The Job of the Wasp: A Novel (edition 2018)

by Colin Winnette (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
92	5	310,767	(3.15)	None
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML: "A witty and grisly gothic unlike anything I've ever read. You should absolutely read this." Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble A new arrival at an isolated school for orphaned boys quickly comes to realize there is something wrong with his new home. He hears chilling whispers in the night, his troubled classmates are violent and hostile, and the Headmaster sends cryptic messages, begging his new charge to confess. As the new boy learns to survive on the edges of this impolite society, he starts to unravel a mystery at the school's dark heart. And that's when the corpses start turning up. A coming-of-age tale, a Gothic ghost story, and a murder mystery all in one, The Job of the Wasp is a bloodcurdling and brilliantly subversive novel about paranoia, love, and the nightmare of adolescence. .… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	Feralreader
Title:	The Job of the Wasp: A Novel
Authors:	Colin Winnette (Author)
Info:	Soft Skull Press (2018), 208 pages
Collections:	Ebooks, Your library
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

The Job of the Wasp by Colin Winnette

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

cwilcox0915, DoctorVan, theodarling, jilldugaw, georgebexley, parasolofdoom, lyrrael, thesixthrachel, rgrg, katherinelake93

▾Tags

2010s (2) 2018 releases (1) abandoned (3) boarding school (1) couldn-t-finish (1) Dark Atmospheric (1) Dark Books (1) fantasy-horror-sci-fi (1) February (1) fiction (13) g-horror (1) goodreads import (1) horror (7) Imported May 14 (1) Kindle (2) miscellaneous-giveaways (1) ominous institutions (1) own but unread (1) paperback (1) read (1) read CA (1) read in 2018 (1) read in 2019 (1) tbr-library-abql (1) thriller (2) to-read (23) unfinished-because-i-got-distracted (1) unread (1) US Suspense (1) USA (2)

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

Horror & Thriller (31)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 5 of 5

This book didn’t sit well with me – I’m not sure it was supposed to. The synopsis describes this book as a Gothic ghost story, a creepy whodunnit set in a boy’s orphanage. I guess you could say that, but it’s not terribly accurate. This reads more like a night terror – a dream within a dream. I had no idea who was telling the truth, what was real, what wasn’t, who was insane, who wasn’t. I couldn’t trust the narrator (or really, anyone else in this story) and I felt anxious having to spend so much time in his warped, little head. This book reminded me a lot of “Fever Dream” by Samantha Schweblin, not in subject matter but in tone. “The Job of the Wasp” invites wild interpretations and leaves the reader feeling uneasy if a little delirious. (

)

MC_Rolon | Jun 15, 2022 |

Rating this 5 stars because I want all of my friends to read it and then talk to me about what the fuck actually happened. I honestly don’t know if I loved this or hated it but damn was it a wild ride. (

)

SamBortle | Jul 23, 2021 |

A review here describes "an opaque ending". It's another way of explaining 191 pages of prose that was a can of loose end worms. A final chapter saying: "Figure it all out for yourself" would have been more suitable. (

)

mckall08 | Jul 20, 2018 |

This was a weird little book. It is very much a gothic Lord of the Flies. We never learn the main characters name or age. He is sent to a small country orphanage where there may be ghosts. There are certainly murders piling up. A creepy atmosphere of paranoia pervades the school and the rest of the boys who reside there. Shocking acts of violence punctuate the story as it builds to an equally opaque ending. (

)

queencersei | Jul 9, 2018 |

This is a quick, and strange read! A boy arrives at a school/boarding house for boys and things just get weird. People start dying, no one knows the boy or his name, and someone (or ones) may, or may not, be ghosts! Even though I wasn't a fan of the ending, I did enjoy the strangeness of the story. I felt very off kilter throughout. It reminded me of how I felt reading "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson. I never really knew what was going on, but I enjoyed the ride! (

)

Stahl-Ricco | Jan 29, 2018 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 5 of 5

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

The Job of the Wasp

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:

"A witty and grisly gothic unlike anything I've ever read. You should absolutely read this." Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

A new arrival at an isolated school for orphaned boys quickly comes to realize there is something wrong with his new home. He hears chilling whispers in the night, his troubled classmates are violent and hostile, and the Headmaster sends cryptic messages, begging his new charge to confess. As the new boy learns to survive on the edges of this impolite society, he starts to unravel a mystery at the school's dark heart. And that's when the corpses start turning up.

A coming-of-age tale, a Gothic ghost story, and a murder mystery all in one, The Job of the Wasp is a bloodcurdling and brilliantly subversive novel about paranoia, love, and the nightmare of adolescence.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary