Rating: 
Summary: What's the point? Perhaps THAT's the point...
Review: Oh joy, yet another tale of yet another twisted loner, raised by lunatics and shunned by society, hurtling towards an inevitable clash with reality. Being generous, this book is well-written and some of the gore is particularly memorable. However, I'm still trying to figure out the point of it all. In the concluding pages, Banks makes a final attempt to justify the story, but fails. Perhaps the best thing about The Wasp Factory is that it has less than 200 pages; that's why I gave it a 3 instead of a 2.
Rating: 
Summary: Gratuitous and predictable
Review: I figured out the "surprise" less than half the way through. The rest is gratuitous violence, like a bad independent film.
Rating: 
Summary: Ground-breaking writing.
Review: In 84 Banks broke the conventions of writing with this book and challenged the stuffy and self-importance of the publishers. One gets a great thrill before the book even starts with Banks's decision to print all the critisisms of the book.The book itself is a true rollercoaster - the forerunner to all of the less well written copies, like American Psycho. It gave the go-ahead for this kind of approach. But where Banks made it was with the diversity and uncommonness of storyline. It was way off the rules and the routine and yet it was excellent enough to provoke attention and become a best seller. I think even Banks is still surprised.
Rating:
Summary: Sick
Review: Am I the only one who hated this book? It's a grotesque, rambling and ultimately pointless excursion into the minds of a couple of animal-torturing psychotics. I kept reading only the hope that they would both come to a horrible end, but was disappointed even there. There is no deeper meaning or startling insights here. The characters had absolutely no redeeming features and the ending was contrived and resolved nothing. We don't need to read about people like this, there are enough crazies in the real world. It's the second of Banks' books I have read, and will definitely be the last.
Rating:
Summary: Overall an entertaining read...
Review: The Wasp Factory is a tale about an isolated and very eccentric clan of Scotsmen, ensconced on an island in northern Scotland. 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 his elder brother Eric. They have a matronly housekeeper who brings them food and news, but otherwise live in peaceful seclusion. There the fairytale stops. Frank is a cruel, callous, but utterly irresistible youth who delights in tormenting animals, and has already killed three people to date. Eric is a raving lunatic with an anti-canine fixation and the minor challenge of escaping from the police and his psychiatric guardians. Their father, Angus, has totally rejected the national education system and has taken to educating his progeny by himself (starting with false place names, bogus literary characters, and inaccurate French). Given the immense diversity of characters and potential cliches, the writer skilfully avoids excessive violence, and tempers his bleak outlook with a macabre brand of humor. Although the novel is set in Scotland, the narration is in perfectly clear English, and the surroundings (lonely house, empty beach, open fields, and smoky bars)are universally recognisable. The bizarre jokes and black comedy are appreciable by anybody with the requisite morbidity, and the shocking nature of the various escapades and histories of the characters only serve to fuel the reader's admiration for the mighty imagination of the writer. Though a few factual errors arise (maggots do not eat living flesh, for example) and some of the relationships might seem too outlandish, the general manic mood and immense climax of the story are so gripping that the reader is prepared to forgive them, if he even notices in the first place. This is Iain Banks' first novel, and its effect will be the same upon the reader as it was on the critics after its release. You will either love it or loathe it, and your feelings w! ill be completely justifiable either way.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book - gets darker every page
Review: This has to be one of the most twisted yet entertaining books i've ever read. Definitely not a mother's day present. Its up there with "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for sheer mind blowing capability.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: An amazing book. Someone in Scotland recommended it to me while I was on vacation there. How good is it....my roommate who NEVER reads books, read the whole thing in no time! His response was..."I've read the best, now I'll never have to read again."
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work
Review: I fortunately stumbled on this in Aberdeen and couldn't put it down on my trip home. Absolutely one of the most dark, yet brilliant books I've ever read. It's ending ranks as one of the all time greats (and shame on those who would ruin it!). Serious readers should pull up a footstool, pour a cup of tea and settle in for a most uncomfortable and interesting journey through the mind of a young serial killer.
Rating:
Summary: This book should be made into a movie.
Review: I stumbled on this book one afternoon in Amsterdam and finished it with enough time to go back to the bookstore that same evening to look for more Iain Banks.I was completely enraptured by such a vivid description of the isolated development of the main character and the initial compassion of his brother. As disturbing as the story is I can't help but think it is not an uncommon story that occurs in households around the world. It's been 13 years since that afternoon in Amsterdam but it is a book I still reccommend to friends looking for obscure ( at least here in the U.S.) and engrossing reading. As we say here in Southern California as the utmost compliment: Hey Iain Banks, killer story bro!
Rating:
Summary: Got the stomach? Read the book!
Review: Just to have said it - if you haven't got an iron stomach - go to the bottom of this page and enter some new keywords... This must be one of the most disgusting books ever written. Still - it's also one of the best. The main character is a very disturbed young man, from a family of nut-cases. As the story progresses - one learns of the murders, the tortures and other bad deeds he's commited, as well as much too much background information on his family. The story twists and turns, as will your stomach, and trust me, you will be reading those last pages mighty fast, as a new secret is unveiled upon each page. One of the better books I have ever read - so if you like it gross and can take a lot - read the book.
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