Review of 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks

The first person narrator of this piece is a sixteen-year-old boy, with macabre habits, strange fascinations, and dark secrets. Frank Cauldhame, as he is called, lives on a small island, just off the coast of Scotland, with his father. The island is his world, his domain. Within it, he believes he has almost total power. Frank also has an older brother, Eric, who does not live on the island. But Eric is coming home.

There is only one way to tell a tale from the perspective of a mind as unconventional as Frank’s, and that is in a completely matter-of-fact tone of voice, that makes every bizarre event and belief seem completely reasonable. Frank describes his day, his thoughts and emotions, and at times there is the strong sensation that he is an inevitable consequence of his past and upbringing.

Each event is described with precision, each ritual is mentioned with the assurance of someone that feels such things are completely necessary. The narrator alludes to much in the first chapters, but does not describe any of these things in full till much later. It is this curiousity, as much as anything, which draws the reader through the book. But these things, when finally revealed, do not disappoint.

While there is much about this novel that is almost otherworldly, or at the very least slightly dubious, as a horror novel, it is disturbing in its plausibility. The characters, while skewed from the norm, are definitely not outside the realms of possibility, which makes their actions all the more emotionally wrenching. From beginning to end, The Wasp Factory is intensely readable, and equally disturbing.