The Wasp Factory
Ratings116
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings116
Average rating3.7
Frank, no ordinary sixteen-year-old, lives with his father outsIde a remote Scottish village. Their life is, to say the least, unconventional. Frank's mother abandoned them years ago: his elder brother Eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital; and his father measures out his eccentricities on an imperial scale. Frank has turned to strange acts of violence to vent his frustrations. In the bizarre daily rituals there is some solace. But when news comes of Eric's escape from the hospital Frank has to prepare the ground for his brother's inevitable return - an event that explodes the mysteries of the past and changes Frank utterly. Iain Banks' celebrated first novel is a work of extraordinary originality, imagination and horrifying compulsion: horrifying, because it enters a mind whose realities are not our own, whose values of life and death are alien to our society; and compulsive, because the humour and compassion of that mind reach out to us all.
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Reviews with the most likes.
Dark, violent, and disturbing story, told in a first-person point of view, like a diary.
This reminded me a lot of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Like in that book, the family has mostly died off due to tragedy and are able to maintain an existence away from most people thanks to property owned (in this case a small island) and an independent income. Both stories have a psychopathic, murderous teenager at their center and in both books the main characters are ostracized from the rest of the town due to the actions of a family member. Heck, there's even a fire in the climax of both books.
There's a twist in Wasp Factory as well and it still has me thinking. I can't quite figure out the point of it, but I will admit I didn't see it coming. Terrible things happen to Frank, and he does terrible things. I'm not convinced that the tragic "maiming" that happened to Frank justifies him being the monster he is. Once we find out the truth, it doesn't really matter that it was child abuse instead of a random accident. Unclear if there is a statement being made here about gender or the assumption of gender. That's okay. I don't like messages and morals in my stories.
I do wonder why it is that Franks's brother Eric tortures dogs when Frank is the one with reason to hate them. Frank certainly tortures other creatures but objects to Eric's chosen victims.
So yes, there are a lot of things unanswered here. I'm not looking for a book to answer all questions posed. I'm fine with leaving things ambiguous and open to interpretation. Definitely an interesting book to read if you like psychological horror stuff.
Oh well. It was a very disturbing read, with sick (& very delusional) characters and a meh ending.
It was fascinating though to get a look the MC's deeply deranged mind, especially how he thought of himself as the sanest individual in a wicked world (very delusional like i said).
Overall not the best book I read but not horrible either. And once again the ending was quite empty, I needed something more.
Frank is the “sane” one
compared to Eric, maybe
he keeps things tidy.
