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  • The Wasp Factory

  • Written by: Iain Banks
  • Narrated by: Peter Kenny
  • Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (41 ratings)

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The Wasp Factory cover art

The Wasp Factory

Written by: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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Publisher's Summary

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 Audio

What the critics say

"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)

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What listeners say about The Wasp Factory

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Absolutely Wild

This book was obscene to say the least. The answer is screaming out at you, then when it is all revealed you’re not surprised. Just truly left in complete shock expecting an answer that you wish you would’ve never heard.

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the wasp factory

I've read this book before.... twice. I love it. Its a fascinating, non-stop, psycological rollercoaster ride. Banks can really tell a story and his imagery and poetic descriptions pull you right into the centre of the factory.

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oddball

this was one of my favourite books so far. it'll stick with me for a long time.

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Tasteless

The book starts off gruesome with all the animal abuse but I read that it has a fairly well thought out ending so I endured until the end. To my dismay there was no redeeming ending and it was a waste of a read. Anyone who likes listening to this type of exploitation of abusive and psychologically repulsive behaviours are not my type of people.

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