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by: Iain Banks  Dewey Decimal Number: 813 EAN: 9780007116096 Format: Audiobook ISBN: 0007116098 Label: HarperCollins Audio Manufacturer: HarperCollins Audio Number Of Items: 2 Publication Date: March 19, 2001 Publisher: HarperCollins Audio Studio: HarperCollins Audio Related Items: Alternate Versions: Click to Display Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: "I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped. I already knew something was going to happen; the Factory told me." Those lines begin one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels. The narrator, Frank Cauldhame, is a weird teenager who lives on a tiny island connected to mainland Scotland by a bridge. He maintains grisly Sacrifice Poles to serve as his early warning system and deterrent against anyone who might invade his territory. Few novelists have ever burst onto the literary scene with as much controversy as Iain Banks in 1984. The Wasp Factory was reviled by many reviewers on account of its violence and sadism, but applauded by others as a new and Scottish voice--that is, a departure from the English literary tradition. The controversy is a bit puzzling in retrospect, because there is little to object to in this novel, if you're familiar with genre horror. The Wasp Factory is distinguished by an authentically felt and deftly written first-person style, delicious dark humor, a sense of the surreal, and a serious examination of the psyche of a childhood psychopath. Most readers will find that they sympathize with and even like Frank, despite his three murders (each of which is hilarious in an Edward Gorey fashion). It's a classic of contemporary horror. --Fiona Webster Product Description: 'Two years after I killed Blyth, I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different reasons and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did my young cousin Esmeralda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.' Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Alright I guess. Not for the faint-of-heartThe Wasp Factory By Iain Banks is a deep, dark and agonizing novel that is not for all audiences, probably not for most audiences. This novel tells the story of Frank (?) Cauldhame a disturbed young man capable of very sadistic acts to insects, animals, people. This includes his brother and two of his cousins. The truly disturbing part of these murders aren't even so much the killings as much as the rationilizations. I found it almost difficult to read as young Frank describes these killings ... Read More Rating:  - The calmness and clarity of a disturbed mind...Few admit that, when they were children, they scorched ants with the sun's rays under a magnifying glass, or tossed insects into spider webs to be eaten alive. We own up to flushing bugs down the toilet, and smashing flies with newspapers, books, and fly swatters. In The Wasp Factory, Frank Cauldhame takes things a bit further. He tortures wasps, shoots and bombs rabbits, and kills and displays other small animals as needed to power his Sacrifice Poles and the Wasp Factory. Read More Rating:  - Bloody AwfulThis is the one and only book out of the thousand or so that I have read that I have ever thrown in the trash. Literally thrown in the trash bin after reading. This is not genre horror, it's out-and-out sadism. And reading it makes you masochistic. It is just blood-curdlingly awful. I picked it up based on its supposed "controversy" and the blurbs on the back cover. It sounded intriguing and dark, and I do like a dark narrative every once in a while. But this was just sick, and it was sick just ... Read More Rating: - A quick and interesting read...I picked up this book based on the similarities I've heard it shares with American Psycho, which is one of my favorite novels. The reviewers were correct and I must say that this was quite the page-turner for me, albeit a short one. It is certainly not for the squeamish; it can be very graphic and cruel at times, made all the more disturbing with the matter-of-factly writing style. It was structured loosely and didn't have a particularly driving plot, but I found the insight into the main character's ... Read More Rating: - Wasp Factory: a Scottish House of HorrorA disturbing story of growing up in a home where dysfunctional would have been seen as a major improvement. Surprise ending. Murder and sadism pass by constantly . . . gripping. Avoid if you like dogs . . . well timed . . . secure structure (in the face of chaotic minds). As times outstandingly comical. 
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