7.2 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type Print (Hardback) ISBN 978-1-4087-0394-6 Country Scotland | 3.6/5 Goodreads Publication date 2013 Pages 336 pp Originally published 20 June 2013 Publisher Little, Brown and Company Genres Fiction, Novel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Quarry is Iain Banks' final novel, which was published posthumously in late June 2013. It deals with an autistic youth, Kit, and his father, Guy, a misanthrope who is dying of cancer.
The author, who died on 9 June 2013, was in the advanced phases of terminal gall bladder cancer at the time the book was being prepared for publication, although he did not discover this until the book was almost finished. The novel is said to draw from Banks's own experiences on this topic. The dates of publication of The Quarry were brought forward at Banks's request, and were 20 June 2013 in the UK and 25 June 2013 in the US. The Scotsman reviewer Hannah McGill, reflecting on Banks's condition at the time of writing, called it "a state-of-the-self book, a meaning-of-life book".