Genre: Gothic
Pages: 244
Synopsis:
Frank's a troubled kid. Not in the rebellious sense. He really has psychological issues. Major ones. He doesn't have genitalia and grew up deranged, partly because of it and partly because he's from a strange family to begin with. His father is some sort of demented scientist and his brother was interned for burning dogs. The fragile balance of Frank's life is thrown away when Eric escapes from the mental institution and starts phoning him.
* Recommended by my friend Adam.
I've always had a rather ambivalent attitude towards something happening to my father, and it persists. A death is always exciting, always makes you realize how alive you are, how vulnerable but so-far-lucky; but the death of somebody close gives you a good excuse to go crazy for a while and do thing that would otherwise be inexcusable. What delight to behave really badly and still get loads of sympathy!
This may or may not have happened to you, fellow voracious reader. When one of your friends, occasional reader, gives you high praise of Dan Brown or Janet Evanovich, you politely thank him and let the suggestion out of your mind. But when a friend, occasional reader, gives you high praise of a novel you've never heard about, from a writer you vaguely know, it's a potential jackpot. My old friend Adam saw me reading one day and told me: "You know, you should read THE WASP FACTORY by Iain Banks. Most terrifying thing I've ever read." Granted it took me about four years to pick up, I gave it a go, as a part of the Smooth Criminals challenge. Verdict? Whew! I wouldn't say this terrified me, but it evoked some uncanny emotion and had me clamping my paperback copy really hard. Gothic isn't dead, after all. It morphed in many other genres, but some authors are still able to write some Gothic literature of a crippling potency.
THE WASP FACTORY isn't easy. It doesn't give itself to you. But there's a good reason for that. The author draws the world from a sick mind's perspective. Given that it is more or less a bildungsroman (a "novel of learning" or a "novel of growing up"), the main attraction of THE WASP FACTORY is the twisted, corrupted vision of young Frank. He seems prey to a curse that feeds on the males of his family. His brother Eric also went off the deep end after a horrific incident at a hospital and Frank's father doesn't seem all there either. There are no women in Frank's world and it's good for him, because he hates them. He's afraid of them and resents them since he's been rendered impotent. All there is to him are his rituals from which he draws the meaning of everything from. Frank's existence is heavily dictated by a contraption he calls The Wasp Factory, which talks to him and dictates the future. It is such a horrible machine that I don't want to spoil you the details of its functioning, but let's say it involved the horrible death of many wasps. There are horrible deaths of many small animals, by the way, so consider yourselves warned.
Another reason why THE WASP FACTORY is not easy, is the heavy subtext and imagery. Don't get me wrong, though. It is done remarkably well, but there is a lot going on under the narrative layer. The Gothic imagery is beautiful and relentless. The island where Frank lives, described through his perception, resembles the wasteland that is his mind. Except for the telephones, there are no clear signs of the era they live in. Buildings are left to rot. It is described in great detail. The sinister grandeur of classic Gothic imagery is present, but there is a Lovecraftian twist to it. Frank's rituals are also of the utmost interest to me. He pokes fun at organized religion, describing the transcending aspect of such horrible things, like tying up animal's heads to a "sacrifice pole". Frank's relationship to his father is also quite the sport to read, because it evolves so much throughout the novel, whenever they are together or even when Frank is on his own.
All our lives are symbols. Everything we do is part of a pattern we have at least some say in. The strong make their own pattern and influence other people's, the week have their courses mapped out for them. The weak and the unlucky, and the stupid. The Wasp Factory is part of the pattern because it is part of life and - even more so part of death. Like like it is complicated, so all the components are there. The reason it can answer questions is because every questions is a start looking for an end, and the Factory is about the End - death, no less.
Iain Banks' THE WASP FACTORY is an invigorating read, because it's discussing many underlying issues, while keeping a coherent, fluid narrative. The prose is truncated on purpose, to reflect the laborious thought process of a sick kid, but Banks find a balance, a poetry to it. It's truly rewarding to make the effort to tune out everything and enter into this bizarre, uncanny and unique world. THE WASP FACTORY will require you to have a stomach for dark and not take things too personal. There are horrible acts committed throughout the story and not everybody will be able to keep reading without being offended, but every little atrocity contributes to the story. It's never free. Iain Banks wrote a daring, challenging novel that registers in a genre that was almost considered a literary antiquity. It already beat almost three decades and I can see it going much further. In the darker realms of literature, THE WASP FACTORY is nobility
FOUR STARS
Gothic novel