Customer Reviews
sometimes it's better not to revisit old friends - By: An avid reader, 07 Nov 2008 
I loved this book, loved it, it was fantastic, the best thing I had ever read, Iain Banks was the greatest living writer........but..............
that was 16 years ago & I was but still a teenager.
Now safely in my thirties & having had my eyes opened to the big, wild, cruel world, I decided to read it again.
Was it as good as I remembered? - Well, sadly no.
Was it as shocking as I remembered? - no.
To be honest, the plot struck me as paper thin, the graphic violence a little dull & the shock ending simply not that shocking (obviously I knew the ending, but my wife read it for the first time before I re read it & she didnt find it particularly shocking either, nor did she flinch at the violence), & why didnt I notice that Banks writing style is....well, a little boring? lacking in a little bit of flair?
It probably says a lot more about the state of the world & society that this book is no longer as shocking & violent as it was once considered, than it does about the book itself.
The fact is that books like Silence of the Lambs & TV programmes like Messiah are a hell of a lot more graphic & shocking than this & have numbed society to such an extent that this book no longer stands out from the crowd of crime/thriller/horror books.
I wish I hadnt re read it, then I would still hold it dear to my heart.
Still a decent book (and probably still a great book if youre a teenager), but now, sadly, a middle of the road horror book rather than the groundbreaking gothic debut it once was.
Bug Sprayed - By: Oliver Redfern, 19 Oct 2008 This novel apparently caused controversy when first published in 1984. Either reviewers couldn't handle its sadism & gore (because they clearly were not aware of a genre callled "horror" until this book landed on their desks) or they thought Banks was a brand new Scottish voice that needed to be heard.
A teenage boy lives on a deserted island with his father, disconnected from the Scottish mainland & civil society. The boy, Frank, has an older brother locked away in a mad house, & a history of mysterious deaths in his family's past. As a narrator, he's a typical teenage boy, with obsessions of alll kinds: weapons, violence, punk music & sex (or the lack of it). But can he be believed? None of the reviews I've read seem to have picked up on the general absurdities in Frank's narrative, to the point where it makes it hard to separate what is real & what is exageration, bravado. It's a shame, too, that the main plot twist in the end (and the book's original selling point) is so obvious for any modern reader used to western life. It doesn't help that Frank feels the need to explain the plot twist either, taking away the surprise's intended punch & deflating what could have been a neat slice of horror.
Black comedy at its best - By: John M, 26 Sep 2008 
To enjoy this book you need an appreciation of black comedy. Well written in a tongue in cheek manner & very easy to read. The 'wasp factory' of the title is a very creative invention. Worryingly though, one can easily imagine that somewhere a character like the anti-hero of the story reallly exists! I can see that this is a book that you either like or loathe, but those who don't like it probably didn't get the joke!
Graphically gory, but good writing - By: BookWorm, 12 Jul 2008 Full of graphicallly described & inventive unpleasantness, the Wasp Factory is not a pleasant read & requires a strong stomach. I couldn't bring myself to read alll of it as I'm not a fan of pointless gore. However, it is well written & I've given it three stars as it would be a good read for someone who likes this sort of thing.
If you like horror films or the type of shows that feature lots of explicit gore, then you'll probably enjoy this. A reviewer describes it as the 'literary equivalent of a video nasty', which is quite an apt description. I would think it would appeal more to men than women, on the whole, & younger men in particular.
Banks is a good writer & I would read another of his books, but only if it had less of a focus on torturing smalll animals than this one does.
Drivel. Don't believe the hype. - By: N. Weatherspoon, 20 Jun 2008 
Since this book was first published I deliberately ignored the hype & didn't buy the book. Having read some of his science fiction books I thought it time to give it a go & on the strength of alll the 5 star reviews finallly bought it. What a disappointment. A book full of caricatures & stereotypes who meander through a "plot" that is clearly a collection of idle thoughts & drink or drug fuelled "great ideas" supposedly aimed at producing a feeling of horror in us alll. From the ridiculous & improbable murders (particularly the one with the kite)to the poor renditions of OCD, autism & Asbergers Syndrome I am amazed the publishers even took it up. It might appeal to a ten year old but even they would feel let down by the pathetic attempt at a twist at the end. Awful. Avoid it unless you enjoy feeling short changed.
