The Wasp Factory
Frank, no ordinary sixteen-year-old, lives with his father outsIde a remote Scottish village. Their life is, to say the least, unconventional. Frank's mother abandoned them years ago: his elder brother Eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital; and his father measures out his eccentricities on an imperial scale. Frank has turned to strange acts of violence to vent his frustrations. In the bizarre daily rituals there is some solace. But when news comes of Eric's escape from the hospital Frank has to prepare the ground for his brother's inevitable return - an event that explodes the mysteries of the past and changes Frank utterly. Iain Banks' celebrated first novel is a work of extraordinary originality, imagination and horrifying compulsion: horrifying, because it enters a mind whose realities are not our own, whose values of life and death are alien to our society; and compulsive, because the humour and compassion of that mind reach out to us all.
Where The Wasp Factory keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about The Wasp Factory
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Sixteen-year-old Frank Cauldhame lives alone with his eccentric father on a small Scottish island, where he keeps a Wasp Factory in an attic shed and quietly admits to having killed three of his cousins. The novel opens with the news that his older brother Eric has escaped from a mental hospital.
Yes. The Wasp Factory (1984) was Iain Banks's debut novel and was controversial for its graphic violence, bleak content, and disturbing protagonist. The novel divided critics on publication; some called it brilliant, others tasteless.
The Wasp Factory blends literary fiction with psychological horror, focused on a teenage protagonist who has invented elaborate violent rituals. Most readers find it disturbing rather than supernaturally scary.
The Wasp Factory was written by Iain Banks, published in 1984 by Scribner Paperback Fiction.
The Wasp Factory is 184 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Wasp Factory takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
The Wasp Factory is a standalone novel by Iain Banks, not part of a series.
The Wasp Factory is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
