Rating: 
Summary: Shockingly Fascinating
Review: The Wasp Factory is a candidly shocking story of deception, confusion, friendships, and experiments (cruel albeit intriguing)and how they affect the life of what can be best stated "a person." The story unfoils rather slowly but when it does, it grabs hold of the imagination, perversion and cruelty aside. The friendships that are bonded, and destroyed (one should hope), lend the reader to think about the consequences of one's actions, one's beliefs, one's perception, and how reality can play a factor in one's life---once discovered, that is. For this reader the book was read in one night, as it grasped my imagination with its wording and how it grabbed hold of my attention to find and resolve the main conflict of the story: experimentation and perception. A masterful storyteller and written in the true mode of a psychological thriller, Mr. Banks has a true winner with this book. The last paragraph will truly make the reader gasp.
Rating: 
Summary: You could fit an Alsatian in there!
Review: Banks is a literary master. His books are filled with incredible language, humor, suspense and detail. THE WASP FACTORY, narrated by teenaged Frank, is a surreal journey through the mind of a very disturbed boy in an even more disturbed family. Frank tells us of the gruesome measures he has taken to protect the island which he calls home. He also talks about the series of murders he has commmitted, his reserved, eccentric father, his friend, Jamie, the dwarf, and his revered but completely insane older brother Eric. It seems that Eric has escaped the hospital and is making his way back to the family home. We get glimpses into Eric's psyche through phone calls he periodically places to his younger brother.
I know that this novel originally met with a great deal of controversy. It actually seems rather tame in comparison to other slasher/gore novels. However, it is immensely disturbing to read as Frank gets closer and closer to discovering his true self just as Eric gets closer and closer to home. You'll find animal torture and killing in this one. The wasp factory itself is an amazing bit of literary creation; Banks is either warped or a genius (or a warped genius) to have invented this contraption! I liked reading this one. It is at times sad, unsettling, hilarious, numbing....a jumble of emotions to go along with the images and experiences of these characters. If you only know Banks for his science fiction, this is definitely worth checking out. If you haven't read Banks at all, stop depriving yourself of an incredibly talented author!
Rating:
Summary: Precocious
Review: I read this book when I was fourteen, and it instantly became my second-favorite. Looking back and rereading it now, I can see why. It's an extremely adolescent book, full of violence and attempted socioloy and grotesque images. I still think it's excellent, but it's obviously a first novel. I think it would have been better for Banks to focus on the reality of situation without dragging any theory into it (especially when the theory is elaborated by the protagonist himself; very awkward). That said, the plot is extremely clever, and some of the images are just brilliant: the executions, the workings of the factory and the other various rituals. It would make a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: A first novel, darkly glittering like faceted obsidian.
Review: I think Iain Banks is one of the best writers today. This book, his first, is a dark and horrifying tale about a young person growing up on the fringes of society, indeed, on the fringes of humanity. It makes me think of a solo Lord of the Flies. Not for the faint of heart or prissily moralistic this story has a plot twist that will leave you stunned and marveling at the end.That this is a first work is amazing. There are successful authors who've written 50 books and never turned out anything this good. If you like this book, or if you like science fiction, you must read his first science fiction work - Consider Phlebas. I highly reccomend all of his work, having just finished 13 of his books (4 for the second time), and I can't wait to read the rest. Like an old time gold digger I feel that I have found a rich vein, and I'm going to keep at it.
Rating:
Summary: A truly twisted beauty
Review: I bought this back in the '80s because the blurb on the back jacket (readable on this site) fascinated me. It remains among my favourite psychological horror books , possessing one of the - if not THE - absolutely best endings I've ever encountered. From the first time I completed it, I could memorise the exact wording of the last paragraph, and still can to date. A brilliant walk inside the mind of a most highly unusual character, it's tightly plotted and very deftly written. I'm not a huge fan of Iain Banks in general, although I certainly acknowledge that he's a great writer. It's just that the particular topic of this book particularly appealed to me. It's a quick read if not necessarily 'easy', as such, but it's totally engrossing and truly original. One of the best first novels I've come across, and I recommend it very highly. It's very difficult to describe the contents without giving anything away, and I still think the back-jacket blurb does it best. Fascinating stuff.
Rating:
Summary: FrEEEEEkEEEEy
Review: This book makes my skin crawl; it makes me nauseaus and I have a VERY strong stomach. I debated giving such a patently unpleasant, messed-up, disturbing book 5 stars, but that it prompts strong reactions can only be a testament to the fact that this is a very powerful book. You love or hate it; I lean toward hate, but it was an experience I wouldn't give up. If you watch "Friends," it belongs in the freezer. If you're a Shirley Jackon fan, it's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" on meth. That said, it has a whammy of a twist at the end that makes "The Sixth Sense" and "Fight Club" seem predictable like Walt Disney's "Cinderella." Banks deserves way more cred than Palahniuk and Easton Ellis together.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing...not for the faint of heart
Review: This is the first book by Iain Banks and the only one I've read. It is graphically violent and disgustingly twisted. It describes murders of young children and torture of small animals. And in all of this it manages to be a very captivating novel with an air of mystery that only resovles itself at the end of the book. Narrated by a psychopathic 16 year old boy, Banks takes the reader on a tour of a family with a psychotic past, a town where no one's dog is ever safe, and the mind of a killer. In the final chapters, the book switches it's focus, and the lines are blurred between victim and torturer. Because of the graphic descriptions of terrible acts (massacre of a group of rabbits, burning of dogs, the sight that drove Eric crazy) 'The Wasp Factory is not for everyone. But if you can wade through the blood and stomach the descriptions, you will end up with a story that will disturb and shake up your beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: Provocatively Disturbing Novel
Review: 'The Wasp Factory' is the first book written by Iain Banks, it is also the first of his books I've read. This provocatively disturbing novel is a proper start both for an author to evince himself and for a reader to receive an impression of author's manner and views. The book includes elements of various literary genres. The history of lunatic family of Scotsmen, narrated by its demented teenager member, appears sometimes as a crime related by serial killer, sometimes as a horror with meticulous description of tortures, sometimes as a black comedy in depiction of weird family customs such as strange system of education, and sometimes as a mystery especially having in mind last chapters that dramatically change everything making a tormentor a victim. Excellent language, masterly construction of dialogues, profound insights in the psyche of his pathological heroes, sad and sagacious symbols (Wasp Factory as a distorted image of the world where every critter hastens to their death) reveal literary gift of the author. There is only one way to know which path in literature, what genre were chosen later on by Mr Banks - to read his other books.
Rating:
Summary: A daring read.
Review: Even as a fan of Irvine Welsh, I found this book in some places stepping a little over the line of what I comfortably read. That said, from the first page, I was captivated. At no stage was I left in the dark as to how the main character was feeling. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, the twist in this story ripped it all to pieces. Dont be fooled by the number of pages in this book. It delivers!
Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: All i can say is Peter Greenaway should make this into a film.
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