Product Description
Never-collected tales, including outrageous early stories from the Trainspotting years, plus a raucous new novella.Reheated Cabbage gathers stories showcasing Irvine Welsh’s trademark skills: vaulting imagination, brilliant vernacular ear, scabrous humor, and the ability to create some of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction. You can enjoy Christmas dinner with Begbie at his Ma’s and see how he greets his sister’s boyfriend and news of their engagement. You’ll discover in “The Rosewell Incident” why aliens speak hardcore Scots English and plan to put Midlothian roughs in charge of the planet. And you’ll be delighted to welcome back “Juice” Terry Lawson and now internationally famous DJ Carl Ewart, and watch them as they meet an old nemesis, retired schoolmaster Albert Black, under the strobe lights of a Miami Beach nightclub. These stories, most first published in small magazines and out-of-print anthologies, are all wildly offbeat and will delight both fans of and newcomers to Welsh’s world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

THIS ROCKS
I am not going to elaborate about the five star review, if you are a Welsh fan you must read this.I truly believe that Welsh writes some of the best dialouge, it rings so true and with such humor.Great entertainment from a great writer.

They All Get Lots of Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll
"Reheated Cabbage" gives us seven previously uncollected short stories and one never published novella by Irvine Welsh, international best selling author known as the master of "Scotsploitation."Welsh, author often previous works of fiction, includingPorno, Crime: A Novel, Glue, Filth, and the classic Trainspotting that was adapted into the 1996 international art house hit of the same name (Trainspotting), has culled the stories from out-of-print magazines.They are all set in Edinburgh, Scotland, but it sure isn't the tourists' Edinburgh: most of Welsh's characters appear to be out-of-work layabouts from the working class port area of Leith: one of them makes a crack about the working class origin bona fides of Edinburgh's current patron saint, Sir Sean Connery, who hails from the now-gentrifying area of the city known as Fountainbridge.

Could Welsh be considered also a practitioner of the current Scottish school of tartan noir writing?I would say so: most of these stories are violent, bloody, grisly, and laced with profanity: yet they are scathingly funny, with the darkest of Scots humor.His characters, none of whom seem to be burdened with jobs, are still, somehow, getting lots and lots of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.The stories are largely written in dialect, for which the author has a pitch perfect ear: they are somewhat more difficult to read through than I, for one, would have liked, but, believe me, I haven't a drop of Scots blood, and I didn't find them that difficult.The author's imagination doesn't flag; stories rise to the heights of absurdity, and fall to the depths of depravity.The author's command of the ambiance of his home city is, of course, absolute.

Fans of the author's previous work will find some familiar faces in this collection.The novella, "I Am Miami," which does seem to present an unexpected softer side of the author, reacquaints us with "Juice" Terry Lawson and now internationally famous DJ Carl Ewart, the main characters from the 2001 "Glue," as they meet up with, in Miami, their old enemy and schoolteacher Albert Black, now retired. The volatile drunk Francis Begbie, of "Trainspotting," is back, angry as ever, as star and narrator of "Elspeth's Boyfriend."In "State of the Party," two friends high on LSD drag the corpse of a recently overdosed young friend across town, and get into a fight with some heat-seeking soccer hooligans.In "Victor Spoils," Gavin and Victor fight over a young woman getting her teeth pulled, as the dentist is sexually aroused by her mouth.In "A Fault on the Line," a young husband whose wife is emergency-room bound after losing her legs to a train station accident, wants only to be dropped off at home so he can catch the day's big game, Hibs versus Herts.In "The Rosewell Incident," a venture into science fiction, we learn why the inter-galactic aliens think in and speak the Scots inflected English of these young men, and plan to put them in charge of the planet.

Welsh's world isn't for everyone, what with one thing and another, but for those seeking the offbeat and the unexpected, here it is, and welcome to it.I don't think I'd personally want to meet any of these young men, but they sure are fun within the pages of a book.

If you care about Juice Terry, Begbie, Carl Ewart, and Blackie-- Then buy this book. Period!
Killer couple of stories here. There's only 1 or 2 that are kind of abstract little tales with no solid conclusion-- but even those are good. If you're thinking about this as a first read-- i would suggest something different.

Irvine Welsh is the greatest writer who ever lived. If you're interested in finding out why--- i suggest this order::: glue, trainspotting, porno, filth, crime, bedroom secrets----- and then check out the story collections.

If you're familiar with Juice Terry & friends-- then just get this. you'll like it.

All around it isn't a bad collection
I first began reading Irvine Welsh when Trainspotting became super popular in the 1990s.What wasn't to love?It was gritty, foul, decadent, hopeless, and had fantastic music.Additionally, the story was all about that hidden, forbidden world of heroin and drugs, which enticed the teenager in me.I was completely sold when I saw that it was written in dialect, so the words are spelled as one would hear them, because my little language-loving heart was transported.

