Advantages: Dark, thought provoking page turner - exceedingly well written Disadvantages: Dark. Very dark. Disturbing. Scenes of animal and child cruelty
Seventeen year old Frank is a killer. He kills birds, mice and other small animals. Fortunately, he doesn't kill people any more - it was just a passing phase, when he killed Blythe, Paul and Esmeralda (not all at once, mind you). Frank's brother Eric is also deeply unhinged, with a penchant for burning dogs, and his father isn't entirely playing with a full deck either.
The Wasp Factory is a strange book. The plot, such as it is, follows Frank on his isolated Scottish Island as he prepares for the imminent arrival of his half-brother Eric, who has escaped from a secure mental institution. However, that's not really the main point of this rather short novel (I read it in around a day). The book is narrated by Frank, who is a deeply unreliable narrator. Indeed, every 'fact' we learn should be treated with suspicion, since everyone has ...
Advantages: Quite easy to understand for a modern audience Disadvantages: may require some athenian legal system knowledge
Wasps was performed in 422 BC at the Lenaia and won second prize. Wasps are basically about Cleon's control over the Athenian jury system.
In the play Wasps the two main characters are Procleon and Anticleon, father and son. Procleon has an obsession with sitting on juries and Anticleon his son, wants to cure his addiction and tries locking im his house, but Procleon tries to escape many times, one of which he pretends he is going to sell his donkey at the market but hides underneath the donkey, like Odysseus under the Cyclops's ram, we would expect Anticleon to recognise this straight away, but the joke is delayed to fit in the joke about Odysseus this is an example of incongruity. The father and son have a debate (the agon) and Anticleon decides to set up a court in their house and have a trial about a dog who has stolen Sicilian ...
Advantages: Great gothic horror Disadvantages: Bit short
It was released in 1984 - author - Iain Banks
It is in first person perspective, it is a narrative told by seventeen-year-old Frank Cauldhame, describing his childhood and all that remains of it. Frank observes many religious rituals of his own invention. As the novel develops, his brother's escape from a mental hospital and impending return lead on to a violent ending and a twist that undermines all that Frank believed about himself.
The eponymous Wasp Factory is a clock face salvaged from the local dump. Behind each numeral is a trap, which leads to a different ritual death (for example burning, crushing, or drowning in Frank's own urine) for the wasp that Frank puts into the hole at the centre. He uses the death "chosen" by the wasp to divine the future.
There are also the Sacrifice Poles, upon which hang the bodies and heads ...
