I am not impressed by the Professor's approach. Where does he come off knocking on the Kid's tent and asking him for a chat about "people" like the Kid? Thought that was rather rude and insensitive. But it does make for a good story.

I'm going to be optimistic on this venture with the Professor.

What makes for a good story? Perhaps this is a question that Banks is posing in Lost Memory of Skin. I think Banks has written a novel about the story (a metanarrative?) and why/how the ‘story’ or narrative is central to our lives …. that is, a story about the story we tell ourselves and the story others tell about us and the process of developing and modifying those stories. The Kid and the Professor have very difficult stories, in terms of content, emotional and psychological problems and fragmentation, and I think they have a surprising amount in common … surprising because on the surface their lives are so different but when you scratch the surface and look at their inner lives, their inner narrative, they have a lot in common. Banks makes this metanarrative more explicit in Part III when the Kid and Professor tell their own stories (and with a slightly biblical ring too, “story according too …”). The Bible and religion generally is lurking in the background of this book. I also think the Kid and Professor need each other emotionally, not just in their superficial roles of benefactor and research subject. Perhaps the similarities of their inner stories, to the extent they are willing to reveal those stories to each other, is what brings them together emotionally and creates a shared/interdependant fate?

I'm not quite sure if it's sympathy or if Banks is attempting point out the grey areas in society. Often times laws cover only the very clear black and white of issues and not the marginal areas.