Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

123 reviews

autarch's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Child death

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

darcey_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

Frankenstein is a major intertext for this novel, and as someone who loves Frankenstein, I loved the way this book raises similar questions and shares many of the themes. I know many people do not like the animal abuse which is present in this book (not my favourite thing to read about either) and say that it is unnecessary and did not need to be included, but I disagree. I mean without it half the book - and half the point of the book - is missing. To me, the animal cruelty is not pointless and included just for the sake of it/to add shock value as I’ve seen suggested in some reviews, but it is included for a reason and does have a purpose. While I did not particularly enjoy reading those parts of the book, I think they are important to the story and overall message being portrayed. That being said, while I think this is a great book, I know that some people will not be able to enjoy it due to the animal cruelty, so if you know that is something you cannot read in a book then I’d avoid this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

petepilgrim'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

1.0

This has been on my radar for years, and finally  it up has been such a disappointment.

Perhaps it would have been shocking once, but the writing around the child murders is not strong enough to support the lack of characterisation or plot. 

A book like this shouldn't be boring, and my god it's a drag.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Child death, Murder, and Animal death

leiaslizzy's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Medical content, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny

This book is utterly insane from start to finish.

luli_maria's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism, Child death, Gore, and Mental illness

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 I thought for sure this would be way more intense than it actually was. People talk about this like it's some paramount tale of psychological twisting and horror, but I thought it was mid. Yeah, the animal death is messed up, but all of the other stuff? Saw some of it coming, and some of it was weird folks who live in a small town. As someone who lives in a small town (under 7,000 people), it wouldn't surprise me to have this happen close by. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Dysphoria and Alcohol

dawnb2403's review against another edition

Far too much animal cruelty and killing for me to stomach anymore! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty

moonmoonsun's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Child death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

animal deaths and torture: dogs, rabbits, mice, sheep wasps

refriedreid's review against another edition

Way too violent. Turned my stomach

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty