Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

23 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

ab1gail_g's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Death, and Gore

saintgroovy's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

This is a uniquely dark and detached story, and taking the journey throughout daily life and memory with Frank gives insight into the psychopathic mind. You’ll find yourself confronted with the most monstrous of human behavior, while tackling Franks complete apathy towards his own actions. At times it’s funny how easily Frank justifies doing something terrible, and the roundabout ways he explains the need for cruelty.
I think the themes of gender identity and masculinity lead to such a complicated conclusion, not only for our narrator but for us. Do you hold sympathy for a person who is incapable of feeling any themselves? 
This is a story of both a victim and a perpetrator, who in the end holds no deep feelings about anything at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Dysphoria, Violence, Torture, and Animal cruelty

I think there’s so much to be said about Frances and how she thinks about herself and how she justifies murdering people with her own victimhood. Ultimately it’s no different than the thousands of reasons she gives us during the book, it’s just the best reason she could have been given. It’s shown over and over that she enjoys herself the most when she’s perceived to be the victim of tragedy, because she gets sympathy without any effort. But in the end- Her father was always as deeply a monster as her, and her brother. What a messed up story, I love how much it’s made me think

kelsiepixler's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Child death, Murder, Sexism, Torture, Body shaming, Death, Body horror, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Transphobia

catell's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Grief, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Torture

charlizardbookboi17's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

Very well written and engaging. Was a quick read. Very dark and violent. Rough in most spots but couldn't walk away without finishing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

bl00dy_gh0st's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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