Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

8 reviews

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexism, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Pregnancy

The TW is in itself a spoiler, so click this TW/Spoiler first

Gender Dysphoria

. Then you can read the explanation here:

The twist in this book is that the main character, Frank, is undergoing a forced gender transition without their consent. If you have experienced gender dysphoria, it may feel uncomfortable reading the end of this book.

ab1gail_g's review

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

karaboureview's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

This might be just a me thing, but the chapter titled

"What Happened to Eric" really redefines body horror, in my book,

and deserves a content warning all its own. Also, this isn't a tag option, but:

mutilation of animals both dead and living, and the (implied and actual) mutilation of people.

lottieingham's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

‘Sometimes the thoughts and feelings I had didn't really agree with each other, so I decided I must be lots of different people inside my brain.’ 🐝

The Wasp Factory is an unsettling tale of a young psychopath: the thoughts, rituals and beliefs of the young Frank amid his unconventional upbringing. 

This novel is a hard-hitter of the horror genre and not for the faint of heart. It doesn’t shy away from the taboos of

animal torture, deaths of children or the devastating effects of human curiosity gone too far

. 

The writing of the intriguing yet grossly deranged protagonist forces the reader to distance themselves from any empathy on his part…until other figures appear bewilderingly worse. 

What Banks achieves so well is this juxtaposition of the innocence of teenage angst and naivety alongside the nauseating depictions of Frank’s sadistic hobbies. The dark humour and self-deprecating thoughts and insecurities of the young protagonist paradoxically keep the story optimistic, despite some of the most grotesque descriptions I’ve encountered within the genre. 

Whilst some claim this novel should be banned due to its raw and unashamedly twisted depictions of violence, I think it is a welcome addition to the horror genre and one that sends chills down the spine without the need to resort to any supernatural or outer-world monstrosities.

Banks’s horror comes from humankind and how traumatic experience can blur the line between right and wrong. By the end, even the reader finds themselves guilty for feeling empathetic towards a delusional psychopath. 🔪

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

abbieinwonderland's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

lizardgod's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

• I really can't decide if I hate this book or not, on some aspects, the trans representation is decent for the book's genre yet the only reason Frank is trans in the first place is due to trauma. It is interesting that the view of not aligning to the gender he was raised and the struggles with masculinity is more accurately depicted than most books written by actual trans authors. This book is honestly really good to me and my written summary does not do the book justice. It does take effort to start but it escalates very quickly once you realize what's going on. Also it starts with a lot of cryptic symbolism however all of it makes sense by the end instead of having to figure it out based on personal interpretation/author inference, a feature I personally enjoy in books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Incest

laurengeorgia's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

sarah984's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I know that a lot of people found the deaths in this book disturbing, but everything in the book was so whimsical and divorced from reality that it really had no effect on me at all. Extreme misogyny and weird transphobia but that's not surprising in a serial killer story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Excrement

Minor: Rape and Suicide