Reviews

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

yoolka05's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

siobhanellen's review

dark mysterious 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

3.0

elliewilsonn08's review

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

susan_dandar's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

3.5

maee_buckk's review

3.0

a dark, melancholic, and almost gothic coming of age story. not all “coming-of-ages” are easy, smooth, and fun. some of us hold darkness and the main character embodies this perfectly. although i believe some of the darkness of the book tended to be superficial or unnecessary, i found the simple, metaphoric, writing style to be comforting and accommodating for a read riddled with dark themes.

shella688's review

4.0

I really wish I hadn't read the final chapter and a half or so of this book because it is such a letdown compared to the rest of it

The Wasp Factory is dark and gruesome and not an easy read because of it - but it's also darkly funny at times too, the writing is immensely compelling, and the main character (and also narrator) is very well done too, you can almost find yourself agreeing with what he explains until you remember how unreliable he is and just what, exactly, he is describing.

It's about perpetuating violence, and gender roles, and belief and religion, and it would have all been excellent were it not for the ending that was both lazily executed and just plain bad. Like, bad enough to genuinely annoy me bad.

.

It was over two years after I had subtracted Blyth with an adder that I found an opportunity to get rid of Paul.

blinkshark's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.0

bethany_crenol's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

vegantrav's review

3.0

--picked this up after seeing it on a list of the creepiest books of all time, and it fits the bill

--weird, semi-isolated family (father and son, Frank, and a non-resident housekeeper) living in rural Scotland

--Frank is the psychopathic (or at least nearly psychopathic) protagonist/narrator

--lots of animal cruelty, violence, and murder

--very misogynistic (at least Frank is)

--Frank's older brother, Eric, has escaped an asylum, and though Frank is not afraid of his older brother, he still fears Eric's return

--a revelation in the ending that is completely out of left field

--fascinating book but still ultimately not really satisfying

--left me feeling cold and disgusted

esumi's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0