Strangely, all these elements are found equally throughout his books (Except the music, since I'm probably just imagining the Iggy Pop music in the background).Reheated Cabbage, too, channels all these things.In truth, Welsh hasn't changed much--or really at all--since his hit Trainspotting.Like Trainspotting, Reheated Cabbage tells its stories through the eyes of an individual who is usually pretty damned unlikable and worthless.(In fact, in one story, the protagonist is the young Begbie--who is quite possible the worst, meanest character ever created by Welsh, but a memorable one.)These worthless protagonists usually end up in severe trouble (young addicts carrying their dead friend around, Begbie ruining a family get-together, a homophobe trapped forever buggering his friends in a strange time loop, etc.)--but rarely realize that they're busily destroying their own life or how they ended up in such a situation.

The short stories span Welsh's career, but I'd find it hard to separate the new from the old.The themes, tone, and protagonist is almost always the same, even if the outrageous situations are different.In a way, this is exactly what hooked me on Welsh to begin with and I love it, but in another way, it makes most of the stories fade into the one after...

All around it isn't a bad collection.It's actually nice to see little snapshots of these protagonists, even if they all seem a bit similar.For those uninitiated in Welsh, I'll warn you that if you are in any way squeamish about anything at all (sex, death, rape, misogyny, idiots, cruelty, random violence, domestic violence, drugs, curse words) then I advise not picking up anything by Welsh because he engages every topic.And the "bad guy" is often the protagonist.A lot of the time the protagonist never figures out that he's a bad guy at all.For those initiated already: this is just more Welsh in the same line as all his other works and you shouldn't be surprised by anything here, so enjoy.

Great collection of stories
I have read quite a few of Irvine Welsh's novels, and I have enjoyed every one that I've picked up. This collection of short stories is amazing. Quick read, each tale keeps you entertained. Good purchase for an avid Irvine Welsh reader. ... Read more

Product Description
Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, is up to his old tricks with his new work of transgressive short fiction.

Irvine Welsh's first short-story collection since his debut work The Acid House presents five extraordinary stories, which remind us that he is a master of the short form, a brilliant storyteller, and—unarguably—one of today's funniest and most subversive writers. In "Rattlesnakes" three young Americans, lost in the desert, are accosted by two armed Mexicans. A Korean chef and a Chicago socialite find themselves connected through the disappearance of a pooch named Toto in "The D.O.G.S. of Lincoln Park." And in the title story, Mickey Baker—an ex-pat English bar owner living on the Costa Brava—tries to keep all of his balls in the air: maintaining his barmaid's weight at the sexual maximum, attending to the youthful Persephone, and dodging his ex-wife and Spanish gangsters.

In typically Welshian fashion, the characters and settings are anything but typical. These stories will make you laugh and gasp. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

The Chemical romance on holiday, in concert, and at work.
Irvine Welsh is known for his chemical romance genre novels and short stories. These narratives are both tragic, comedic, and as strange as any trip taken by an unreconstructed hippie or soccer hooligan. Even if you are not familiar with the drug milieu, the detailed and developed characters will feel all too real.

Enjoy anything written by this author and include this work in your library.

Hodge meets podge
I've read pretty much every Welsh book, thoroughly enjoying them all (aside from Maribou Stork Nightmares, which despite repeated attempts I simply cannot get into, and cannot finish). While this collection of short stories is a quick-fire read, it reveals itself as more an effort to showcase (or test out) the author's abilities to capture voices and word patterns outside his familiar Scottish brogue. It largely doesn't succeed.

In particular, Miss Arizona is the most straightforward, predictable, plodding tale I've ever seen from Welsh. Even the opening story -- trying to capture American late-teen culture -- is somewhat predictable in its shockability.

Fortunately, the last -- and longest -- story in the book is back in familiar territory and rescues this hit and mostly miss collection. For Welsh collection completists only.

The "air-con" thing really, really grates
The "air-con" mis-step appears in the first couple of pages of at least two of the pieces. I am writing this here because I specifically googled to see how many others had caught this howler.
This reader almost (ok, only almost) put the book down to email his mate in Scotland who's another Welsh fan to share dismay.
Irvine, Irvine, Irvine!!!
Please tell me this is your editor's fault!!!
This Haddie boy in the US didnae appreciate.
The subbuteo story's barry, but.

Irvine, what happened to you?
Irvine Welsh means to shock, but usually there is a point to it all.Previously, he's written short stories about such cheery subjects as armless, grown-up Thalidomide babies using chainsaws to cut off the arms of the people that created Thalidomide, and a guy who, after he's been fired, his girlfriend has dumped him and his parents have at long last kicked him out, gets turned into a fly by God and as a fly wreaks revenge on those who have wronged him, along the way seeing such things as his mother doing unto his father with a strap-on. But even those stories contain Welsh's trademark humor and observations about society.So what has happened to Irvine Welsh?

The first story, about a road trip gone horribly wrong, is a set-up in search of a story.There's no point, there isn't an ending, and the racial stereotyping is offensive even for Irvine Welsh.The second story, about a bar owner in the Bahamas who treats women as disposable, is really long and has no apparent point.After that, I pretty much gave up.No humor, no real commentary on life... not even anything particularly shocking.More Howard Stern than Irvine Welsh and not worth the bother even if you're an Irvine Welsh fan.

Why So Harsh???This Is Good!!!
I don't understand why there are so many negative reviews here, this is not bad stuff at all, it is typical Irvine Welsh work, not bad at all.If you know what to expect from Welsh, then you should be pleased with the works here.

These short stories are pretty fantastic, especially the opener "Rattlesnakes", a Welsh classic.As for the rest, I am partial to "DOGS of Licoln Park, because being from the Chicagoland area, he captures the setting phenominally, especially considering he is from over-seas.

Overall, this is not his best work (read "Filth", or "Trainspotting", especially if you are a Welsh virgin), but it deserves more acclaim than the harsh reviews laid out here. His novels are better???Fact. But for 9/10 authors most reviewers will say the same thing.For some reason people just don't gravitate towards the short story anymore, and thats a shame.Give it a try. ... Read more

Product Description
“[An] inimitable combination of darkrealism, satire and psychological insight . . .complicated, unsettling and at timesbeautiful."--Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn the wake of a nasty child-murder case,Detective Ray Lennox of the Edinburgh PD hassuffered a full-scale breakdown. He’s placed onleave for mental retuning and takes off for afew days of sun in Miami. From there,Crime becomes an unmistakably Welshianblend of the macabre and the psychologicallyastute, as Lennox faces a dwindling supply ofantidepressants, a bridal-magazine-totingfiancée, and cokehappy locals who lead him backinto old habits and leave him to care for achild. Is he really in the right shape to beplaying knight-errant to a terrifiedten-year-old girl? Will his best instincts andworst judgments get them both killed, or findhim the redemption he seeks?

... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Miami vice
I love Irvine Welsh; Filth and Acid House (great movie, by the way) are my favourites so far. His Cousteau-like explorations of society's seedy underbelly are immensely satisfying and supremely entertaining. Not to mention hysterically funny. Non-UK readers may find the Scottish street lingo a challenge, but once you get used to the colloquial terms (`ken' = know, `bairns' = children, etc.) it's plain sailing.
Welsh's latest book Crime leans more towards the conventional crime novel, as if Welsh, in the process of maturing as a writer, is courting mainstream (transatlantic?) success (pressure from publishers?).
Ray Lennox is a burned-out off-duty police detective on holiday in Miami who gets embroiled in all sorts of shady goings on: drug dealers, paedophile networks and corrupt law enforcement. Lennox is also planning on getting married to his fiancée but a tortured conscience and a weakness for narcotic substances conspire against him.
There are regular flashbacks to Edinburgh where Lennox has been working on a particularly gruesome child sex murder case. The controversial subject matter aside, Crime is a lighter read than some of Welsh's earlier books, not as `black' or unhinged as, say, Filth or Acid House, which is a shame because nobody does `black' or unhinged quite like Irvine Welsh.

Good.
This book has the normal (for Irvine Welsh) themes of drugs, violence, and sexual wrongness - but in a more accessible and readable form than usual. It's severely Americanized, and not in a bad way.

not welsh's best, but still solid
Irvine Welsh is by far my favorite author of all time.glue, which made me fall in love with his writing, is in his essential and gorgeous scottish tone.Crime, however, places the reader in boring old America (where i reside) and it's not terribly pleasant.i can read american authors if i like, but i like to read outside of the iron box if i can.read it if you're a huge welsh fan (i've even read his obscure screenplays, which were good!), but i can't give it five stars, malheureusement.

Hope in a Threatening Topsy-Turvy World
"Crime," a new novel by Scottish author Irvine Welsh, now comes to us in paperback.Welsh is the critically-acclaimed author of Trainspotting, (made into a movie of the same name, Trainspotting, by Gaelic director Danny Boyle, who recently won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.)Welsh has also penned the cult classics Porno;Filth; and The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs: A Novel.In "Crime," Welsh seems to have borrowed a page from his best-selling countryman Ian Rankin, penning a British mystery/police procedural/thriller partially set in Edinburgh, Scotland -- as are Rankin's police procedurals -- and in glitzy, glamorous, and down-on-its heels Florida, U.S.A.Mind you, with his outstanding literary gifts, Welsh has given us far more than apolice procedural here.Could it be characterized as tartan noir?Who knows.It's a British mystery as written by a Scot, perhaps tougher and more bloody-minded than the average run of mysteries; it does have that dark Scots humor; but he's certainly considered a higher-brow of author than a mere mystery writer...

