FICTION

CANAL DREAMS by Iain Banks (Doubleday: $19; 208 pp.). Terrified of flying and thus confined to sea voyages, renowned cellist Hisako Onodo is journeying to her first engagement in Europe. Her tanker is held up as it reaches the Panama Canal when Latin American tensions flare and war threatens to break out. Initially, Hisako passes the time in a passionate affair with a French officer and in recollections of key events in her life (discovering the cello; a nervous breakdown). But when the ship is taken hostage by terrorists, she discovers strengths hitherto untapped in a lifetime of passivity. Her memories are cloaked with anesthetized feelings, a condition that unfortunately carries over to the narrative, though both are rattled by frequent jolts of violence. When Hisako emerges from her shell, the action picks up, but possibly too late for her to appreciate the discovery that life calls for more than mere endurance.