The Wasp Factory
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...
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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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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780446340878 (0446340871)
Publish date: March 1986
Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
Pages no: 185
Edition language: English
Category:
Novels,
Science Fiction,
Literature,
European Literature,
British Literature,
Cultural,
Mystery,
Contemporary,
Thriller,
Horror,
Dark,
Scotland
This takes place on an island in Scotland, with a wild cast of characters. The beginning was quite compelling, and I could tell early on that I would like the author's style. His prose and imagery is beautifully horrific. Frank's perspective is fascinating. He spends his days performing a sort of ...
Well-written, engaging prose, great for analysis, but on the whole too disgusting for academic purposes. The book read was second-hand, and somebody covered the first two pages with comprehensive notes explaining everything there is to explain about the book (spoilers galore), but it didn't ruin my ...
So, er, this book happened. I'm having a lot of trouble responding to it, honestly. I almost don't want to three star it, because I'm just not sure "liked" is the appropriate word for it. It was well-done, for what it was. What it was was dark as hell, though. Seriously, horrifically dark as hell....
✭✭ 2 StarsThis was a very difficult book for me to rate so I rated it purely based on 'personal enjoyment'.Yes the book was dark and clever and so well written but the enjoyment factor just wasn't there for me. Something I can not handle to read about is the abusing, torturing and killing of animals...