The Wasp Factory in Read a book from each country

Jul 26, 2018 Chinook rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-kindle, europe, 1001

This was headed to be a five star read for me. I liked the slow way the various mysteries unfolded - what happened to make Eric lose his mind, what the Wasp Favtory was, why Frank killed three people, what’s in the study... It was particularly fascinating to read an account by a very logical crazy person who contrasts himself with a disordered crazy person.

But I feel like the ending doesn’t at all work to wrap up the remaining mysteries: why did these two siblings both become the people they di ...more

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Jul 06, 2023 Stewart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The Wasp Factory’ (1984) by Iain Banks centres on the narration of Frank Cauldhame, a teen living in an isolated house on a remote island in Scotland. Frank’s a psychopath with three murders chalked up, having dispatched some relatives at an early age in somewhat darkly comic circumstances. There’s another brother, Eric, recently escaped from a mental hospital and heading home, creating tension as with each call home he’s getting closer.

What’s especially gripping is the way Frank casually drops The Wasp Factory’ (1984) by Iain Banks centres on the narration of Frank Cauldhame, a teen living in an isolated house on a remote island in Scotland. Frank’s a psychopath with three murders chalked up, having dispatched some relatives at an early age in somewhat darkly comic circumstances. There’s another brother, Eric, recently escaped from a mental hospital and heading home, creating tension as with each call home he’s getting closer.

What’s especially gripping is the way Frank casually drops terms or references to incidents into the narrative and we’re on tenterhooks to understand them. Even when not much happens in the novel itself, there’s suspense aplenty as the back story is graduallly revealed and, as with many an unreliable narrator, we read between the lines because they cannot see the truth.

To talk about the book in broader thematic terms is difficult as Banks leads us to a major reveal that casts new lights on aspects of Frank’s narration and these are best discovered on one’s own. It’s safe to say Frank is a very interesting character with a clearly defined world. Whether it’s the secret names for places on the island (the Rabbit Grounds, the Bomb Circle) that need unpicking or rigid opinions on gender roles, with a clear disdain for women shining through, Frank’s narrative is captivating from start to finish, in spite of its affectlessness.

As a modern Scottish Gothic, Banks is clearly, and knowingly, plundering classic novels that reflect the supposed Caledonian Antisyzygy, but also tapping other works. Frank’s isolation is pure ‘Lord of the Flies’ and there’s more than a hint of a certain 1818 novel. But it’s perhaps also reflective of its time, and I wonder if ‘The Wasp Factory’ is, in some way, a critique of Thatcher’s first term, a vision of an unregulated world in microcosm.

Frank’s world is definitely bleak: a dysfunctional family; going out and getting drunk, an undisclosed disabilty; and offing a wide range of animals in various ways. But all this and more adds to a fascinating and addictive psychological study that asks the classic questions of nature versus nurture, among many others, with a satisfying sting in the tale. ...more

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Sep 10, 2009 Julia rated it did not like it

Shelves: sex-and-crime, scottish, disliked

On my edition of the Wasp Factory, there are reviews of different literary critics and they're all bad - this certainly made me more curious about reading it. clever trick to make people buy bad stuff like that - all the terrible things said about this novel are true: I wouldn't mind it's gross and dark, the characters are pervert and the setting is unpleasant, but it's also deeply uninteresting and sensational. If Mr. Banks thinks he can still shock people by mixing up torture to animals, devas ...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Barrita rated it liked it

Shelves: horror-terror, reviewed, 3-star, creepy, male-authors, barrilibros

He visto que algunas personas usan mucho "violencia gratuita" para hablar de libros de este tipo. No creo que sea el caso, especialmente porque la construcción de los personajes es buena y permite ver un poco mas alla y especular sobre los comos y porqués de lo que esta ocurriendo. En ese aspecto creo que el libro funciona, excepto por el final, que no aporta mucho a lo que se fue construyendo y tampoco es un "twist" original o impactante en realidad. ...more

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