Scan barcode
A review by alexandrabree
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
2.0
Going into the book "blind"
I was so confused for a huge portion of this book, I didn't want to spoil anything because it is so short and I had heard so much about how it was a super creepy disturbing novella and I find often knowing too much ahead of time ruins the anticipation and some of the atmosphere.
Things that I found more annoying than anything : I could not figure out exactly how old the narrator was (I looked it up after finishing and discovered 16) I initially thought he was a little boy between 8-10, from how the dialogue first played out and his relationship with his dad. Then we moved into him drinking and partying at a pub and I guessed he must be older but it could have been anywhere from 16-26 all of a sudden.
I couldn't figure out if this was a dystopian world or if this was just a very disturbed boy left to his own devices by weird distant adults, I couldn't figure out if he was a reliable or unreliable narrator I did wonder if it was all going to play out that Frank was actually Eric and he himself was either sitting in a cell in an asylum or had escaped from an asylum and was telling himself (and thus us the readers) some really weird half fantasy half reality story... The setting seemed to bounce between more modern and more old fashioned settings, if the entire point of this book was to be confusing it worked wonderfully.
The content was disturbing and upsetting in what it said. BUT it totally failed to be creepy or foreboding, there was a lack of tension and while the atmosphere was bleak it wasn't harrowing... it felt very fictional, I can't put my finger on exactly why it seemed so far from reality but at no point did I think any of this could have ever happened anywhere. (unlike the Troop which had a very similar disturbing character in Shelly, who however seemed more real, which was more of what I had in mind and was anticipating)
Overall I am not disappointed I both read my physical copy and listened to the audiobook just to see the differences (of which there were few) the narrator in the audiobook had a wonderful Scottish brogue but the book just seemed SO flat and undimensional.
I was so confused for a huge portion of this book, I didn't want to spoil anything because it is so short and I had heard so much about how it was a super creepy disturbing novella and I find often knowing too much ahead of time ruins the anticipation and some of the atmosphere.
Things that I found more annoying than anything : I could not figure out exactly how old the narrator was (I looked it up after finishing and discovered 16) I initially thought he was a little boy between 8-10, from how the dialogue first played out and his relationship with his dad. Then we moved into him drinking and partying at a pub and I guessed he must be older but it could have been anywhere from 16-26 all of a sudden.
I couldn't figure out if this was a dystopian world or if this was just a very disturbed boy left to his own devices by weird distant adults, I couldn't figure out if he was a reliable or unreliable narrator I did wonder if it was all going to play out that Frank was actually Eric and he himself was either sitting in a cell in an asylum or had escaped from an asylum and was telling himself (and thus us the readers) some really weird half fantasy half reality story... The setting seemed to bounce between more modern and more old fashioned settings, if the entire point of this book was to be confusing it worked wonderfully.
The content was disturbing and upsetting in what it said. BUT it totally failed to be creepy or foreboding, there was a lack of tension and while the atmosphere was bleak it wasn't harrowing... it felt very fictional, I can't put my finger on exactly why it seemed so far from reality but at no point did I think any of this could have ever happened anywhere. (unlike the Troop which had a very similar disturbing character in Shelly, who however seemed more real, which was more of what I had in mind and was anticipating)
Overall I am not disappointed I both read my physical copy and listened to the audiobook just to see the differences (of which there were few) the narrator in the audiobook had a wonderful Scottish brogue but the book just seemed SO flat and undimensional.