From the Bookshelf of Disturbing Books on Livejournal…

The Wasp Factory

Iain Banks

Start date: November 1, 2013

Finish date: December 30, 2013

Discussion: DB book club - currently reading

Discussion leader: Ashur

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DB book club - currently reading

* April 2014 - COWS by Matthew Stokoe
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last updated Apr 13, 2014 03:32PM

July 2014 - CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE by Thomas Ligotti
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last updated Aug 05, 2014 10:02AM

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Dec 03, 2022 Heather V ~The Other Heather~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: db-book-club, fiction, disturbing-books-reading-list, audiobooks, recommended-to-me, my-actual-physical-library, reviewed, proceed-with-caution

I've had this book on my shelf since buying it in Glasgow back in...2008?...and for whatever reason I finally decided the time was right. I got the audiobook out, too, and I think (as a 2nd and 3rd generation Canadian person who is surrounded by mellower accents) I was at a great advantage in being able to listen to it at 1.75x. Aside from my travels, my great-grandparents were from the far north of Scotland and my grandfather had a slight brogue himself, so I grew up with a built-in "oh, yeah, ...more

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Nov 12, 2014 E. Dade rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, subversive, classics, satire

The Wasp Factory is a look into the madness of isolation emasculation, wilful ignorance and especially ritual. It is Narrated by Frank who lives with his passive yet consistently critical father. We're introduced to these characters Frank (who never questions his father's instructions to tell any authority figure that he is a relative whose real parents had burdened him with during his infancy). Receives notice from the villages' constable that his half brother Eric (locked up in a hospital for The Wasp Factory is a look into the madness of isolation emasculation, wilful ignorance and especially ritual. It is Narrated by Frank who lives with his passive yet consistently critical father. We're introduced to these characters Frank (who never questions his father's instructions to tell any authority figure that he is a relative whose real parents had burdened him with during his infancy). Receives notice from the villages' constable that his half brother Eric (locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane) had escaped, and was most likely on his way back home. Between Frank's stoic details of the daily routines he would perform. Ritualistic acts in the name of defending the island (Decapitated animal heads attaching them to poles to adorn the borders ,as well as hidden bombs that he would often check on, hiding amongst the dunes to practice his aim while shooting at various targets some living some not). Frank's description becomes increasingly bizarre but as readers we are lulled into his mechanical way of letting us in on the minutiae that psychopaths deal with, and we find ourselves shocked but not surprised when after upsetting an infant thus upsetting Eric, he decides to kill him (at the age of four). He confesses to the murders of two more relatives (one is very inventive), and the ways in which their lives were taken are reenacted inside the large loft (that his father couldn't physically intrude due to bad legs). Here he has put together an elaborate death chamber operated by mechanics of an antique clock. Each killing has a meaning, which he consults the skull of the family dog that had made him sexually and physically maimed to channel the mind of his brother. Even though Eric would call, Frank couldn't get very much information from Eric as he would either rant at him or call in a state of dissociation, all the while leaving subtle clues. Frank knew the time he'd have with his brother would be very brief, and drunkenly contemplated the circumstances of their reunion. Jaime, equally bizarre in his looks and not what society looks upon as an ideal man (he is a dwarf, rapidly balding at 25), would chime in with scenarios as well. Frank's madness (the murders, rituals, etc) took place in the absence of his half brother. Frank idolised him until he decided to follow his father's footsteps and pursue a career in medicine. During his studies he (Eric) found himself visited by a situation so grotesque, it drove him mad. Eric let Frank know that he'd returned to the island before reuniting, but upon his arrival and the fiery parade leading him in, Frank saw that his father, drunk and in despair of Eric's return had left his equivalent to "The Wasp Factory" unprotected, and when Frank decided to trespass he was deluged with so many artefacts he knew related to him, or his father in some way that triggered a state of confused anger, Frank's need to understand what he'd seen and what these objects had to do with either his father or himself took priority over making sure his brother wasn't injured, or dehydrated ignore's Eric arrival, and finally confronts his father, The confession is so bizarre and when the walls come down Frank could choose to let the tides of extremely disturbing information suck him in, or allow himself to be Eric's little brother. He decides to do the latter and upon meeting his exhausted brother passed out on a dune, decides to process everything he'd learned at a shallow (or childish level of understanding) as he is finally reunited with his mad brilliant brother. It's also infers Frank will have to confront the barrage of duplicity that was his life, his education and why his father wanted to keep him from straying from his rituals, his 9-5's as the foundation on which Frank's very life was consumed could endanger the architect (perhaps an analogy to the å culture in which most of us live. There are other social criticisms but I don't want to spoil the book even more than I already have. This book is scary because the rituals we must practice implicate us in murder cruelty and suffering. We're even cognisant of this fact, but in order to keep our society running a lot of us have developed neurological shortcuts, allowing us to bypass functions that generate the amount of empathy that would actually affect how we live our lives and simply give a fuck, ...more

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