The Wasp Factory in Reading with Style

Jun 09, 2013 Juniper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-books, owned

i am really having trouble unpacking my thoughts about this book and i am not 100% certain yet what i am feeling. but i can tell you, i feel like i am having ALL THE FEELINGS.

this was banks' first book. HIS FIRST BOOK, and it's an amazing debut work. there are some big subjects covered here: religion (via ritual), gender issues (a whole lot of hating on women going on here), psychopathic people (not just one psychopathic person), family secrets and power & abuse issues too. which is a lot of gr ...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day) rated it liked it

Shelves: f-literary, format-print, fiction, 2011, source-own

Frank Cauldhame is a sixteen year old who has killed three people and doesn't bat an eyelid before torturing an animal or insect. He has an impressive system of nomenclature for any significant landmark in the dunes behind his house on an island, such as The Snake Park, where one of his victims was killed, The Bomb Circle, where another victim died, and so on. His brother Eric, who was admitted to a psychiatric institution after setting dogs on fire, had somehow managed to escape from the instit Frank Cauldhame is a sixteen year old who has killed three people and doesn't bat an eyelid before torturing an animal or insect. He has an impressive system of nomenclature for any significant landmark in the dunes behind his house on an island, such as The Snake Park, where one of his victims was killed, The Bomb Circle, where another victim died, and so on. His brother Eric, who was admitted to a psychiatric institution after setting dogs on fire, had somehow managed to escape from the institution, leaving his father and the cop worried. Frank himself doesn't know whether to worry or await Eric's ultimate arrival at his house - he has been perceiving signals around his house that Eric's arrival might not be such a good thing. Should he take the initiative and stop Eric or wait and watch?

When I first heard of this book, I was reminded of Miss Entropia and the Adam Bomb, which I read earlier this year and loved! The Wasp Factory also has a protagonist whose definition of what's normal is heavily skewed, and I love reading from perspectives of characters like these (which also include serial killers, psychopaths, depressed/bipolar people, etc). Reading about these characters makes me realize how fragile the thing called the brain actually is, and how a tiny snap is all you need to careen from being a sensible person to someone still intelligent but highly irrational, emotional or antipathetic, and incapable of leading the life that was. On that grounds, I felt that Iain Banks succeeded in creating a character whose reasoning was flawed and yet very sound, who explains his killings without any remorse, and who left me worrying about the plight of the other characters, despite his promise not to kill again.

Frank has a lot of prejudices - he despises women and doesn't shirk from thinking venomous thoughts against them. He had a calculated calm manner to doing things, and could explain away even the most stray occurrence as a sign from the Wasp Factory. And the Wasp Factory itself is an intricate invention of this kid who except for possessing such disturbing thoughts is otherwise a genius in many ways. I had been waiting to see what this factory was all about, after it being mentioned a ton of times all throughout. I guessed, of course, that whatever it was, it was not going to be pleasant, seeing as Frank reveres it and the author wasn't giving away too much. After all the buildup, when I finally reached the chapter, it turned to be sort of anti-climatic, because I was expecting a whole lot more in there, but let me just say that the wasp factory in itself blew me away. I did end up feeling way too sorry for the wasps, and I'm just glad that Frank didn't invent something like that for bigger living things.

Although I wouldn't classify this book as creepy, despite its contents, (and it didn't leave me with any kind of nightmares), the author does succeed in giving Frank's actions a kind of real-world feeling. At some point through the book, I had to keep telling myself that this was fiction. Frank had all the tell-tale signs of a future serial killer, and I desperately wanted someone to take note and do something about it. His brother Eric was another enigmatic character, and half the time, I was left wondering who I would choose to keep home, if I had to. Their conversations were hilarious when you think that you wouldn't go to either people for advice. It was just totally mind-blowing how no one wised up to Frank's actions, his own father spends most of his time drunk and leaving Frank to his own devices. Of course, his father has a bigger secret locked up in his study, which Frank had been trying to enter for years. When he finally manages to enter the room, I totally never saw that twist coming even from a mile away, even with all the hints dropped through the book. That ending somehow eased up some of my worries of Frank's possibly shady future, but it didn't feel very convincing.

This is my first experience with Banks' work and I didn't know until recently that he had published a lot of known works. This book took me a while to finish - I would have appreciated a map of the island, because I had trouble picturing some of the descriptions of the island and the dunes. It is however a book that I hope to reread at some point, because I'm sure I didn't get the significance of some aspects. I did feel that some questions weren't answered and am still left wondering about them, but I could just as easily have overlooked them while reading. Overall, The Wasp Factory was a nice literary sketch of a cold, impassive mind. ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-on-kobo, ireland

After The Crow Road and based on this book’s description, I should know that there’s going to be some convoluted conspiracy and absolutely mind-blowing craziness in this book but still… I was caught by surprise and even felt physically sick at one point of the story. I may be a little sensitive or maybe too imaginative! Iain Banks certainly have got ‘horror’ down pat; I’ve never felt so horrified in most of my readings. I may have dwelled too much on that one incident that the twist at the end s ...more

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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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Apr 13, 2021 Joanna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-read, rws-2021-spring, 1001, pas-trim-2021

Absolutely one of the weirdest books I've read. This book is a window into the crazy mind of a young psychopath. Trigger warnings galore here--creepy descriptions of violence toward people and animals, crazy thoughts, and lots of uncomfortable moments. Yet fascinating. I couldn't look away even as I found the book disturbing and not exactly enjoyable.

The ending didn't work for me and seemed forced somehow. ...more

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