The book is written in the 1st person and is an unconventional and bizarre story. The plot is about a boy called "Frank," his weird life and his weird family. He has a dad who knows the measurements of every thing in the house and a brother who burns dogs and force-feeds maggots to children. His brother was in a mental centre but he escaped and throughout the story is making his way home, eating dogs and stealing to stay alive. His mother ran away soon after his little brother who has been murdered was born, breaking his fathers leg in the process, as she ran his over with her motorbike.

Frank is sixteen years old and does not officially exist, he has a very weird lifestyle and a hatred for wasps.

The characterisation in this book was one of the many reasons I enjoyed the book so much. The author, "Iain Banks," has not made the characters stereotypical; they are not quite lifelike but are also convincing, as you don't always meet sixteen year old boys who destroy whole rabbit colonies in one wild rage, or ones who sacrifice wasps.

The characters however use a wide range of descriptive vocabulary and Frank describes the things he is doing very well. The characters use a mixture of both short and long sentences. The short sentences are used when something drastic is happening and long ones when it is not very exciting or tense.

His first kill was of his father's friend's son, "Blyth." The reason he was killed Blyth was because Blyth had flame-throwered his rabbits the year before.

The theme of the book is death and the message seems to be that the strongest survive. This theme is not forced but arises naturally from the book and is conveyed through Frank and Eric. This theme is conveyed in various ways, like through Eric making his way home, alone surviving by stealing and eating dogs. Frank killing the whole rabbit colony also conveys the theme of death.

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Approximate Word count = 1390
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)