The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

I first encountered this book in the Grade 9 language textbook. It was just a small piece from the book that was used, but it raised many questions for me, and I kept an eye out for The Wasp Factory ever since. I was thrilled when I found it in a 50% off closing down sale!

Frank is... I have no idea to describe Frank. Frank is a... Nope. I still don't know how to describe Frank. Let me cheat (and plagiarise) the blurb on the back of the book. Maybe you can decide what Frank is. But even then, Frank is so much more than the blurb, and so much less in other ways. In fact, "Frank is" is probably the best description I can give.

The blurb: Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different 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 I was going through.  Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, and unconventional, to say the least.

I really need to make a shelf called sick-and-twisted for books like this one.

“He hit and fatally injured my innocent and unfortunate uncle whose muttered last words in hospital, before his coma became a full stop, were: 'My God, the buggers've learned to fly...”

― Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory

This has to be one of the best written books I have read this year - or in a couple of years. But having said that, this was a book that disturbed me, squicked me and made my stomach churn. If brain bleach existed, this book would have sent me to the doctor to get a prescription. But it was so well written! I think I have mixed feelings.

The character of Frank was spectacularly done. While I hated being in his head, I was fascinated and unable to put the book down. I needed to know what he was doing. I was curious - 'curious' is such a tame word. Even though I spent time in Frank's head, I felt I was never able to completely understand him (that is probably a good thing) nor predict without a doubt what he was going to do next.

But the magnificently written characters extend beyond Frank. His father remains a mystery. His brother is a huge question throughout. Even his mother is a mystery.

This book is just questions. Paragraphs raise new questions, and they keep you reading, and raising even more questions. What is the Factory? What? He killed three people? Why? How? What is up with his brother? What is he up to? And that is possibly the questions raised in the first page or two.

An intelligent read, but not a read for everyone. The scenes with animals are difficult to read (I skimmed a lot - I couldn't do it in the spectacular detail in which it was written). Keep that in mind if you decide to give this a go.

I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads, and 4.5 stars in my own stats. Brilliantly, intelligently written, but... my stomach. It did not enjoy some parts.