Customer Reviews

The Wasp Factory

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I never imagined a book could be like this. A deep insight into the mind of Frank, a brutish and disturbed child who takes pleasure in causing suffering to innocent animals and the ending of his cousins lives, and how he has learnt to live with the fact his brother is in a Mental Institution. In the way the book is written, by the end it actually makes you feel sorry for Frank. A brilliant read which I have been recommending to all my friends. Well Done Iain Banks.

I was given 'The Crow Road' to read and loved it, so I looked up Iain Banks' other books and the synopsis of this jumped out at me. However that does not do it justice, this is absolute cracker of a book. The character of Frank is quite possibly the best character in any novel I have read, a superlative creation from one of Britain's greatest comtemporary novelists. Banks as ever shows us that what we imagine to be black is merely a shade of grey in his mind. His humour is so dark you feel that you should not find it funny, the plot so twisted you should not care about it's characters but it is so well written you cannot help yourself, this is truly a modern classic.

Enter the strange world of Frank. It certainly is an invitation living up to its words on the backside of the book. Frank is weird, he doesn't even exist officially, as his father never registered him after his birth. Many things happened in his life, during his story he tells all the significant details of his life up until then. And when reading them one surprise follows the next, the strange mind of the main character makes for an entertaining book, although you wonder quite often if people like this really exist. Just a quote: "Three. I haven't killed anybody for years now, nor do I intend to kill again. It was just a phase I had to get through." This is a teenager speaking, just to emphasise the weirdness of it. Still this is not a book about murders, nor is it a crime novel. It is about the mind of this youngster, his family, his world. This world is a small peninsula on the Scottish coast. Frank has a brother who competes in absurdness with him, setting fire to pet dogs being a speciality. There is just too much happening, it is very difficult to put the book down. It certainly proves why Banks is one of my favourite authors. It is impossible to actually describe Frank, you just have to read the book to know. One of the best novels by Banks, which says a lot as most of his books are great.

The Wasp Factory is told from the perspective of Frank Cauldhame, a sixteen year old who lives on a tiny and remote Scottish island owned by his reclusive father. Frank does not officially exist. His birth was never registered and he does not attend school. His father lets him run wild in return for his silence about his official non-existence. Frank's life on the island primarily involves the ritualistic killing of small animals. In addition to this he has killed three small children. Two of his cousins and his younger brother. He has cleverly made these killings look like freak accidents and although sometimes he is wracked with guilt because of what he has done, he views the killings as 'necessary experimentation'.
The title of the book comes from the 'Wasp Factory', a home-made machine into which Frank feeds wasps he has captured and sedated overnight in a jar. The wasp enters the factory through an old clock face and then faces one of 12 possible deaths, for example death by drowning in Frank's own urine, by burning alive, by being sliced in two or eaten by the Venus Fly Trap. Frank uses the wasps outcome to predict the future.
Frank uses the wasp factory to tell him about his elder brother 'Eric's' homecoming. Eric escaped from a mental hospital but now he is on his way home to see the family. Running wild across the countryside but calling to update Frank on his progress along the way....

I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I was a little taken aback by the sheer weirdness of it all, although this did draw me in and make me want to keep reading further in order to make sense of it all.
If you do want to read this book you should be aware that it is a little 'sick' to say the least and contains some graphic images of killing. Sheep, rabbits and dogs are burnt alive. Animals are sacrificed and their dried heads displayed to warn away others. For this reason the book is clearly NOT suitable for children and some may be offended by it. For this reason also I have decided to give the book 4 stars.
However, in its defence this is a truly fascinating and obscure read, the characters are interesting and diverse, the setting wild and unusual. The ending is incredibly clever and I certainly didn't see it coming.
It is a relatively short book, around 200-250 pages and it is easy to read throughout. I read it quickly in just a few days.

I found this story weird and far too twisted for my taste. I gave up on it after 60% but was sufficiently intrigued to see what the ending was, so I started reading backwards from the end. For those contemplating reading this I can assure you of a five star ending that is pretty much invisible from the journey there. Unfortunately the journey was too unpleasant to sustain my interest.

This is book is actually quite dull and weired for 85%, but it is great for the rest. Mediocre but not amazing.

I hated this book, but could not put it down. The day to day horror on every page kept me absorbed but curious as to what the book was actually about, sadly I still don't know. I had guessed the ultimate ' revelation ' half way through the book, but was so disappointed with the lack of reason or explanation. Would I recommend it? Yes if you like gothic horrors, no if you are intolerant of pointless depravity it literature.

Frank is weird, he doesn't even exist officially, as his father never registered him after his birth. Many things happened in his life, during his story he tells all the significant details of his life up until then. And when reading them one surprise follows the next, the strange mind of the main character makes for an entertaining book, although you wonder quite often if people like this really exist. Just a quote: "Three. I haven't killed anybody for years now, nor do I intend to kill again. It was just a phase I had to get through." This is a teenager speaking, just to emphasise the weirdness of it. Still this is not a book about murders, nor is it a crime novel. It is about the mind of this youngster, his family, his world. This world is a small peninsula on the Scottish coast. Frank has a brother who competes in absurdness with him, setting fire to pet dogs being a speciality. There is just too much happening, it is very difficult to put the book down. It certainly proves why Banks is one of my favourite authors.

What a fantasic book! The order arrived on time and even though i paid for it when it was used it arrived in excellent condition; which i was really happy about. I've read the book and it's twisted but excellent plot is enthrilling, i couldn't put it down and reached the halfway point in the book with a day; which is an achcieve ment as i am at college as a full time student. It's decriptive content is most likely not suitable for smaller children i would say definately. However for those who enjoy a little bit of physco every now and again why not?

The Wasp Factory is the story of Frank Cauldhame, a disturbed teenager who lives in a remote part of Scotland. Told from Frank's perspective, it is a dark and gruesome novel. As the story opens, Frank's brother has escaped from prison; Frank's father is detached, and retreats regularly to his study, where he works in secret behind a locked door; and all the while, Frank continues to perform macabre rituals and games with dead animals, centring on the mysterious Wasp Factory itself.

I enjoyed this book, knowing nothing about it in advance beyond the mention of "gothic horror" in the enthusiastic review quoted on the cover. It is not pleasant - at one point I actually felt a bit horrified, a very rare experience for me when reading - but I felt gripped, wanting to know more about the Wasp Factory, what Frank's brother and father were doing, and how Frank had become so disturbed. Having set up so many intriguing questions, Banks does well to offer fascinating and unexpected answers.

It was also a pleasure to read a novel that is relatively short, clear, and well-constructed. Many of the most celebrated novels today seem to be quite weighty and complicated by comparison.

The 25th Anniversary Edition includes a preface by Ian Banks, but at three pages long it is not worth the expense if you already have a copy. In the preface he talks about his early writing years before The Wasp Factory - his debut novel - was accepted for publication. I would have preferred some more insight from Banks into the novel itself.