Rating: 
Summary: Gross-out!
Review: The first book by Iain Banks has some of the most disturbing images you will ever encounter! How did he think them up? An excellent read!
Rating: 
Summary: A disturbing look into a Sick Mind!
Review: This book filled me with evangelistic zeal! Twice I have lent it to people, never to see it again. I had to go out and buy myself new copies. My friends loved it - I love it. The Wasp Factory has quite a high "yuk" factor. It sparks a sickened fascination in the twistings of a disturbed adolescent's mind and resonates in episodes of readers' experiences they would rather not acknowledge... Banks' books can never be called formulaic. Every one is unique. This is one of his best. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: twisted and perverse, yet darkly comic
Review: _The Wasp Factory_ served as my introduction to the wonderful world of Iain Banks. The twisted world of a young man who delights in the torture and killing of living creatures is made more brutal by the main character's matter-of-fact narration. At times the sheer inability to conceive of some of the strangely perverse situations presented results in a darkly comic undercurrent to the story.
The writing is richly gothic, and the ending comes completely out of left field. Recommended for fans of horror in the vein of Edgar Allen Poe and possibly fans of the "soft" horror of Patrick McGrath.
Rating:
Summary: read at your peril!
Review: Lavish, sadistic, twisted and ultimately sad. Do NOT read this book while eating
Rating:
Summary: brutal, disturbing and provocative
Review: Iain Banks' first novel is among the most disturbing
novels I've ever read. And I have a strong stomach.
The main character is a very disturbed adolescent,
and we follow his adventures as he abuses substances,
animals and people, for reasons too bizarre to go into here. If you like Jerzy Kosinski, you will
probably like this too.
When I finished the book, I breathed a heavy sigh of
relief, but immediately decided I wanted to read more
of his works.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: A very well written novel with a wonderful twist in the tail.
Well worth a read.
Rating: 
Summary: Rubbish? No, but not brilliant, either.
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend, who said he loved its wicked sense of humor. Named one of the best 100 novels of the last century by The Independent, "The Wasp Factory" certainly seems to have a strong cult following, as most of the highly favorable reviews here attest, but I find all this rather baffling. While not by any means a terrible book, Iain Banks's first novel is simply too messy and amateurish to qualify as a great novel. First of all, enjoying this book requires that one have a high tolerance for detailed descriptions of cruelty to animals, including the mutilation and immolation of many rabbits and dogs. Some of the violence in the book is actually quite funny, and can be enjoyed on a certain macabre level -- such as the narrator's description of an uncle's suicide gone terribly wrong -- but most of it is simply too dark and literally described to be laughable. It often seems that Banks is trying to shock without really thinking of the larger implications of any of the book's violence. While I read "The Wasp Factory," I kept hoping for a denouement that would tie everything together and create a resonance that the bulk of the novel lacked. Unfortunately, all I got was a transparent twist that lent nothing to the events that had preceded it, and seemed designed only to shock. In truth, the novel's twist is no more profound than the climax of the slasher film "Sleepaway Camp." I got the feeling that Banks really felt he was creating something on the level of an O. Henry story, but what he ended up with is a book that reads like a juvenile poison pen letter to all of humanity, and little more.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic of Modern Horror!
Review: The Wasp Factory is a nightmarish, first person account of utter insanity, madness so pervasive it is barely perceived by its victim as deviant. The protagonist alternately embodies compulsive cruelty, existential irony, and pathological disassociation in a world so brtual it puts his own insanity in perspective. The character is treated with enough depth and sensitivity to simultaneously elicit feelings of repulsion and compassion in readers, adding to the sense of horror. This book managed to make me shudder AND shed tears.
Warning: The Wasp Factory contains what may be the most terrifying and graphic tale of psychological trauma ever put to print. This is prose that bad dreams are made of!
Rating:
Summary: pretty funny
Review: -This is one of the funniest novels I have ever read. After I finished it the first time, I decided to check out some reviews to see what others had thought of The Wasp Factory, and I must say I was surprised.
