So I saw a shitload of recommendations for the wasp factory by ian banks on here, and decided to give it a try. but two pages into the book i changed my mind.

heard mention of some mental-escapee lighting dogs on fire, and couldn't handle it. i dont know why it is that i can stand graphic murder scenes and the lot, but any mention of animal abuse makes me burst out in tears but thats another story for another day.

other than all the disturbing content that forced me to put the book down, the book seemed like it had potential to be the kind that you could not put down. from the first page on i was intrigued. cause of lines like "i already knew before it happened - the factory told me."

unfortunately i dont have the ballz (so to speak) to pick that book up again, cause if he lights a dog on fire in the book, i know ill lose it...

so would someone mind spoiling the entire book for me, cause now that i started it i need to find out what the ending was.

wtf was the factory?

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My mind is like a plastic bag.

yeah, erm, he blows rabbits and stuff aswell.

check your reps for the end.

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Would you like a cigarette? They're quite exellent.

Honestly, just read it. Telling the story's a bit shitty, it's worth actually just getting down to business and reading it through. Very good book in my opinion.

interp:

the factory was where he was able to control his life. an "incident" happened when he was younger where his dad controls and takes over his gender now. the factory is the only thing he can control. it's not like everything else. he can put wasps in there and control where they go and how they die. they start off and he finishes it.

it's a really sick and twisted book but in the same way, it's beautiful to be able to read how this boy copes with all the shit he's handed. it may seem sick and twisted, but it's how he deals with his life--blowing shit up, etcetera.

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from memory I thought the wasp factory was random and he used the way of death to predict the future?

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Would you like a cigarette? They're quite exellent.

neither does "he"

yeah, it's been a while but i'm thinking of the part when he describes a wasp crawling near an exit. it turns around though and so it doesn't get trapped in. didn't he say sometimes it took a really long time for the wasps to get trapped, i.e. he wasn't controlling where they went?

i just lent this book to a roommate. i mainly just wanted to talk to someone about the part where the brother is in the hospital and is traumatized after finding the boy. that scene had an unusually large impact on me..

JustReadItJustReadItJustReadItJustReadItJustReadIt .

It's a brilliant book.

the dog burning is in no way graphic, the brother side story is actually hilarious and had me laughing out loud several times (and i love dgs).