The Wasp Factory

By: Iain Banks

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The Wasp Factory is a bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath - one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels.

"Two years after I killed Blyth, I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, 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 that I was going through."

Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just 16, and unconventional, to say the least.

©2007 Hachette Audio (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"One of the most brilliant first novels I have come across." (The Telegraph)

"One of the top 100 novels of the century." (The Independent)

"Brilliant...irresistible...compelling." (New York Times)

very curious story

Held my attention until the end but finally unsatisfying The last chapter lacked conviction excellent narrator

Mesmerizing

This is a brilliantly written first-person account of a delusional psycho, expertly narrated by Peter Kenny.
Suited for anyone appreciative of originality.

Nutty. Nihilistic. Flatulent...

I loved this book as a kid. At a semi-innocent 13 years of age, it was totally insane. As an adult it's just... good. This book is best for teens/young adults.

I really didn't care for the narrator. He gave a fine performance, but didn't embody the main character to me at all. Then again, I was remembering Frank as he was in my mind as a tween... Maybe you'll dig the guy-Listen to a sample.

The baby scene and the kite scene have haunted me for years. Especially the kite scene. It's so surreal and sad.

Maybe the biggest twist ending I can recall reading.

Horror is Self Analysis

Problems with the recording where it would repeat itself, but we'll read overall. An interesting horror novels that looks at identity and the effects losing said identity.

Plenty of strange dark humor

Not only did the ending not make much sense there was absolutely no resolution to the story.

Interesting story

Loved the narrator, story is localised in a small area and I found it very well done, stunned now that it’s over

I really enjoyed this, but found it difficult to stay focused.

The performance of this particular audiobook was incredible! I liked the story a lot, and found myself hooked through most of it. But there were parts that I felt dragged on a bit for no reason. I get fleshing out the story, but it needs to lead somewhere eventually. I felt that I had to hear about every bite of every meal that Frank ate at the dinner table. I would still recommend The Wasp Factory to fellow authors and readers alike.

Violent, but without much reason?

Firstly, I must admit, I liked the narrative. Story was interesting and it was told in a provocative, funny way.
There is A LOT of animal torture and dying kids in it, so definitely not the book for the ones with a squeamish stomach.
Me, I don't mind if there is a lot of violence in books, as long it makes sense and explains the character developement. However, with Wasp Factory, I am not sure that I understand, why such amount of blood and gore was neccessary. Hence, three stars. Performance wise, scottish accent was a bit too strong for me at some points. I am not a native speaker though, so I might be a bit over sensitive regarding the accents.

Unlikely

This is a truly puzzling book. It is a very unlikely story written in a style of realism. It doesn’t try to work as caricature, yet its characters are almost all caricatures. The main “twist” is extremely unlikely. And that makes the book in its entirety quite unlikely. And worse, suspending disbelief seems somewhat purposeless. There seems to be some redemption in there but it’s rather inexplicable. Despite all that one feels that the author is about something. One doesn’t feel that time has been wasted. The physical world of the island is eerie and eerily Scottish. And in this eerie world the book and its characters seemed suspended between the real world and some ghostly, ghastly alternative reality. The book reminds me of “A Family of Saltimbanques” by Picasso.

Wow.

Someone recommended this and I went in totally blind. I recommend that you go in blind, too. It's a great trip!