“The madder people. A lot of them seem to be leaders of countries or religions or armies. The real loonies.”
― Iain Banks
Why I’m Reading this Book?
This was one of the books from the list ’99 books that were too disturbing to finish”. Some very good books (Mostly from Stephen King) were in that list and I thought to give this book a go. This wasn’t available in library , So I purchased it.
Synopsis
Frank, who is a teenager, leads a seclusive life with his father on an Island. Story revolves around his daily routine along with some glimpses in his disturbing past.
My Review…
This was definitely a disturbing book but not in the sense I was hoping for. It had 12 chapters and each chapter had brutal, gory and disturbing details about several topics. It was hard to read about such things but I continued in the hope of looking for answer for this brutality. But alas, I didn’t find the answer satisfactory and in the end for me it was just mindless violence.
Frank is depicted a kind of genius, who tortures animals ritualistically, for reasons only sane to him. He lives with his father but father appears to have no hold or interest for him. He is left to wreak havoc on the island in whatever way he chooses with unlimited supply of ammunitions. He is not registered legally anywhere , but he visits town unchallenged and story about him being a nephew doesn’t hold much weight.
He also has a deranged brother, who sees something disturbing and instead of cultivating pity , he overnight turns into a monster. Both brothers kills, tortures animals with no-one to put a stop on it.
Frank is also a murderer (This is not a spoiler, that’s how this book started), he started his murder spree when he was 6. He did it in such elaborative way that nobody suspected him. His murder motives are obscure and again, only sensible to him. He has a handicap and he seems to be frustrated by it. But how the murder+torture combination is the answer of it, I couldn’t know.
Anyways, when the end was revealed , I didn’t laugh only because I was too upset for all the animals death (I’m a proud PETA member). While he was portrayed as an evil genius, secret was so simple that even a moron will figure it out. And even then, it no way justifies the senseless killing all over the novel.
In the end I thought, these people have just too much time in hand with too much money and weapons lying around. Whatever has happened to him no way justifies whatever he did. I couldn’t even relate to him as a total psychopath, because he was different with his friend, brother and father. So, if you are wronged , you do wrong with the weaker ones, that’s a disappointment for a psychotic figure too. Frank was too much of a coward, stupid and tasteless teenager.
Also, concept about wasp factory was too stupid. I don’t even feel like to write about it.
This is one of those books which are hyped for reasons unknown to me. It has no moral, no introspection, no enjoyment, just stupidity and gore all around.
My Rating — 1
On the scale of: (1- Hate , 2- Neither like nor dislike, 3- Like, 4- Love, 5- Gaga)
Why anyone else should read this Book?
I’m not going to recommend it to anyone, but one can read it to get a book out of the way. It’s a small book with about 150 pages. My speed was slow due to subject matter but it should be a fast read for some.
I can’t think of any other reason. God forbid, if even 10% people start thinking like this book’s protagonist.
Stay home, Stay Safe!!!
What are your views of this book? Did you see something different I failed to notice? Share them here. Till next time, Happy Reading Folks!!!
Love, Richa
Musings of a Book Savant 