
The Wasp Factory
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Narrated by:
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Peter Kenny
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By:
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Iain Banks
About this listen
The Wasp Factory is a bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath - one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels.
"Two years after I killed Blyth, I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental 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 that I was going through."
Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just 16, and unconventional, to say the least.
©2007 Hachette Audio (P)2007 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"One of the most brilliant first novels I have come across." (The Telegraph)
"One of the top 100 novels of the century." (The Independent)
"Brilliant...irresistible...compelling." (New York Times)
very curious story
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Suited for anyone appreciative of originality.
Mesmerizing
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I really didn't care for the narrator. He gave a fine performance, but didn't embody the main character to me at all. Then again, I was remembering Frank as he was in my mind as a tween... Maybe you'll dig the guy-Listen to a sample.
The baby scene and the kite scene have haunted me for years. Especially the kite scene. It's so surreal and sad.
Maybe the biggest twist ending I can recall reading.
Nutty. Nihilistic. Flatulent...
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Horror is Self Analysis
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Interesting story
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I really enjoyed this, but found it difficult to stay focused.
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Plenty of strange dark humor
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There is A LOT of animal torture and dying kids in it, so definitely not the book for the ones with a squeamish stomach.
Me, I don't mind if there is a lot of violence in books, as long it makes sense and explains the character developement. However, with Wasp Factory, I am not sure that I understand, why such amount of blood and gore was neccessary. Hence, three stars. Performance wise, scottish accent was a bit too strong for me at some points. I am not a native speaker though, so I might be a bit over sensitive regarding the accents.
Violent, but without much reason?
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The art of audio books comes to life
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Wow. Powerful, horrifying, brilliant.
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