-So many people brought up the violence. Honestly, I wasnt aware of any out of the ordinary violence in this novel. And readers take it so seriously. Even those who regard this book as a slice of 'dark humor' seem a little off to me. There is nothing dark about it.
-Yes, animals are killed. I really wasnt troubled by that, I actually found it quite humorous. The way in which all this happens is so assinine you just cant take it seriously. And the hospital scene-(the one that pushes Eric over the edge)-gave me more than a few chuckles if not hearty guffaws.
-Even the end does not disappoint. Could anyone have thought of a better way to finish off this thing?
-I have been told by a couple people that Banks wrote this as a serious novel, or perhaps a black comedy. I hope this is not the case. I would hate to think that anyone would write The Wasp Factory oblivious to the idiotic nature of the plot and characters. I almost wish I had never read any reviews at all.
-Maybe I just have a naturally good sense of humor-(Aqua Teen is the funniest show on television). Read it and try not to laugh. Its not quite P. G. Wodehouse, but then what is?
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre, disturbing and brilliant.
Review: I'm always slightly taken aback by the negative reactions to this book, with some readers vehemently criticising the characters, the subject matter and even the author's literary approach. I first discovered the book back in 2003, though I'd heard positive reports from a friend of mine who'd borrowed it from the college library a couple of years before. So, I was aware of its reputation as difficult work filled with disturbing images and situations, both of which seemed intriguing. The central premise of the book is simple, giving us a sort of day-by-day countdown in which we see any slight traces of normality broken down as the narrator races headlong towards a series of shocking and life-changing revelations. It is this factor that keeps our interest in the writhing and often cringe-inducing story in which the writer establishes a confrontational and claustrophobic atmosphere that becomes all the more tight and suffocating as the story reaches it's violent and somewhat mystifying dénouement.
However, despite this evocative and often horrific use of writing and subject matter, the book still manages to enthral us in this story, offering up moments of darkly comic absurdity, which lifts the book out of the mire of those generic clichés that we often associate with the horror genre and, instead, presents us with a collection of believable characters, witty dialog and, an almost deadpan approach to kitchen-sink, matter-of-fact melodrama. The continual contrast between the down to earth confessional voiceover with scenes of animal torture, child murder and general mean-spiritedness is as audacious as the juxtaposition of acts one and two in Burgess's landmark A Clockwork Orange, a literary reference made all the more apparent with the similar notions of isolation, madness and psychosis found here... not to mention the similarly exquisite use of language, accents, dialect and descriptions. This explicit "no detail too small" approach to the proceedings means that The Wasp Factory is hardly a book to curl up with on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but it certainly results in a captivating read, with this particular reader unable to stop turning those pages in order to discover just what that all important climactic revelation could possibly be.
Admittedly, when the "twist" is finally revealed, it isn't that surprising, with Banks layering little clues and satirical references throughout, but there is a element of "can he top that" as the book moves from one tour-de-force, jaw-dropping set piece to the next. It is this approach to writing, with it's escalating sense of foreboding dread, that makes the book all the more impressive, with Banks littering each page with intense characterisations and challenging situations as the whole thing becomes more and more frenzied, forcing us to shift further to the edge of our seat wondering in anticipation what perverted situation the writer will throw at us next. Added to that, there is also the continuing contrast between a tense and surreal atmosphere with a profane and often, realer than real depiction of the world in which the characters inhabit which, in this instance, makes the author's particular blend of horror all the more believable, whilst also adding a further dimension of depth to the more-disturbing elements of the story.
Some readers have argued that the cruelty, violence and shocking plot twists detract from the overall appeal of the book, but personally, I was utterly transfixed. For me, this was one of those books that was completed in a couple of days, with Banks possessing the ability to draw the reader into this writhing plot whilst continually bombarding us with one shocking revelation after another, until we scream for our questions to be answered. The whole atmosphere and evocations conjured through the writing (which at times boarders on the poetic... or should that be pornographic!) is exasperating, whilst the psychological subtext of the central character (or the characters around him for that matter) is wholly believable and even empathetic. The Wasp Factor is one of those great books that everyone should experience, even if they eventually don't like it.
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