Punch the wasp factory is a first novel not only of tremendous promise, but also. Fashioned from a giant clock face that frank has discovered on the. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read invisible monsters. Review of the wasp factory by iain banks navigating the. Dive deep into iain banks the wasp factory with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. I suppose i would call the wasp factory a thriller of sorts, but mostly because of the thrills of.
Full of dark humour and sadistic brilliance, this book will live long in the memory. The wasp factory book washington county cooperative. Imagine, if you would, catcher in the rye, if holden caulfield was really, truly, batshit insane and completely detached from reality. A literary experience unlike any i had before, or have had since. The wasp factory that the title refers to is a mechanism invented by frank. The wasp factory 1998 read online free book by iain. Get an answer for what is the socialhistorical context of this novel, and how does this attract readers.
The wasp factory is the creepy debut novel of scottish author, iain banks. I went into this novel expecting it to be science fiction. Just when i thought id read it all, along comes the wasp factory. Yes, the wasp factory has a lot of disturbing images of a psychotic youth committing violence on people and animals. The wasp factory this book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The wasp factory study guide contains a biography of iain banks, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. Of all the books on the list, this is the one i have read most recently, even though it was released in 1984. In the wasp factory, frank cauldhame critiques social institutions. What is the social historical context of this novel, and how does this attract readers. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the wasp factory. What is the socialhistorical context of this novel, and how does this attract readers. The wasp factory is the first novel by scottish writer iain banks, published in 1984. The wasp factory is as amusing as it is scary and the way that iain banks mixes these two ingredients together plays a big part in giving the book its unique literary flavour. The wasp factory itself, we eventually find out, is an elaborately constructed mechanism. Piecing together the story of his mothers brief return, when he was three years old, from details dropped by his father, he says. The wasp factory is the first novel by scottish author, iain banks, and has been listed as one of the top 100 novels of the century by the independent.
Frank hates women and the seawomen because they are weak and stupid and the sea because it washes away. Frank cauldhame, the teenager from whose viewpoint the book is related, lives a free lifestyle with his crippled father, eagerly awaiting the return home of. Cauldhame is the second child of angus cauldhame, a somewhat reclusive doctor living on a firth island by the scottish coast. The story is told from the perspective of 16yearold frank cauldhame. A wellwritten intriguing inner monologue but eventually neither complex nor deep as a whole work. Angus, the father, along with frank and eric, his two sons. He lives on an island unnamed off the cost of scotland with his. My rating 3, as the above evaluation of the book with a plot sucked from the finger, does not deserve. The book opens with the news that eric has just escaped from the hospital, and is making his way back home.
Powerful, perverse, and engrossing, this controversial novel offers a graphic portrait of a serial killer told in the firstperson. His lunatic brothers escape from psychiatric care has frank reflecting on a dark past. The wasp factory by iain banks plot summary litcharts. So, first of all, let me justify my choice of pronouns based on the plot. The wasp factory and american psycho protagonist comparison. The novel takes place over the course of several days, both in the present, as frank prepares for erics return, and in.
This summary of the wasp factory includes a complete plot overview spoilers included. The wasp factory is a tale about an isolated and very eccentric clan of scotsmen, ensconced on an island in northern scotland. The wasp factory by banks, iain and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Frank cauldhame is the laird of his domain, surrounded by his sacrifice poles, which he ritualistically adorns with smallanimal body parts, and his ultimate contrivance the factory. The idea of secrecy and mistrust is one that banks approaches the audience with. Iain banks speaks to john mullan about his novel the wasp factory and takes questions from the audience at the guardian book club. The wasp factory was at first largely met with apoplectic outrage in the united kingdomrubbish.
With a cellar full of enough cordite to wipe half the island off the map it does seem a. He lives on an island unnamed off the cost of scotland with his father, angus. At the end of the book he comes home and sets fire to a barn, where his father. An interactive data visualization of the wasp factory s plot and themes. Get essay the wasp factory was iain banks first published novel, and was released into the conservative united kingdom in 1984, which would have coolly accepted it. His life revolves around the ritualistic torture of animals and reading omens from the mysterious wasp factory hidden in his attic. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The map, which is loosely based on a turn of the century london street map, also includes fictional areas dedicated to thomas hardy, virginia woolf, tolkien and harry potter, plus a childrens literature district featuring such classics. The book is full of physical and emotional violence, but its decidedly not gratuitous. He has no birth certificate and no national insurance card. Polarizing readers with its sometimes disturbing depictions of violence and carnage mostly to animals and very young children, the wasp factory, if anything else, put iain banks name on the map. At the end of the novel, frank is alerted of erics imminent return when.
Two years after i killed blyth i murdered my young brother paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than id disposed of blyth, and. When news comes of erics escape, frank has to prepare the ground for his brothers inevitable return. Buy the wasp factory by banks, iain from amazons fiction books store. Before the publication of the wasp factory, banks had written several science fiction novels that had not been accepted for publication. This study guide consists of approximately 32 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of the wasp factory. The wasp factory is his first book, and due to its popularity, is the reason banks was able to become a fulltime writer. As i suppose was inevitable, the story gradually became that eric would set fire to. His elder brother eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital. The best study guide to the wasp factory on the planet, from the creators of sparknotes. What is the socialhistorical context of this novel, and. The wasp factory, the book, is about the life of a dysfunctional family on an island.
The catcher in the rye, the wasp factory, norwegian wood and the road. Get a 100% unique essay on the wasp factory and american psycho protagonist comparison. The wasp factory is 244 pages long, ive read it twice, and have never read a book like it. I wont say its a bad book because its very well written and there is a plot in. Throughout the story, he hides, calls home to talk with frank and makes hysterics. The polarizing literary debut by scottish author ian banks, the wasp factory is the bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath. The novel by iain banks, the wasp factory tells the story of 16yearold frank cauldhame. Frank, no ordinary 16yearold, lives with his father outside a remote scottish village. The wasp factory study guide literature guide litcharts. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read stonemouth. I had been a fan of the culture series for a while, but this was my first nonm. The wasp factory is a bizarre, unsettling, and highly original gothic novel that has at its heart a quest for identity under the most outrageous. If youre a fan of this genre the book the wasp factory aspires to become one of your favorite books, but if not then i think banks are not your author.