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The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (first published in 1984)
It might seem a bit odd that I’m writing a review on a book that was published in 1984, but as an avid sci-fi reader and Iain M. Banks fan, I only recently discovered the mainstream fiction work he has done under the name Iain Banks (without the M) and I don’t want you to make the same mistake.
Although “mainstream” is hardly what I would call this book.
Banks delves into the mind of teenage Frank – a strange, intense character with a very unusual and disturbing set of values.
Frank lives on an island with his father, a secretive, reclusive man who seems almost deliberately obtuse and unaware of his son’s oddities.
Frank’s life is consumed by the personal war he wages against his many enemies. The existence and reality of the threat these “enemies” pose is however unclear to the reader. Frank is also a huge believer in ritual, ceremony and offering – he worships an unforgiving power that is mostly created from the twisted logic surrounding fairness and retribution from the dark recesses of his mind. Of all of these objects and rituals of power The Wasp Factory’s power is the strongest and the Factory’s word is final.
Still, Frank cannot find peace.
His brother, Eric, has escaped from the mental hospital where he was kept for setting dogs on fire and forcing maggots down the neighbourhood children’s throats.
Eric is making his way across Scotland, phoning from telephone booths alternately raving and pleading with Frank. The conversations between the brothers are macabre, funny (as in ha ha) and menacing as all hell.
In fact, the thread of tension runs through the entire and is strung so taught that the reader constantly expects it to snap.
As with most of Banks’s work – when it does, the climax and denouement is way, way worse than you had imagined it would be.
The Wasp Factory is a visceral, disturbing read that is bound to stay with you for years.
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