works, with characters I cared more about than in many of his other books. The end is more uplifting than he is usually given to, and devoid of the cataclasmyic or violent ends of which he is so fond (although some of that does seep into at least one of the fantasy worlds.) And all of that is a good thing.

This is a touching picture of people in love growing up and watching the world change around them mixed in with a bit of magic realism, trains, drink and bridges. If that sounds like your thing, you'll like it. Even if it doesn't, you might still like it. ( )

Ah yes, The Bridge: 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...

An engaging read. Nice fantasy world. Predictable extreme violence later on ( )

Generally, I'm a pretty big Banks fan, but this one just didn't work for me. Some reviews note have mentioned a surprise or revelation at the end that made the story work. Frankly, I was pretty certain from the first chapter what the ending was going to be. As a result, the chaotic story line just didn't do anything for me. I didn't find out much of anything about the narrator, and he didn't find out much of anything about himself. ( )