While Iain Banks is one of my favorite science fiction authors, I've never been a huge fan of his non-science fiction writing. A sympathetic lead with some interesting thoughts listens to conversations between mildly interesting old-college-friends of his dying father. It's less of a story, and more of a reflection. I'd like to think Iain Banks expressed mostly his own thoughts and feelings about life and dying through his characters in the book (though I'm aware he wrote most of it before being diagnosed with the fast-acting cancer that claimed his life right before the book was published). As a final book written by an incredible author, I don't feel like it needs to be among his best. It's good on its own, and reading it helped me process the loss of one my heroes; not with a bang and whirl, but with a slow, quiet nod.