The Wasp Factory

I really didn't know what to expect from this title as it was recommended to me and I was advised to `just read it, don't read anything about it, just read it' What a solid piece of advice that was.

Without giving anything away Iain Banks delivers the story of an interesting if somewhat unhinged central character living in a remote house in Scotland that whiles away his time in the oddest of fashions.

Every character we come across in the book is interesting and unusual and the story zips along at a great pace and remains interesting throughout. There were times when I was laughing hysterically and a couple of occasions where I feared what was coming next.

An excellent story, superbly written.

Dark and violent - deceptively subtle but is it deliberate? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Iain Banks' 'The Wasp Factory' is at once a brilliantly disturbed, sickening and depraved novel chronicling a psycho and his insane exploits, but its very much a love it or hate it affair.
those who like this type of fiction might swoon about its cleverness, the unexpected ending, the subtlety of the prose and its many supposed facets of meaning, but equally those who hate it would be right in describing it as sickening, pointless, deliberately controversial and loosely tied together with a stuck on ending.
i dont really know what i feel, but i think i am siding with the idea that it is a deliberate take on a scottish 'American Psycho' but never as shocking or as tightly put together. the reasons behind the lead's psychosis are to simple even when you do get to the quite unexpected ending, relying to much on shock and not enough on substance.
However i did enjoy it. it is depraved and sick, but i found it readable and compulsive. the black humour was funny but also took something away from the shock factor of the killings.
overall - i'd recommend not reading reviews of it (yeah i no this is the end of a review) - and reading it without preconceptions, which is thankfully what i did. what follows is a darkly comic, compulsive and violent trip into a depraved mind, but you may feel cheated by the deceptive subtlety and unoriginal idea.
6/10

So wierd (0/0 people found this helpful)

Frank or Francis is the best example of how not to bring up a child. As a loner being home educated with almost no friends and an oddball father. No mother - she left - and can you blame her? A psychopathic brother who kills dogs and excapes from an asylum Frank doesn't really have much love and affection and this is the result. More details get uncovered before the end. It hasnt made me seek out any more of Iain Banks books.

As another described, the literature equivalent of a video nasty (1/3 people found this helpful)

The book begins well and certainly grabs your attention, if black humour is for you as it is me, you'll get through this book quickly. However, while it begins well and you can't help but be amused by the calluousness of the protagnists thoughts, things move beyond the humourous stage into the vile. I quote someone elses thoughts on this matter in the title, and were I to continue it, I would suggest that the book moves from the black humour it does so well at, to something equivalent of a SAW film.

The writing is coherent and you understand what is going on throughout. Characters are developed, although I believe the main charcter Frank could have been a bit more subtle, notably in the way his arrogance is portrayed. But one to pass the time, if you want your time to be spent repressing images of the grotesque in your mind.

No where close to a classic. Potential for a small cult readership. Not for the light hearted.

Good book to read if into reading about dark subjects as a litmus test, this is decidedly average, so if you read something better, write a review on amazon and let everyone know so we can all find better.

Superb first novel (1/1 people found this helpful)

The character of Frank is startlingly well written and the whole story is gripping. I read this when it was first published and I think it still has an impact today. I remember being a bit shocked when I first read it and I do still feel it is his best novel. I wasn't expecting the twist in the plot, either. Highly recommended reading.

Iain Banks

Reader Reviews:

An excellent story, superbly written. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Dark and violent - deceptively subtle but is it deliberate? (0/0 people found this helpful)

So wierd (0/0 people found this helpful)

As another described, the literature equivalent of a video nasty (1/3 people found this helpful)

Superb first novel (1/1 people found this helpful)

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