Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

9 reviews

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

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

leic01's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Murder and Animal death

Minor: Violence and Vomit

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.

lottieingham's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.25

‘Sometimes the thoughts and feelings I had didn't really agree with each other, so I decided I must be lots of different people inside my brain.’ 🐝

The Wasp Factory is an unsettling tale of a young psychopath: the thoughts, rituals and beliefs of the young Frank amid his unconventional upbringing. 

This novel is a hard-hitter of the horror genre and not for the faint of heart. It doesn’t shy away from the taboos of

animal torture, deaths of children or the devastating effects of human curiosity gone too far

. 

The writing of the intriguing yet grossly deranged protagonist forces the reader to distance themselves from any empathy on his part…until other figures appear bewilderingly worse. 

What Banks achieves so well is this juxtaposition of the innocence of teenage angst and naivety alongside the nauseating depictions of Frank’s sadistic hobbies. The dark humour and self-deprecating thoughts and insecurities of the young protagonist paradoxically keep the story optimistic, despite some of the most grotesque descriptions I’ve encountered within the genre. 

Whilst some claim this novel should be banned due to its raw and unashamedly twisted depictions of violence, I think it is a welcome addition to the horror genre and one that sends chills down the spine without the need to resort to any supernatural or outer-world monstrosities.

Banks’s horror comes from humankind and how traumatic experience can blur the line between right and wrong. By the end, even the reader finds themselves guilty for feeling empathetic towards a delusional psychopath. 🔪

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Animal death, Blood, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, and Toxic friendship

abbieinwonderland's review against another edition

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexism, Alcohol, Violence, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Torture, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide

lizardgod's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

• I really can't decide if I hate this book or not, on some aspects, the trans representation is decent for the book's genre yet the only reason Frank is trans in the first place is due to trauma. It is interesting that the view of not aligning to the gender he was raised and the struggles with masculinity is more accurately depicted than most books written by actual trans authors. This book is honestly really good to me and my written summary does not do the book justice. It does take effort to start but it escalates very quickly once you realize what's going on. Also it starts with a lot of cryptic symbolism however all of it makes sense by the end instead of having to figure it out based on personal interpretation/author inference, a feature I personally enjoy in books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Stalking, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Incest

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

tabithalevis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Lots of animal abuse, and a confusing plot that leaves me with many questions. Finished it in one day so definitely something to quickly get through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit