Annotated: The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

 


 

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Author: Iain Banks (See also: Iain M. Banks)

Title: The Wasp Factory

Original Publication Date: February 16, 1984

Number of Pages: 184

Geographical Settings: Porteneil, Scottland (Fictional city), Eastern Coastal Scottland

Time Period: Mid 1980’s

Subject Headings:

-Psychic trauma

-Psychological Fiction

-Murder

-Rituals

-Coming of Age

Plot Summary: Frank Claudhame is a teenage psychopath. His day consists of adorning his rural Scottish island home with the mangled bodies of small animals in ritual effigies to ward off interlopers, burning and bombing rabbit holes to defeat haunting spirits possessing the critters, and consulting his sacred altars with offerings of bugs and bones to foretell the future. He visits the sacred sites on the island where he has killed three of his childhood family members with his own craft, cunning and deception. This idealistic lifestyle is interrupted one day by startling news: his brother Eric has escaped the mental hospital in Glasgow, and is on his way home, leaving his own trail of burned dog corpses in his wake. Will the wards and prophecy Frank has so carefully crafted save him and his invalid father from Eric’s revenge? Will Frank know the secrets stashed away behind the locked doors of his father’s study? Will the pets and farm animals of Portneil, Scottland ever know peace?

Appeals:

-“Whatever was left of the buck landed way behind me… It was mostly the head, and a grubby stub of spine and ribs, and about half the skin… The catapult was avenged, the buck – or what it meant, its spirit maybe – soiled and degraded, taught a hard lesson, and I felt good,” (p. 35-36)- Explicit, grotesque, psychopathic teenage narrator character provides a unique and challenging viewpoint for the viewer.

-“My father has a theory about the link between mind and bowel being both crucial and very direct… ‘And I’ve smelt Guinness off you, too.’ ‘I don’t drink Guiness,’ I lied, secretly impressed,” (p.55)- Juvenile, dark humor gives levity to the horrific carnage and casual torture and murder.

-“Most of the deaths the Factory has to offer are automatic, but some do require my intervention.. and that, of course, has some bearing on what the Factory is trying to tell me,” (p. 122)- Themes of symbolism, fate and fortune offer dramatic set ups and pay offs for the reader to catch onto amidst the chaos.

3 Terms that Best Describe the Book:

-       Unreliable narrator

-       Nihilistic and sarcastic

-       Purposely off-putting

Similar Authors and Works (Fiction):

-       Our Blue Orange (2015) by A.R. Merrydew- The author Iain Banks would use the alternate authorial title “Iain M. Banks” for his more popular (and better liked) science fiction space opera works to keep those and works like Factory separate. Orange is a similar science fiction novel of malfunctioning androids on a far future space colony.

-       The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger- The prototypical unreliable and unlikable narrator.

-       American Psycho (1991) by Bret Easton Ellis- A similarly off putting and darkly comedic look through the eyes of a psychopathic murderer.

Similar Authors and Works (Non-Fiction):

-       And I Don't Want to Live This Life: A Mother's Story of Her Daughter's Murder (1983) by Deborah Spungen- A lot of Factory is clearly a product of the British punk scene of the mid to late 70’s being purposefully off-putting and controversial. I Don’t Want to Live is an account by the mother of Nancy Spungen, prolific girlfriend/ alleged victim of Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious.

-       Columbine (2009) by Dave Cullen- A review of evidence, circumstance and professional opinion into the psyches of the young perpetrators of the nation-defining murders

-Shaman Pathways - Elen of the Ways: British Shamanism - Following the Deer Trods (2013) by Elen Sentier- Factory plays with elements of ritualism and shamanism, and this book offers a perspective into the real-world living practices of shamanism in Britain.

Comments

  1. Brenda NorrisFebruary 19, 2024 at 11:28 AM

    I can see why you gave the book a bad review. I love animals, so I am a no on the book. The fact that both brothers are on a killing spree of small animals leads to mental illness in the whole family. Trying to establish the characters as psychopaths can lead to off-putting vibes. I think you did a great job on establishing fiction and non-fiction books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Erin CataldiFebruary 20, 2024 at 7:57 AM

    Excellent annotation! This book sounds ... not good - but you did an excellent job fleshing it out. Your appeals and readalikes are also on point. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete

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