Post AuF3E181tdoixibVgW by imalcolm@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by imalcolm@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AuCqfqvXjOFJi9moYi by imalcolm@mastodon.social
2025-05-18T01:01:54Z
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Slim pickings on my #OpShop hunt yesterday, but I’m chalking this one up to quality over quantity.As-new copy of ‘Canal Dreams’ by the late, great Iain Banks - one of just three of his non-SF books I have yet to read. Not bad for the princely sum of $2.#books
(DIR) Post #AuCqfraJHor7karN6O by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-18T03:47:02Z
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@imalcolm If it's like the "The Wasp Factory" which I read last year it will be disturbing and a little confusing?Curious to know if you like it.
(DIR) Post #AuF3E181tdoixibVgW by imalcolm@mastodon.social
2025-05-19T05:17:04Z
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@futurebird Wasp Factory _really_ disturbed me when I first read it, admittedly quite a while ago - it was my second Banks book, after Consider Phlebas.I really like some of his other contemporary novels though, particularly Crow Road and Espedair Street.Will let you know how I get on with Canal Dreams - might be a while though, my to-read pile is piled ridiculously high! 😉
(DIR) Post #AuFSWSYZ9k8I5xuIG8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-19T10:00:37Z
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@imalcolm I was confused about if it was trying to make some kind of point about gender or being trans. I decided it wasn't and that it was more about how the violence and cruelty of cultures that thrive on war is a kind of cancer that never goes away. I don't really get why the main character was someone who would have been AFAB if they didn't have such a horrible parent and was stuffed into the role of son and so committed to it.
(DIR) Post #AuFSmDodjIVT0jwQSG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-19T10:03:26Z
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@imalcolm There is something in the story about how many of the things taught to little boys about what it means to be "a man" and toxic. But, the revelations about the main characters biology were uncomfortable, but also less interesting to me than really know who they would have wanted to be if no one had been telling them who to be if that makes sense.I really liked the bit about the buried mines in the beach.
(DIR) Post #AuFSwO1sbvQraEytYe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-19T10:05:17Z
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@imalcolm Also since I like wasps as animals I had to keep adjusting the lens I was view those bits of symbolism through. Banks often writes in a way that exposes the toxicity and arbitrary nature of gender in ways that I really enjoy in the culture series. But Wasp Factory left me more confused and disturbed than anything. But maybe that is the point.
(DIR) Post #AuFU6tOewTVJiZD3cu by downbeatdan@mastodon.nz
2025-05-19T10:18:22Z
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@imalcolm @futurebird Being his first novel, it put it out there as to how far off the beaten track he was prepared to go. Nothing he wrote after shocked quite as much, but he never lapsed into boring normalness either. Enjoyed every book he wrote, but for different reasons every time.
(DIR) Post #AuFV6kdpatKWWAnpCq by Tallish_Tom@mastodon.scot
2025-05-19T10:25:17Z
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@futurebird @imalcolm I think The Wasp Factory is his _most_ disturbing and confusing work. At least it was for me.
(DIR) Post #AuH13o67g7km3mdTPM by imalcolm@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T04:02:19Z
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@futurebird There's definitely some of that, albeit an extreme case where someone AFAB is raised to believe they're not only male, but an intrinsically (and extremely) damaged one for as long as they can remember, lacking defining physical characteristics.The father's actions and web of lies are SO extreme - it felt like a first time novelist trying to see just how far they could push.It's terrible, but the mine incident makes me laugh when I remember it...