PhoenixFalls - , reviewed on 5/11/2009 + 185 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I can't even rate this book, simple as the question of "How much did you like it?" would seem to be. It is horrifying, I feel dirty after finishing it, and it is undeniably brilliant. I will admit I do not have a strong stomach for brutality -- I couldn't finish Don Quixote because I just could not stomach the continual beating of that poor old man -- but while the violence in Don Quixote is casual, the violence in The Wasp Factory is elevated to ritual, and there isn't a moment of it that isn't necessary for the story. (Well, except maybe the battle with the Hare. But a case can be made even for that.) Thinking about it critically, perhaps the only flaw is the psychoanalysis at the end -- it would almost have been more powerful had the twist come and the book simply stopped. But beyond that, reading it was an experience I almost wish I could have erased from my memory, but only just almost.

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