Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (10 of 1294)



I thought I'd get a couple of my least favorites from the list out of the way.  The Wasp Factory was another one of the books that I didn't really enjoy.

The story is told from Frank's perspective, who is quite a disturbed young individual.  Frank lives with his father, in a very unconventional life, where he doesn't go to school, lives on an island, and his brother just escaped from a mental institution.  Frank spends his time torturing and killing small animals, along with other relatives or people he doesn't like.

The end has a pretty big twist about Frank that I won't spoil.  In all honesty the book was a little disturbing, which I don't say much.  I had high hopes when the sleeve of the book mentioned Lord of the Flies, and read a lot of positive reviews of the book.

I do know that I immediately hated reading the book, but as time passed my stance has softened a bit.  It wasn't as terrible as my first impression, but I'd stop short of recommending it.  I can think of other weird or disturbing books that I liked much more.

My rating: 2 1/2 stars.

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