The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - spoiler free horror book review

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Synopsis:
The Wasp Factory is a bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath - one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels.
'Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.'
Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, and unconventional, to say the least.
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[@fiberartsyreads]

I read this recently and did like it overall. It’s my kind of weird. I was so interested in what Frank was doing! He’s such an intriguing character.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah he's really fascinating. The plot (such as it is) really seems secondary - the book is kind of just one long character study

[@jimmlygoodness]

Great review, Olly. Thank you. I just finished the book. I normally don't like disturbing stuff, but I was intrigued after hearing a little about it. I couldn't put it down. I like how things are revealed slowly and also I found that there was enough humor (mostly in Frank's conversations with his dad, Jamie, and Eric) that it balanced out the more disturbing stuff.

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

I actually came to The Wasp Factory from his science fiction novels. Some of those were magnificent, especially Use of Weapons. I need to read more of his literary fiction.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I have a bunch of his books in the attic - need to dig them out and start reading them!

[@darrylsloan]

I read this for the first time about a year ago. Really good. The ending stretched credibility a bit, but I still liked it. Some of the exchanges on the phone with the brother were so funny. This is the only Banks book I've read apart from "The Player of Games," which I read in my mid teens. My only memory is that I found it confusing, but I didn't know at the time that it was book 2 of a saga. I do want to read more of this author soon.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

He’s definitely got a back catalogue that’s worth exploring. His books tend to be quite different from each other

[@derek83mn]

Hey Ollie - the Mail on Sunday review in my 2013 Abacus edition goes on to say: "But there is unlikely to be a better one either. You can hardly breathe for fear of missing a symbol, or a fine phrase..."!! And pretty much gushes about Banks. I've read all his science fiction... now going slowly through his other novels while re-reading the sci fi!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I really need to try his SF again. I loved Consider Pheblas when I read it ages ago.

[@AnneEWilliamson]

I definitely struggle with animal cruelty, but I also hate wasps so I might not mind it, lol. But this book sounds incredibly interesting but super creepy too! I really love twisted serial killer stories, especially understanding the twistedness of a human mind.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂 at wanting to see wasps die I do think there is an appeal to books that explore the darker side of humanity

[@sethball2475]

This novel was on a list of "100 Best Horror Books" put out around 1988, and it was one of the earliest books on the list I went to - it was easy to get, the cover and title were very alluring, and blurbs saying it was a dreadful book were being used to promote it - so I probably read it in 1989 or 1990 - or not long after. It certainly is a must for any Horror fan looking for books that are not just on the Horror shelves, if a reader can handle the trigger content. I've seen the ending get picked on, as the gimmicky part of the book that sort of weakens the whole experience - but I think it just adds a little something extra to think about. This book, for me, leaves a few key visual images in my imagination, that won't go away. So on that front, it is a success, all those years ago. The only other Iain Banks novel I have read is called The Bridge (which got tossed at me by a "100 Best Fantasy Books" List from around the same time!). Also a great read, but not as alarming as The Wasp Factory. Fans of The Wasp Factory might also like Compulsion by Shaun Hutson, and The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah I don’t mind the ending at all. I think it works in the context of the book. I liked the Bridge too. I think one of the interesting things about him as a writer is how different his books are from each other!

[@parlabaneisback]

I read 'The Wasp Factory' decades ago. It was a terrific read and I binged every Banks novel I could get my hands on afterwards (including the SF). They were mostly brilliant, but I think he went off the boil a bit towards the end of his career.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I’ve not read much of his later stuff, but have a few laying around that I’ll get to at some point. Thanks for watching and commenting as always!

[@lesleyb26]

I read it as a teenager as well, even got the same edition. Now it's on my sons bedside table entertaining another generation of teens.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Excellent! Hope the enjoy it 😊

[@MyPaulo1988]

I enjoyed the book overall and I like the “twist” with frank at the end. However I wanted more to happen with Erick.

[@alancumming6407]

He was in school a couple of years above me so I had no hesitation in buying the book when it came out in 1984. I enjoyed it but better was to come.

[@CinePhill]

One of my favourite authors of all time and like you one of the first grown up literary authors I read in my teens, although my introduction was Complicity. I then went and read everything I could get my hands on including The Wasp Factory. I’ve never read his sci-Fi surprisingly although I did attempt Phlebas years ago I guess I wasn’t in the mood at the time. Great review and it’s still a powerful debut.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Complicity is one of the ones I haven’t read. Need to sort that out!

[@CinePhill]

@@CriminOllyBlog I think it would be right up your alley! Been a few years since I reread it but I remember thinking the last time that it’s almost a Scottish Giallo.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@CinePhill Yeah I've heard that about it - it does sounds good.