Welsh gives us police detective inspector Ray Lennox, of the Edinburgh P.D., (as Rankin has given us John Rebus.)Lennox has recently solved a particularly ugly child kidnapping/abuse/murder; but has solved it too late for the child, Britney Hamil.Lennox, a brilliant cop, is physically and mentally exhausted; finding it far too easy to fall back on his favored crutches: alcohol, cocaine, and whatever else he can.His superiors put him on mental health leave.He and his fiancée Trudi jet to sunny Miami; but, while Trudi is poring over "Perfect Bride," nagging him to pick the date and the venue, Lennox is continuing to fall apart.They quarrel; he's off for a night, during which he hooks up with two desperate young women, Robyn and Starry: and follows Robyn home for a coke session, painted in dark realism.Robyn's 10-year old daughter Tianna sleeps in her bedroom off the living room as best she can.Two threatening strangers, who obviously mean Tianna no good, burst in.Lennox grabs the young girl, and, in an interesting reversal of Vladimir Nabokov's famous book Lolita; he rents a car and hits the road with the child - not to abuse her, but to try to protect her from abuse.

The author has crafted a book that I found thoroughly satisfying as a taut police procedural/thriller; but it's also a probing psychological evaluation of Lennox, and a scalding observation of the pedophiliac world.His descriptive and narrative writing are superb.His characters are carved to the life, off-the wall; their profanity-rich dialog is inventive.They interact in a threatening, topsy-turvy universe, filled with Welsh's well-known comedic absurdity and wit, in which Trudi's well-thumbed copy of "Perfect Bride" plays its - unexpected - part.And yet, he offers us hope.

Disturbing subject masterfully told
Mr Welsh at his best. His narrative of Florida and America was very insightful from the Scottish point of view he penned this novel from. I later found out he resides there. No wonder it was so good.

The plot moves back and forth between the past and it's ghosts to the present day and the pressing matter of saving a child from a gang of molesters. The characters were so vivid and the plot was paced such that I found I could not put the book down.

It comes across as a more mature read than the likes of train spotting. One of his best works I feel. ... Read more

Product Description
An epic novel about the bonds of friendship from the author of Trainspotting. The story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh projects, Glue is about the loyalties, the experiences, and the secrets that hold friends together through three decades. The boys become men: Juice Terry, the work-shy fanny-merchant, with corkscrew curls and sticky fingers; Billy the boxer, driven, controlled, playing to his strengths; Carl, the Milky Bar Kid, drifting along to his own soundtrack; and the doomed Gally, exceedingly thin-skinned and vulnerable to catastrophe at every turn. We follow their lives from the seventies into the new century—from punk to techno, from speed to E. Their mutual loyalty is fused in street morality: Back up your mates, don't hit women, and, most important, never snitch—on anyone. Glue has the Irvine Welsh trademarks—crackling dialogue, scabrous set pieces, and black, black humor—but it is also a grown-up book about growing up—about the way we live our lives, and what happens to us when things become unstuck.Amazon.com Review
With a title like Glue, it would seem reasonable to assume thatIrvine Welsh's fifth book is a meditation on the pitfalls of solvent abuse.In fact the word refers to the bonds that unite four boys, all of whom havegrown up in "the scheme"--i.e., Edinburgh's slum-clearance flats, whoseoptimistic construction in the 1970s give way to the poverty, unemployment,and crime of the succeeding decades. It is the pervasive despair of thesecrumbling projects that defines the lives of the protagonists: budding DJCarl Ewart, boxer Billy Birrell, work-shy, sex-mad Terry Lawson, and AndrewGalloway, a drug addict who has tested HIV-positive.

Recounted in the author's inimitable style, Glue is a grungy,Scots-accented bildungsroman. The novel follows the boys through theirearly forays into sex, drink, drugs, and football violence. Contemplatinghis erotic initiation, Carl Ewart poses such crucial questions as "How daeah chat up a bird?" and "Do I wear a rubber johnny?" Here and there Welshinjects political commentary into the mix: Billy Birrell, for example,reflects that "having money is the only way to get respect. Desperate, butthat's the world we live in now." For the most part, though, the authorsticks to sex and violence and his famously offhand one-liners: "Guilt andshaggin, they go the gither like fish n chips." Fans of Trainspotting will lovethe book, even down to the brief appearance of Begbie and Renton. Othersmay feel that Glue is more of the same, and that, despiteits graphic charms, the book finds Welsh stuck in a rut. --Jerry Brotton ... Read more

Customer Reviews (60)

Irvine Welsh's Finest Hour.
Many suggest that Trainspotting was Irvine Welsh's best book. I agree that the film is peerless, but I don't think it is his best book, mostly because it is quite nihilistic and despairing. This book, on the other hand has a superb and spiritually uplifting ending, and shows the struggle of 4 kids trying to get out of the 'scheme' (Edinburgh's slums).

For the first time in Welsh's books, it uses multiple narrators and also extends their story over a long enough period of time to see far more charactor detail than was previously possible. Unlike Trainspotting, it covers a variety of different charactors and sees them to their conclusion. The result is a powerful book that has understandable charactors (rather than demagogues).

The book starts off with the charactor 'Juice' Terry making 'love' to two women in a grotty Edinburgh flat. It also shows us Billy 'Business' Birrell', who is an amateur boxer, along with Carl 'NSign' Ewart, who becomes a DJ. In addition there is the sad charactor of Andrew 'Gally' Galloway, who is like a cross between 'spud' and Bruce Robertson out of Filth (i.e. Unlucky).

I won't spoil the plot, but the four of them go through a semi- typical scheme upbringing (from the 1970's to modern times) where they discover their talents or waste them respectively. It all ends with them in their mid 30's reflecting on the events of their life and philosophising on the way things are in Edinburgh.

The book is rich in dialogue and insight, and is compelling to the very end. If I had the money, I would make a film of it, but I fear I could never do it justice!

glue review
Doesn't disappoint if your a Welsh fan. Trainspotting characters appear and the grim realism of modernity appears through this well written novel. obviously ot as remarkable as Trainspotting.

Mair ay the same oany no sae guid
With "Glue," the fourth full-length novel ("Trainspotting," "Filth", "Porno") in which he mines the rich seams of low-level criminality and violence of the Edinburgh housing projects, Irvine Welsh has gone to the same well once too often, and this time the bucket only comes up half-full.

Focusing on a quartet of "schemies" or project-dwellers who have appeared as bit players in earlier novels, "Glue" has a wider scope, following the friends from adolescence through early middle age. As they come of age in the economically and socially devastating Thatcher years, we watch the friends struggle with the searing effects of institutionalized unemployment, omnipresent drugs, AIDS and serial, constant infidelity - growing older but not necessarily wiser in the process.

Unfortunately for what could have been a brilliant slice-of-slum-life story, Welsh has done this before, more than once, and he's done it better. As with "Trainspotting," different sections of the book are told from the perspective of each of the characters, in Welsh's trademark more-or-less thick Edinburgh dialect. However, the more equal parceling out of the narration actually serves to weaken the book, as we never get enough of a sense of the story from a unified perspective (such as Renton provided in "Trainspotting") to really hold all the different angles together.

The ending, in which a pair of deaths and an implausible deus ex machina involving a washed-up American diva pulls everyone back together, is redemptive in more ways than one - while re-sealing the bond between the men, it also gives us a glimpse of what "Glue" could have been if Welsh were more interested in telling a story than stacking up shock set-piece after set-piece. Sadly, it's not enough to pull the preceding 460 pages out of mediocrity.

Scottish deadheads growup the hard way
Irvine Welsh is certainly a unique writer.His prose is written in a language spoken by Scottish youth, which makes it barely understandable for most everyone else (at least in the beginning).And his knowledge of the Scottish youths lost to drugs is scarily in-depth.Unfortunately 'Glue' doesn't break new ground for the author.All the drugged out characters have already been hashed through in his earlier works.And 'Glue' doesn't have the sort of extra madness found in 'Filth'.But 'Glue' is an interesting story of four Scottish youths who fight drugs, alcohol, and each other until they reach their middle years.There is also a rather good, moving ending (no spoilers).So 'Glue' isn't special by any means.Just a fine read.


Bottom line: best left to those who've read better works by the author.Yet recommended nonetheless.

Glue Is "Fasten"ating
This is my first Welsh novel. Written in a Scottish dialect, it takes time to understand what he has written. After the first 50 pages or so, you become accustomed to the style of writing. At times you feel you are reading another language. The dialect actually helps you become one of the onlookers and puts you right there with them, their "5th friend" in this group of 4.Others here have reviewed the "dog cruelety" scene.Bewarned, it is extermely graphic.But the scene is there for a reason showing the cruel and sadistic nature of one group outside of our bunch. This is one of the best books I've read and will definitely read Welsh again. ... Read more

Product Description
The acclaimed author of the cult classic Trainspotting presents his newest and most audacious novel--a brilliant (and literal) head trip that introduces Roy Strang, whose hallucinatory quest to eradicate the evil marabou stork keeps being interrupted by the grisly memories that brought him to this dysfunctional state. "A fantastic trip."--Madison Smartt Bell, Spin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (66)

A novel that doesn't live up to its reputation
I had a good preconception about this book prior to my reading because I am a Welsh's aficionado and all the critics I read were quite positive so I was expecting to be finding belatedly one of Irvine's vintage masterpieces. But I was wrong.

Having read all Irvine Welsh novels I can't really say this one stands out. I found it lackluster compared with the praiseworthy author's literary corpus and even plainly boring from time to time.

The main character is the stereotypical antihero Welsh is so keen about: Low-class Scotsman, brought up in housing schemes who eventually becomes a deranged part-time hooligan although he manages to be a more or less successfull and well-paid worker during the week until he fells into a comma. The exceptional thing about this character is that he was partly brought up in South Africa and had a very troubled childhood that sort of crippled him emotionally. So, through this novel we are witness to the mishmash of memories this man has in its boiled up mind, sometimes stopped by the voices sneaking from the real world he struggles not to hear so to remain in his inner world due to his lack of confidence for facing reality again. After an original but somewhat tedious narration we start to unveal the terrible things this poor soul was victim to and the hideous thing he has done too. Finally, the story draws to a close in a predictable way that lefts you completely unimpressed and with a bitter final taste of the whole story, the opposite effect that Welsh managed to craft in Filth, for instance.

