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A review by lisa_d9
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
4.0
WHAATTT?!
The plot of this book can be pretty much summarized by a quote from the book, which was on the back cover of my copy:
It is about a sixteen year old boy named Frank. He is f*cked up. He killed three children when he was a child and now that he's sixteen, he has weird routines and rituals he does every day.
He has a brother named Eric who is possibly even more f*cked up than he is. His brother has been institutionalized for setting fire to dogs and doing other crazy things such as trying to feed maggots and worms to children.
Then there is his father, who has a room that he keeps locked at all times. Frank wonders about the room and at the end, he gets to discover what's in there and it's a bit f*cked up.
This book is good at getting under your skin. It provokes people, I think. It might cause anger or disbelief at times. I know there were a couple of parts that made me feel uneasy and others where I was like "WHAT?!"
The writing is very well done, considering this was his debut. Also, the pacing was really good. It felt like I got through it very quickly. Actually, at the end, I was left kind of wanting to throw the book at the wall for what I thought was an incomplete ending.
It was like "BAM! Huge revelation! And that's it! The ENdddddd trololololololol"
The weird thing about this is book is that it's so darkly humorous at times. So darkly humorous that you feel awful for finding it funny. Like Frank's phone conversations with his brother Eric. His brother Eric is SO MASSIVELY F*CKED UP yet I found him so funny at times. And then I felt awful because he is obviously completely f*cked in the head.
Also, the part where you find out why Eric has become so f*cked up is totally horrifying and made me want to vomit tears. It was honestly one of the most chilling things I've ever read. Maybe I've had a sheltered life, but still...WOAH.
The ending felt completely out of the blue. Not only was I not expecting it but I just didn't quite understand WHY that was in any way connected with the rest of the story.
But it did carry on with the weird, grotesque theme of the book. I guess.
Read it. Don't read it. It's your choice. It's creepy, weird, full of f*cked up characters and just delightful.
It was interesting. I don't know if I would recommend it but I thought it was worth a read.
If there is an ending you won't see coming, I think it would be this one. Unless you've read spoilers. Which you shouldn't because that would be lame.
Four stars just for having three characters fighting for the "Most F*cking Insane Award".
‘Perhaps it’s all a joke, meant to fool literary London into respect for rubbish’ - The Times
‘A silly, gloatingly sadistic and grisly yarn… bit better written than most horror hokum but really just the lurid literary equivalent of a video nasty’ - Sunday Express
‘No masterpiece and one of the most disagreeable pieces of reading that has come my way in quite a while… Enjoy it I did not’ - Sunday Telegraph
‘A repulsive piece of work and will therefore be widely admired. Piles horror upon horror in a way that is certain to satisfy those readers who subscribe to the currently fashionable notion that Man is vile’ - Evening Standard
‘Read if you dare’ - Daily Express
The plot of this book can be pretty much summarized by a quote from the book, which was on the back cover of my copy:
Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.
That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.
It was just a stage I was going through.
It is about a sixteen year old boy named Frank. He is f*cked up. He killed three children when he was a child and now that he's sixteen, he has weird routines and rituals he does every day.
He has a brother named Eric who is possibly even more f*cked up than he is. His brother has been institutionalized for setting fire to dogs and doing other crazy things such as trying to feed maggots and worms to children.
Then there is his father, who has a room that he keeps locked at all times. Frank wonders about the room and at the end, he gets to discover what's in there and it's a bit f*cked up.
This book is good at getting under your skin. It provokes people, I think. It might cause anger or disbelief at times. I know there were a couple of parts that made me feel uneasy and others where I was like "WHAT?!"
The writing is very well done, considering this was his debut. Also, the pacing was really good. It felt like I got through it very quickly. Actually, at the end, I was left kind of wanting to throw the book at the wall for what I thought was an incomplete ending.
It was like "BAM! Huge revelation! And that's it! The ENdddddd trololololololol"
The weird thing about this is book is that it's so darkly humorous at times. So darkly humorous that you feel awful for finding it funny. Like Frank's phone conversations with his brother Eric. His brother Eric is SO MASSIVELY F*CKED UP yet I found him so funny at times. And then I felt awful because he is obviously completely f*cked in the head.
Also, the part where you find out why Eric has become so f*cked up is totally horrifying and made me want to vomit tears. It was honestly one of the most chilling things I've ever read. Maybe I've had a sheltered life, but still...WOAH.
The ending felt completely out of the blue. Not only was I not expecting it but I just didn't quite understand WHY that was in any way connected with the rest of the story.
But it did carry on with the weird, grotesque theme of the book. I guess.
Read it. Don't read it. It's your choice. It's creepy, weird, full of f*cked up characters and just delightful.
It was interesting. I don't know if I would recommend it but I thought it was worth a read.
If there is an ending you won't see coming, I think it would be this one. Unless you've read spoilers. Which you shouldn't because that would be lame.
Four stars just for having three characters fighting for the "Most F*cking Insane Award".
"Rubbish!"- The Times(London)