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REVIEWS
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
BOOK
If someone tells me a book is totally sick, I have to go investigate. Usually I'm disappointed. I'm hard to shock but this novel held no such disappointment. It is truly one of the most disturbing, yet perversely enjoyable, novels I've ever read.The only thing I can compare it to is Chuck Palahniuk's (Fight Club, Choke) darker stuff.
But Palahniuk after a three-day speed binge couldn't even come up with this.
So what is it?
The novel is renowned in the underground circles of cult Brit lit (more specifically, Scottish lit), and was named one of the Top 100 Novels of the Century by The Independent. In Kansas, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who has heard of it. After having the book recommended to me by a British citizen, I hunted through four bookstores. It was worth the frustration.
The novel's narrator is teenager Frank Cauldhame, who lives with his widower father in a small Scottish town. Frank is basically a sociopath. Much of the novel is devoted to flashbacks, in which Frank,
before turning 10, murders three children.Two were his cousins, and the third was his brother. Yeah, he's one sick mother.
The second storyline involves the escape of Frank's other brother, Eric, from a mental hospital. Frank is merely evil, but Eric is evil and bombastic, with a penchant for pyromania. As the novel progresses, Eric increasingly gets closer to the family's home and the climax forces Frank and his father to confront him.
The novel's imagery is graphic and stark (beware, it gets rough), but the true testament to the novel's perversity is that we like Frank. He's funny, intelligent and perfectly reasonable, apart from being insane. It's this empathy we have for him that truly sets the novel
apart from other horror (yeah, *horror*) novels. And the ending is a drop-kick to the gut, without being an annoying cop-out.
As to the literal,
prophetic Wasp Factory,
words cannot do it justice.
It's best to read the novel
and absorb it yourself.
If you can find the damn book, you're in for one demented joyride.
Publisher: Scribner
Price: $13.00
Available in paperback
★★★★★
Kelsey Hayes
GAME
FULL AUTO
Full Auto's instruction manual does a good job of explaining what the game isn't.
"Welcome to the most destructive racing game ever created. Full Auto is designed to give you everything you want in a racer stunning graphics intense speed, massive destruction, sleek, customized vehicles, innovative features and tough competition."
Yeah everything except for realistic handling, a back story, mission variety, a reason to use the game's unwick feature, a consistent framerate or any sort of incentive for me to play for more than 10 minutes. No big deal though.
than 10 minutes. No big deal, I think.
If *Full Auto* was limited to the twenty-one customized metal machines (muscle cars, exotics, SUVs, tuners, classics and more) racing through three destructible environments packed with high-speed action, the game would rock pretty hard." No way! Twenty-one cars and a whopping three environments? That rocks like a deaf guy at a Yankal concert.
"But it rocks harder than that Way harder". No, it doesn't. Spend your $60 on drinks at the Hawk. At least that will provide you with more than 10 minutes of fun.
System:X-Box
Andrew Campbell
18 => JAYPLAY 03.02.2006 20:00