My favorite Welsh novel
I am still thoroughly impressed each time I think of the effort and thought and pure genius imagination that must have gone in to creating this twisted, cerebral, and completely innovative story. Certainly not for the faint of heart, but if you can stomach violence, rape, drugs, and other forms of abuse and deranged characters, this book is worth the read. There's nothing quite like it.

Not Welsh's best, but better than the best of most others . . .
Although I didn't plow through this as quickly as I did "Trainspotting" and "Filth," it was still a spirited read.As usual, the focus is on characters who exhibit morally and/or socially reprehensible behavior and, as always, leads one to wonder how Welsh ever sold his stuff to a publisher in the first place.He remains, however, one of my top five favorite writers because he is inventive, he can turn a phrase and he will dare to go where many will not.Definitely not for the squeamish.

An uneasy subject
I found this book to be quite entertaining once I got into it.Welsh takes the reader into the mind of Roy Strang, a man who I could never imagine relating to, sympathizing with, or understanding.The dialogue is cool and not difficult to interpret.Welsh makes a good moral argument about powerlessness and the hatred it can bring into people's lives.The book's two victims, Roy himself and the woman he later brutally rapes, are both turned into violent souls seeking to regain the power that was stolen from them.I thought the rape scene went a bit far.What the main character does is just about the worst thing one human being can do to another.It's hard to believe that a person capable of such things is not pure evil.I warn anyone who may not want to read a detailed account of a brutal gang rape to not pick up this book.I question the ethics of writing such a scene, especially when you are a man.But that will be for you to think about.On Welsh's defence he makes every argument against the brutality of rape as well as the justice system's inability to protect women.
The ending is fascinating and worth debating about.All in all a recommended read.

A bad trip.
Irvine Welsh has been a lot of things to a lot of different people- some say he's the best thing to happen to British writing in a decade, some say he's just a flash-in-the-pan with uncouth sensibilities who writes thoughtless, violent stories about amoral scumbags. Say what you will about Welsh as a writer- be it that he's talented, sick, brilliant, strange or just plain nuts- but he is, and has never been, boring. Until now. "Marabou Stork Nightmares" is a colossal letdown after the one-two punch of "Trainspotting" and "The Acid House", a jumbled, convoluted tale about a repugnant [man] trawling his last moments away in a life that most closely resembles a bedridden hell. This is not the first first-person account of a psychopath that Welsh has written- see later, his aptly-titled "Filth"- but even at his worst, D.S. Bruce Robertson had a sort of perverse wit to him, while this story lacks anything short of coherence, wit, humor or even plot.

The protagonist of this brutish tale is Roy Strang, a bedridden criminal pissing the last moments of his sad life away in a bed, ready to die. As he slowly slips in and out of consciousness, Roy reflects on the family upbringing- that entailed rape, sexual molestation and the vicious abuse of his right-wing Uncle- that led him to this state. We see later in his life, as Roy attempts to straighten himself out, get a job and "choose life", as it were, but we continue to see that he cannot escape the sins of his past. All the while, he hunts the formidable African Predator the Marabou Stork- a personification of all the misery, evil, hatred, pain and badness in Roy himself- on a wild Safari in Africa, that ostensibly all takes place in Roy's morphine-and-depravity-addled brain.

The novel proves that Welsh can still pull plenty of tricks out of his proverbial hat when it comes to language- some of his bawdy, boy's-night-out Scottish dialogue still provokes a chuckle or two, while the disgusting gangrape scene towards the book's denouement is one of the more haunting I have read in recent memory. And yet, for all its mild pleasures, this book still sees Welsh falling majorly short of the mark, sinking into the endless mire of Roy Strang's egomaniacal fever dream. Consider this one a real "Nightmare". ... Read more

Product Description
At last, a novel that lives up to its name-from the author of the international sensation Trainspotting. With the Christmas season upon him, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson of Edinburgh's finest is gearing up socially-kicking things off with a week of sex and drugs in Amsterdam. There are some sizable flies in the ointment, though: a missing wife and child, a nagging cocaine habit, some painful below-the-belt eczema, and a string of demanding extramarital affairs. The last thing Robertson needs is a messy, racially fraught murder, even if it means overtime-and the opportunity to clinch the promotion he craves. Then there's that nutritionally demanding (and psychologically acute) intestinal parasite in his gut. Yes, things are going badly for this utterly corrupt tribune of the law, but in an Irvine Welsh novel nothing is ever so bad that it can't get a whole lot worse. . . . In Bruce Robertson Welsh has created one of the most compellingly misanthropic characters in contemporary fiction, in a dark and disturbing and often scabrously funny novel about the abuse of everything and everybody.Amazon.com Review
Talk about truth in advertising! Irvine Welsh's novel about an evilEdinburgh cop is filthy enough to please the most crud-craving fans of hisblockbuster debut, Trainspotting. LikeTrainspotting, Filth matches its nastiness with a maniacal,deeply peeved sense of humor. Though one does feel the need to escape thistrain wreck of a narrative from time to time for a shower and some chamomiletea, just as often Welsh provokes a belly laugh with an extraordinarilyperverse and cruelly funny set piece. Nicely violent turns of phrase litterthe ghastly landscape of his tale.

Our hero, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, is a cross between HarveyKeitel in Bad Lieutenant and John Belushi in Animal House.His task is to nab a killer who has brained the son of the Ghanaianambassador, but bigoted Bruce is more urgently concerned with coercing sexfrom teenage Ecstasy dealers, planning vice tours of Amsterdam, and mullingover his lurid love life. He's also got a tapeworm, whose monologue isprinted right down the middle of many pages. Here's one of this unusuallyarticulate parasite's realizations: "My problem is that I seem to havequite a simple biological structure with no mechanism for the transferenceof all my grand and noble thoughts into fine deeds."

Welsh's real strength is comic tough talk and inventive slang. The murdermystery helps organize his tendency to sprawl, but the engine of his art iswry, harsh dialogue. At one point, his books hogged the entire top half ofScotland's Top Ten Bestsellers list--and half the buyers ofTrainspotting had never bought a book before. The reason is not thatWelsh is the best novelist who ever got short-listed for the Booker Prize.It is that he is that rarest of phenomena, an original voice. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (147)

Rather Tedious and Goes Nowhere
I can't believe that I was looking forward to reading this one. I liked Trainspotting and Porno but maybe I only liked them because I liked the movie. And I did find Trainspotting a little pretentious when I read it. The anticipation made this book even worse.

Basically, it's the story of a hard drinking, corrupt, whore mongering racist cop. And while hard drinking, whoremonger racist cops are a staple of literature, it'd be nice to do something with them that just make them unpleasant. Welsh makes the same mistake as Cracker: A New Terror in that he writes an unpleasant creep and gives the audience nothing to like - or be interested in. There's no humor in this character. No flash of insight. There's not even a conspirational wink. It's just one unpleasant racist creep talking at the audience. Sometimes a parasite in his intestines starts talking and takes over the narrative, but that only underscores the fact that the main story is trite and dull.

Irvine Welsh wrote some good books but this thing is just a sad slog through piles of crap. It's boring and trite and unpleasant. Avoid.

Tell us more about the worm
Filth is well-titled.Was there someone in this story that we are supposed to feel any kind of sympathy for?Pretty pathetic stuff.Felt like I needed to wash my hands after handling the book.No wonder this book's resale value is so low.It belongs in the equivalent on the $1 CD bin.I vote the worm as the mostinteresting character in the book.

So Vile and Contemptible that I Couldn't Stop Reading
To the pantheon of damaged characters, antiheroes and the pathologically insane, add Bruce Robertson, an ambitious Detective Sergeant on the Edinburgh police force who is living with anger, secrets, a vicious rash and a tapeworm. He is seething with hatred toward virtually everyone in his life, which manifests itself in acts of brilliantly deranged sabotage and scenes of graphic violence so deftly drawn that I had to go back and re-read some of them two or three times, wincing and squirming each time. The language, the acts being described, and the sheer depravity of the character may be considered obscene - I certainly couldn't see recommending this book to my elderly aunt in Saginaw - but the story line is intensely absorbing and the narrative is spectacular, rivaling some of my all-time favorite writers: Will Self, Peter Carey and John Barth. I personally loathed and loved D.S. Robertson, and was surprised to find myself rooting for him to get the departmental promotion that inspires him to some of his most heinous behavior. The introduction of other voices to what is supposed to be a monologue serves both to provide back story and to underscore the character's increasingly unbalanced psyche. And the fact that one of the other voices belongs to an erudite and achingly self-conscious tapeworm is one of the things that makes the story so original and entertaining.

Though I've seen "Trainspotting" several times, this is the first book I've read by Welsh. I love the way he shines a merciless klieg light on this character, exposing every pockmark and pustule (literally). I found myself enjoying every debased impulse and misplaced justice, no matter how cringe-inducing. And I appreciated Welsh sprinkling in a few scenes that were sit-com funny, as they provided a sense of genuine comic relief. It may be years before I can again bring myself to witness the utter atrocity that is D.S. Robertson, but in the mean time I will judge every other literary ne'er-do-well by the standard he has set.

It earned it's title
I did feel "filthy" after reading this book.For one, it was difficult to read due to Scottish slang, but once you got past that, all the rest of the words were fowl.The main character was clearly disturbed and extremely gross.....I don't know any other way to describe him.Skip this one.....there are too many good books in the world to waste your time on this.

Deft Craft Sometimes Can't Support Story
A grimy, encrusted, disturbing, unflinching examination of uniquely male psychoses. Welsh's strengths are on display: a unique syntactic structure that will have you hearing the copy in a perfect Scottish accent, a fearless storyteller's eye and an imagination that reaches far out into darkness most of us turn from in our daily lives.

The story is a bombastic bullet train and, while it rocks and rockets along thrillingly, occasionally the pylons of character and language creak under the weight of increasingly soap opera-y turns. The wheels slip from the rails, but happily, there is no full derailment.

