Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Wasp Factory

Quickly, you get immersed into the violent mind of a budding psychopath. The flashbacks are the highlights of the book with the main story being repetitive and monotonous when it isn't being gruesome or shocking. Perception of the book largely depends on the reader's ability to find the comical in violence and sexism.

The ending was intriguing yet largely out of left field with the rest of the book. I found Paul's death to be the most upsetting part of the book yet one of the most redeeming in terms of writing. Also, the maggot brain incident will not be forgotten.

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possumpages's review against another edition

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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

This book is heralded as an extreme horror classic, with lots of praise piled onto it for its writing and themes. However, I felt that the twist at the very end of the book spoiled any minor enjoyment I had had up until that point. I recognize as a book written in the 80's by a scottish man you cannot expect

transgender issues

to be handled well; however, how hamfistedly it was handled when, in fact, the twist could have been done SO WELL wrecked it for me, personally.

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britttobegorey94's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense 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

3.75

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kawooreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-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

2.0

Its been awhile since I rated something 2 stars...this book...it is insanely graphic and obscene one minute and borderline boring the next. Essentially Frank, the protagonist lives a hermetic lifestyle on his family's small island in Scotland with his father. At the beginning they learn that Frank's older brother Eric has escaped an institution and is making his way back to the island. As Frank awaits his inevitable arrival, he divulges the frightening reasons as to his brother's incarceration. Frank admits that he himself has a dark secret, that he killed three of his child relatives in his youth, including his little brother. The rest of the book is Frank nonchalantly describing the grisly ways in which they died while roaming around the island, engaging in intense animal cruelty and performing psychotic rituals with his "Wasp Factory". I held out to the end for 2 reasons, 1) its relatively short, just under 200 pages and 2) every dang person on tiktok said this is one of their favorite disturbing horror books and I'm trying to read Spooky for October...I do not recommend this book to anyone unless someone just wants to indulge in torture stories and relishes a read that will make them regret the time they wasted. Its an extremely disturbing story that had no redeeming qualities and quite a bizarre and lackluster ending. But maybe these kinds of stories just aren't for me.

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