Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

13 reviews

august_18's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Sexism, Alcohol, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Gaslighting

leanneymu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

What the hell did I just read?! This book is gruesome, dark, and in some places genuinely pretty upsetting. That being said, I read it in two days and I found it a compelling story. I feel like the author might be trying to say something deeply profound about generational trauma, but the visceral violence in the book is so acute in places that I found it a bit difficult to stomach. Content notes for a lot of animal cruelty, animal death, and child death, amongst many many other things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Racism, Animal death, Vomit, and Violence

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Animal death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Murder, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Medical content, Racism, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Honestly with all the warnings I listed it still doesn’t feel like enough

readeranew's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Very disturbing and interesting
Unique voice
Slow paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Racism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Child death, Animal death, and Misogyny

revolution666's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Rape, Transphobia, Vomit, and Blood

karaboureview's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Sexism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Gaslighting, Torture, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Violence, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Ableism, Homophobia, Vomit, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Outing, Cursing, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest, Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Racism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

This might be just a me thing, but the chapter titled

"What Happened to Eric" really redefines body horror, in my book,

and deserves a content warning all its own. Also, this isn't a tag option, but:

mutilation of animals both dead and living, and the (implied and actual) mutilation of people.

clar_ph's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Child death, Mental illness, Death, Body horror, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Racism

lainerly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

huh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, and Transphobia

americattt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racism and Misogyny

anapauggarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved it! 
It is so scary just to be in the kid's mind!
I am so glad I got to read this book, it has been by far one of my favorite horror books I've ever read. 
First, let's talk about the main character: Frank. OMG, he is scary! He is a kid and young adult, and a psycho in the same mind. The beliefs he holds in his head and the obsession he has with every single aspect of his life just scared me so much. 
I was more scared to be in his mind that to read what was going on around him. 
It scared me so much the line that took the story, from making us disgusted with this kid to actually understanding him. It was such a great story, I have never enjoyed that much being in the villain's mind. 
Then his brother...OMG he is also scary! Every telephone call they have I will just get super scared. I was so tense until they hung up. The way the brother spoke made him sound even more unstable than Frank, and all we knew was that he was coming our way. 
The only complaint I will have would be that the book kind of makes us think that the story will be about the encounter between Frank and his brother Eric. So during the entire book, I was waiting for these scenes to happen, and the resolution to this feels kind of rushed and super short. I was expecting more from this plotline. 
But it was also interesting to get such an immersive sight of the protagonist's life. As I said before, it was impressive how we started hating him and then we understood. 
I wasn't expecting such a good plot twist. I thought the story was going to go in another direction, but WOW. It really changed my perspective toward the main character and made me question if someone could really get that evil for the same reason as he did. 
It was a great book. My mind was completely blown away. I give it 5 stars easily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

This book might not be the best for people that would not feel comfortable understanding certain reasons why someone could certain violent acts.