The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Having read this book, my greatest wish in life is that I will never again read, see or hear anything as disturbing and utterly fucked up. That isn't to say that this novel wasn't good, in fact, it's a great, complex and, in a horrible way, playful work of art and I'm in awe. But I also feel ill and profoundly disturbed. Without giving anything away (I can't even begin to explain half the crazy shit that happens), this is a bold and horrifying modern re-imagining of the Gothic novel. It has most of the usual Gothic tropes, but re-situates them in the present (or at least in the late 1980s) and plays with them in ingenious new ways. What really stood out of me was the childishness of the main character's personal mythology; he invents and performs violent rituals designed to foretell the future, communicate with others, protect, etc, but all the places and actions have names that are somehow intensely childish, re-labelling the world in simple terms according to what happened in those places and with those objects: the Snake Park, the War Bag, the Wasp Factory itself. I already always think that children are fairly creepy, but this is something else. Never has childhood been quite so menacing. This is one of those books that I would never recommend to anyone (in the interests of their sound sleep, sanity and peace of mind), but would also say is amazing. It's a great novel, but I would prefer it to stay as far from me as possible.