Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

60 reviews

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

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

clar_ph's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Child death, Mental illness, Death, Body horror, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Racism

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

owlribbon's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

robin345'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny

hugo_pc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Sexism, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Medical trauma

tysuckz's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I rate as I go, usually and it started at around a 3.25.... it was just a bit slow at the start. It slowly just got better. Truly one of my favourite books at the moment. 

Completely and utterly bizarre. Not the ending I at all anticipated. One of the weirdest families I have EVER had the uncertain pleasure to read about. Not sure the wasp factory was an apt name considering the minimal amount it was actually spoken about... but this book really surprised me in terms of how much I enjoyed it. 

I was sitting there with my eyes wide open rapidly reading the last 3 chapters. It got so tense!!! So dramatic!!! So many twists and turns. Wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Murder