![]() ![]() However, it is clear that Banks’s novel has achieved the popular success it has because of this ruthless narrator. Frank also bluntly tells us about the phase of murders that he went through as a young child with little, if any, true compassion for the atrocities he has committed. He spends his time fortifying the island on which he lives with Sacrifice Poles – poles adorned with heads of animals – and working on his Wasp Factory, a clock face with twelve different channels down which a wasp can turn and meet a different death. Frank is certainly not squeamish, nor even particularly considerate. ![]() ![]() The Wasp Factory is striking simply for its unashamed detail when it comes to violence towards both animals and humans. When it is revealed that his brother Eric, who has been living in a mental asylum, has escaped and is returning home, The Wasp Factory slowly ratchets up the tension to a big twist at the end following the reunion of Frank and his brother. Frank Cauldhame is a teenager living on a Scottish island with his father, but his tendency towards violence makes him an unusual protagonist for a novel. Having heard much about Iain Banks, particularly since his death last year, I decided it was time to read his one of his most acclaimed novels – The Wasp Factory. ![]()
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