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A review by timpurches
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
4.0
Even if you hadn't already been warned, the first page of this novel leaves no doubt that you're venturing into a strange world. That's not the only thing that leaps out at you - the quality of the writing is also quickly obvious and draws you, more or less reluctantly, into the disturbed mind of the young Frank Cauldhame
As you learn more of Frank's past, the full horror of what he has done - and just how seriously unhinged he is - is slowly revealed. But you can't help but be caught up in his life, how he passes his time, and the geography and rituals he has created for himself, which frame his small island world.
When you learn of the tragic accident that left him so scared, you start to question the cause of his madness. Was it fate that led him down that path, was it just a contributing factor, or a just mere excuse for his violence and cruelty? That his father and mother are at least a little eccentric, and his brother, the dog burning Eric, is completely insane, leads you to wonder whether there was at least something in the genes that helps account for Frank's strangeness.
It's the inexorable return home of that brother, escaped from incarceration, that preoccupies Frank in the present. And it's Eric's final arrival that triggers drama and denouement of the story's end.
In the end you find that Eric and Frank are not the only members of the Cauldhame household who dish out unthinking cruelty and, for Frank at least, you're left wondering just how much someone should be held responsible for his actions when fate has dealt them a cruel hand.
Though a powerful, engaging and challenging book, there are a couple of unsatisfactory points. First, Bank's depiction of madness - especially Eric's - seems caricatured and exploitative of the real nature of mental illness. Second, the final twist in the tale seemed a little cliched, but to be fair I guess that's largely down to reading it the best part of twenty years after the book was written, when similar twists have become more familiar. That said, I would still recommend The Wasp Factory without hesitation.
As you learn more of Frank's past, the full horror of what he has done - and just how seriously unhinged he is - is slowly revealed. But you can't help but be caught up in his life, how he passes his time, and the geography and rituals he has created for himself, which frame his small island world.
When you learn of the tragic accident that left him so scared, you start to question the cause of his madness. Was it fate that led him down that path, was it just a contributing factor, or a just mere excuse for his violence and cruelty? That his father and mother are at least a little eccentric, and his brother, the dog burning Eric, is completely insane, leads you to wonder whether there was at least something in the genes that helps account for Frank's strangeness.
It's the inexorable return home of that brother, escaped from incarceration, that preoccupies Frank in the present. And it's Eric's final arrival that triggers drama and denouement of the story's end.
In the end you find that Eric and Frank are not the only members of the Cauldhame household who dish out unthinking cruelty and, for Frank at least, you're left wondering just how much someone should be held responsible for his actions when fate has dealt them a cruel hand.
Though a powerful, engaging and challenging book, there are a couple of unsatisfactory points. First, Bank's depiction of madness - especially Eric's - seems caricatured and exploitative of the real nature of mental illness. Second, the final twist in the tale seemed a little cliched, but to be fair I guess that's largely down to reading it the best part of twenty years after the book was written, when similar twists have become more familiar. That said, I would still recommend The Wasp Factory without hesitation.