[@TheBookclectic]

Leaving a book appropriate emoji here to help with the algorithm! 🐝 (that's close enough to a Wasp, right?)

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you!

[@catherinefraser5247]

Would you say that the animal cruelty of the book was drawn out and torturous to get through or that it was written as an event that is taking place but is not expanded on over a paragraph or two? Animal cruelty is not unheard of in the Horror genre, and I have read things that contain much of that. But I think it matters to my enjoyment of reading if I have massive scenes of it, or if it is mentioned but I don't have to sit with it a long time. Are they literal or more metaphorical in nature? So many questions!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hi Catherine! It’s definitely frequent but also brief. He doesn’t dwell on it at all, there’s just a lot of it!

[@Priscilla_Bettis]

Good review. The Wasp Factory is on my to-read list. I need to get to it.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hope you enjoy it when you do! Thanks for watching and commenting, Priscilla 😊

[@M-J]

It’s a hard pass for me based on the trigger warning. What is the “video scare”?

[@CriminOllyBlog]

The Video Nasty scare - so basically in the early 80s there was a big movement - led really by religious conservatives and the tabloid press - against horror videos. A number of films ended up getting banned outright over here and many more were only available in heavily cut versions for a long time.

[@M-J]

@@CriminOllyBlog Wow - I never knew that. Thanks! 😊

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@M-J my pleasure!

[@LostLegendTrance]

I feel a lot of people focus on the gruesomeness of this book (for good reason) but fail to mention how great some of the dark humour is. Like the type of stuff that makes you laugh out loud and immediately feel bad about it. The demise of Franks racist uncle who travelled to South Africa for example.

[@jrlakin370]

Superb book. Read many times. One of my favourites of all time.

[@JohnnyRecently]

Outstanding review. It's in my To-be-read pile. Your animal cruelty warning got my attention. Still, I'll give it a try.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you! Hope you enjoy it when you get to it!

[@DDB168]

So those negative blurbs you read were in the book (I assumed)? Interesting. I havent read it.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yep - on the first few pages

[@jamesholder13]

I've been wanting to read The Wasp Factory for years.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hope you enjoy it when you get to it!

[@krc5210]

Well.. Gulp. Going to give this a go. Thx for the review. Reading Gilded Needles just now so after that.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

How is Gilded Needles? I need to work my way through McDowell's books

[@krc5210]

@@CriminOllyBlog good so far. I like his writing. His bpoks have been difficult to get but I would like to work my way thru them too. But wasp fact is next for me.

[@SR-no8sr]

The Wasp Factory is so good but I just cannot do animal stuff which is why, despite so highly recommend, cannot do NickbCutter's The Troop.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah, The Troop was pretty horrific!

[@soundsfromthewestcoast9939]

Read it not long after it was first published and thought it was excellent - and disturbing. Really should give it a reread.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thanks Peter - I really enjoyed rereading it .

[@MichaelRomeoTalksBooks]

Sounds intriguing. I'm going to look for a copy.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

It’s great! Hope you enjoy

[@MichaelRomeoTalksBooks]

@@CriminOllyBlog Well I found it but not at a price I'm willing to pay for an ebook. But I did get one of his other books, The Quarry.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@MichaelRomeoTalksBooks I think I have that one but haven’t read it yet

[@danecobain]

I thought it was okay until the ending, which I hated. I'm now on three Iain Banks novels and I'm yet to enjoy one, so I'm officially giving up!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I didn’t have a problem with the end. His books are all very different from each other, but if you’ve read three and not liked any of them, giving up seems the right option!

[@danecobain]

@@CriminOllyBlog Yeah, life is too short to stick with authors you don't enjoy!

[@rye6386]

Comment added for the algorithm 😶‍🌫️

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you!

[@CestKevvie]

I read this last year but thought it was so boring! Anytime he wasn't killing someone I couldn't care less. The "offensive" bits were even disappointing. I wanted to be outraged or start laughing at it, but it inspired neither or those reactions. I never expected I could be bored by transphobia, but that's what happened here...

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ha! Horses for courses I guess! Sorry you didn’t like it more though. Have you read anything else by him?

[@CestKevvie]

@@CriminOllyBlog I've not, and it would take a loooooooot of convincing to give him another go.

[@bookboundweirdo]

Good to know it's still weird :)

[@CriminOllyBlog]

It really is!

[@krisreviews]

Ooo... human cruelty I could care less... but animal cruelty??? No thanks!😅

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Fair enough! This one isn’t for you then!