Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

32 reviews

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

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Incest

pablollopez's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

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

keerak's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hkantarek's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

possumpages'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

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Transphobia, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

britttobegorey94's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Sexism

kawooreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

grimfrown's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sarah984'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

1.0

I know that a lot of people found the deaths in this book disturbing, but everything in the book was so whimsical and divorced from reality that it really had no effect on me at all. Extreme misogyny and weird transphobia but that's not surprising in a serial killer story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Excrement

Minor: Rape and Suicide