Analysing Stonemouth with an LLM
There’s a lot of positive and negative discussion happening about AIs at the moment. I have thoughts - lots of them - and I want to blog more, mostly about coding tools. But I don’t have the time!
But some small experiments still blow me away - and are worthy of a quick post.
So, I finished reading the Iain M Banks book Stonemouth last night - it’s a complex story with a lot of characters, and I mostly kept track, but to be honest I got lost in a few minor characters - it doesn’t help that I read in small chunks at bedtime!
But I thought - “I wonder how an LLM could handle this amount of text - could it process it? Work out names, relationships, all of that?” - so I asked it.
I had the book as a .mobi kindle file - with DRM removed - so I could get it into markdown, which seemed a nice clean format for analysis, using Calibre and Pandoc:
<calibre app path>\ebook-convert Stonemouth.mobi Stonemouth.epub
pandoc Stonemouth.epub -f epub -t gfm-raw_html -o Stonemouth.md
Then I made a new project in the Claude desktop app, and added the Markdown file as project knowledge.
Then I asked:
In the provided book Stonemouth, please analyse all the characters - note some have multiple names like “Ferg” whose full name is “Bodie Ferguson” And try to work out the relationships - some are parents / children / siblings, some have brief affairs, some get married or almost get married. Can you build a graph of the people, including any alternative names and a one-line summary of their role in the book, and all their relationships to other characters? And then output that graph both as a json file for further analysis, and a mermaid.js rendering for viewing. ultrathink
And - it mostly worked! Really the only problem was that the output had pretty massive spoilers for the end of the book, that would totally ruin it for people new to the book, so I added:
that’s great - but can you make a second version that avoids spoilers near the end of the book - so doesn’t show that <examples removed>
And it produced the following diagram (note - it still gives away a fair bit of the plot - the book slowly reveals facts, so this is still fairly spoiler-y)
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING — The content below contains minor spoilers for Stonemouth. If you haven’t read the book yet, stop here!
Update I realised, after first posting this, that I could use subgraphs - as documented in an earlier blog post - to make this clearer!
So I added another request:
can you put the families in a hidden subgraph, so each family is kept together? See https://blog.korny.info/2025/03/14/mermaid-js-revisited for some syntax
(the originals are now at the bottom of this post)
graph TB
%% Murston Family
subgraph murston[" "]
Donald["Donald Murston<br/>(Don, Mr M)<br/>Crime boss patriarch"]
Joe["Joe Murston<br/>(Grandpa Joe)<br/>Donald's father (deceased)"]
MrsM["Mrs Murston<br/>(Mrs M)<br/>Donald's wife"]
Ellie["Ellie Murston<br/>(El)<br/>Stewart's ex-fiancée"]
Grier["Grier Murston<br/>(Gree)<br/>Youngest daughter, photographer"]
Murdo["Murdo Murston<br/>Eldest son"]
Fraser["Fraser Murston<br/>(Frase)<br/>Second son"]
Norrie["Norrie Murston<br/>Fraser's twin"]
Callum["Callum Murston<br/>Son (deceased)"]
end
%% MacAvett Family
subgraph macavett[" "]
MikeMac["Mike MacAvett<br/>(Mike Mac)<br/>Other crime boss"]
Sue["Sue MacAvett<br/>(Mrs Mac)<br/>Mike's wife"]
Josh["Josh MacAvett<br/>Eldest son, gay"]
Jel["Anjelica MacAvett<br/>(Jel)<br/>Had affair with Stewart"]
Ryan["Ryan MacAvett<br/>Younger son"]
end
%% Gilmour Family
subgraph gilmour[" "]
Al["Al Gilmour<br/>(Alastair)<br/>Stewart's father"]
Morven["Morven Gilmour<br/>Stewart's mother"]
Stewart["Stewart Gilmour<br/>(Stu, Stewie)<br/>Protagonist, lighting designer"]
end
%% Others
subgraph others[" "]
Powell["Powell Imrie<br/>(Pow)<br/>Donald's enforcer"]
Ferg["Bodie Ferguson<br/>(Ferg)<br/>Stewart's best friend"]
Phelpie["Ryan Phelps<br/>(Phelpie)<br/>Local character"]
end
%% Family Relationships - Murston
Joe -.->|father| Donald
Donald ---|husband| MrsM
Donald -->|father| Ellie
Donald -->|father| Grier
Donald -->|father| Murdo
Donald -->|father| Fraser
Donald -->|father| Norrie
Donald -->|father| Callum
MrsM -->|mother| Ellie
MrsM -->|mother| Grier
MrsM -->|mother| Murdo
MrsM -->|mother| Fraser
MrsM -->|mother| Norrie
MrsM -->|mother| Callum
%% Family Relationships - MacAvett
MikeMac ---|husband| Sue
MikeMac -->|father| Josh
MikeMac -->|father| Jel
MikeMac -->|father| Ryan
Sue -->|mother| Josh
Sue -->|mother| Jel
Sue -->|mother| Ryan
%% Family Relationships - Gilmour
Al ---|husband| Morven
Al -->|father| Stewart
Morven -->|mother| Stewart
%% Romantic/Sexual Relationships
Stewart -.->|ex-fiancé| Ellie
Stewart ==>|affair| Jel
Ellie -.->|ex-husband| Ryan
Grier ==>|one night| Ferg
%% Friendships
Stewart ---|best friend| Ferg
Stewart ---|childhood friend| Josh
Al ---|best friend| MikeMac
%% Business/Crime Relationships
Donald ---|employs| Powell
Donald <-.->|rival/associate| MikeMac
%% Godparent Relationships
Al -.->|godfather| Josh
MikeMac -.->|godfather| Stewart
%% Sibling tensions
Ellie x--x|stopped talking| Callum
Fraser ---|twins| Norrie
%% Styling
classDef protagonist fill:#ff9999,stroke:#333,stroke-width:3px
classDef murstonStyle fill:#99ccff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef macavettStyle fill:#99ff99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef gilmourStyle fill:#ffcc99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef deceased fill:#cccccc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
classDef other fill:#ffff99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef subgraphStyle fill:#f9f9f9,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
class Stewart protagonist
class Donald,MrsM,Ellie,Grier,Murdo,Fraser,Norrie murstonStyle
class MikeMac,Sue,Josh,Jel,Ryan macavettStyle
class Al,Morven gilmourStyle
class Joe,Callum deceased
class Powell,Ferg,Phelpie other
class murston,macavett,gilmour,others subgraphStyle
Here’s the diagram in the mermaid online playground though I don’t know how reliable it is in the long term.
And a png version of the image in case mermaid doesn’t render well:
And you can download the raw mermaid file here
Honestly, this is science-fiction land (even though this is Iain M Banks not Iain Banks) - stuff like this would have been unimaginable a few short years ago.
I do think we need to beware of the risks - AI hype is ludicrous, there’s a huge bubble risk in the unsustainable amounts of money being poured into these tools, and the tech broligarchy (thanks Carole Cadwalla for the term!) that are behind all this.
But still, where it works and doesn’t make stuff up, it can be pretty impressive. (I did check the graph represents, as far as I can tell, the book! It’d be quite ironic if it had mistakes and I didn’t see them - I’ll leave that as a task for the reader)
Original diagram
This is the original posted diagram before I added subgraphs.
graph TB
%% Main Characters
Stewart["Stewart Gilmour<br/>(Stu, Stewie)<br/>Protagonist, lighting designer"]
Ellie["Ellie Murston<br/>(El)<br/>Stewart's ex-fiancée"]
Ferg["Bodie Ferguson<br/>(Ferg)<br/>Stewart's best friend"]
%% Murston Family
Donald["Donald Murston<br/>(Don, Mr M)<br/>Crime boss patriarch"]
Joe["Joe Murston<br/>(Grandpa Joe)<br/>Donald's father (deceased)"]
MrsM["Mrs Murston<br/>(Mrs M)<br/>Donald's wife"]
Grier["Grier Murston<br/>(Gree)<br/>Youngest daughter, photographer"]
Murdo["Murdo Murston<br/>Eldest son"]
Fraser["Fraser Murston<br/>(Frase)<br/>Second son"]
Norrie["Norrie Murston<br/>Fraser's twin"]
Callum["Callum Murston<br/>Son (deceased)"]
%% MacAvett Family
MikeMac["Mike MacAvett<br/>(Mike Mac)<br/>Other crime boss"]
Sue["Sue MacAvett<br/>(Mrs Mac)<br/>Mike's wife"]
Josh["Josh MacAvett<br/>Eldest son, gay"]
Jel["Anjelica MacAvett<br/>(Jel)<br/>Had affair with Stewart"]
Ryan["Ryan MacAvett<br/>Younger son"]
%% Gilmour Family
Al["Al Gilmour<br/>(Alastair)<br/>Stewart's father"]
Morven["Morven Gilmour<br/>Stewart's mother"]
%% Others
Powell["Powell Imrie<br/>(Pow)<br/>Donald's enforcer"]
Phelpie["Ryan Phelps<br/>(Phelpie)<br/>Local character"]
%% Family Relationships - Murston
Joe -.->|father| Donald
Donald ---|husband| MrsM
Donald -->|father| Ellie
Donald -->|father| Grier
Donald -->|father| Murdo
Donald -->|father| Fraser
Donald -->|father| Norrie
Donald -->|father| Callum
MrsM -->|mother| Ellie
MrsM -->|mother| Grier
MrsM -->|mother| Murdo
MrsM -->|mother| Fraser
MrsM -->|mother| Norrie
MrsM -->|mother| Callum
%% Family Relationships - MacAvett
MikeMac ---|husband| Sue
MikeMac -->|father| Josh
MikeMac -->|father| Jel
MikeMac -->|father| Ryan
Sue -->|mother| Josh
Sue -->|mother| Jel
Sue -->|mother| Ryan
%% Family Relationships - Gilmour
Al ---|husband| Morven
Al -->|father| Stewart
Morven -->|mother| Stewart
%% Romantic/Sexual Relationships
Stewart -.->|ex-fiancé| Ellie
Stewart ==>|affair| Jel
Ellie -.->|ex-husband| Ryan
Grier ==>|one night| Ferg
%% Friendships
Stewart ---|best friend| Ferg
Stewart ---|childhood friend| Josh
Al ---|best friend| MikeMac
%% Business/Crime Relationships
Donald ---|employs| Powell
Donald <-.->|rival/associate| MikeMac
%% Godparent Relationships
Al -.->|godfather| Josh
MikeMac -.->|godfather| Stewart
%% Sibling tensions
Ellie x--x|stopped talking| Callum
Fraser ---|twins| Norrie
%% Styling
classDef protagonist fill:#ff9999,stroke:#333,stroke-width:3px
classDef murston fill:#99ccff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef macavett fill:#99ff99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef gilmour fill:#ffcc99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
classDef deceased fill:#cccccc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
classDef other fill:#ffff99,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
class Stewart protagonist
class Donald,MrsM,Ellie,Grier,Murdo,Fraser,Norrie murston
class MikeMac,Sue,Josh,Jel,Ryan macavett
class Al,Morven gilmour
class Joe,Callum deceased
class Powell,Ferg,Phelpie other
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