Recommended for fans of: Palahniuk, Ellis, Huston, McCarthy. ... Read more

Product Description
The Trainspotting lads are back...and in worse shape than ever.

In the last gasp of youth, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson is back in Edinburgh. He taps into one last great scam: directing and producing a porn film. To make it work, he needs bedfellows: the lovely Nikki Fuller-Smith, a student with ambition, ego, and troubles to rival his own; old pal Mark Renton; and a motley crew that includes the neighborhood's favorite ex-beverage salesman, "Juice" Terry.

In the world of Porno, however, even the cons are conned. Sick Boy and Renton jockey for top dog. The out-of-jail and in-for-revenge Begbie is on the loose. But it's the hapless, drug-addled Spud who may be spreading the most trouble.

Porno is a novel about the Trainspotting crew ten years further down the line: still scheming, still scamming, still fighting for the first-class seats as the train careens at high velocity with derailment looming around the next corner.Amazon.com Review
Porno, Irvine Welsh's highly entertaining--though completely unnecessary--sequel to his cult classic, Trainspotting, reunites the gang as they pursue another big-payoff scheme.It's been 10 years since Mark Renton walked away with the cash from a drug sale perpetrated by himself and his mates, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson, Danny "Spud" Murphy, and Francis Begbie. The megalomaniacal Sick Boy has returned to Edinburgh, where stag film producer "Juice" Terry Lawson has given him the idea for a bold new scam: to locally produce a high-end adult film.Lawson introduces Sick Boy to the beautiful and egocentric Nikki Fuller-Smith, a student and aspiring star.Passivity and self-destructive tendencies have left well-meaning junkie Spud poor and alone, while time has only intensified the anger of the psychotic Begbie, who's fresh out of prison, back in Edinburgh, and obsessed with taking revenge on Renton.Sick Boy locates and persuades Renton, a successful club owner in Amsterdam, to help him steal money for his new production company.From the book's multiple points of view, it's soon clear that everyone's running their own scam, making conflicts--and long-awaited confrontations--inevitable.

Welsh's brutally honest prose and gallery of likeable ne'er-do-wells are in full display here, but the novel feels somewhat superfluous. Porno adds little insight into the characters or events of Trainspotting and fails to match its invention or sense of purpose.However, the author's obvious affection for these characters and dedication to authentically rendered dialogue and setting elevate Porno above mere slapdash reworking.As the novel builds momentum, Welsh wonderfully communicates the intense bravado driving his reckless characters. During such moments of vitality and humor, Porno is superficial but undeniably charming. --Ross Doll ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

If you love Trainspotting..
Welsh displays a lot of weaknesses in this book. The plot is extremely contrived, the sex gets boring after a while, and while reading Nikki's parts, it feels like a guy writing from a girl's perspective rather than just the natural flow of the book. Interesting that in Trainpotting he had brilliant parts from the perspective of the young girl Nina and the Waitress and the soup. This time he tries to incorporate a major female character and while not a disaster, it doesn't work too well.

Still, if you like Trainspotting, there's no reason not to read Porno. Characters like Spud, Begbie and Mark are irresistible. Almost all the characters from the first book come up again, and things have changed a lot. Leith, Dianne & Mark, Second Prize, Mark's sister-in-law, etc.

Speaking of, you must read Trainspotting before this. There are so many subtle connections you will miss.

Unrewarding
I know I'll get mostly negative reviews on my review, but I found this book unrewarding.

I've never read a Welsh book. I loved the movie Trainspotting, so, yeah, I got this looking for a sequel.

Did I finish this book? No. I in fact read probably only 1/5th of it. The reason I stopped is I found myself picking it up and constantly putting it down after a few pages. I tried, but I simply had no desire to read, it was like a grind trying to get through it. Ultimately I decided to not bother, and I felt free.

Presumably the gang from Trainspotting show up, but if they do it must be after quite a few pages, because all I got to were vague references to Begbie.

The main problem with this book was the narrative. It's 90% low-class slang and simply laborious to slog through. It's like reading an entire book in texting format; e.g. "IDK my BFF Jill, wud u lk 2 meet aftr werk 4 dinr?"

Obviously most people liked it, but just beware that this book isn't going to tickle everybody's fancy.

Perhaps if it was a movie a dullard like me could use the moving pictures to help with the dialogue.

Barry sequel n aw, ken?
If you liked "Trainspotting", you'll probably like this.I enjoyed it all the way thru.I really began to marvel at Welsh's writing skills.This guy is considerably more than I thought he was when I first read him.He can do more than vividly describe the lives of working class roughnecks and druggies, use a lot of Scottish dialect, and do it all with humor and panache.Despite his ragged plots, Welsh is a first rate writer whose stuff hits home on many levels - as page turner, as social commentary, as a poignant look at ambitious young toughs, as shrewd interpersonal psychology, as macho soap opera, as very real-sounding dialogue-based narrative, and (very much) as humor.Who could you compare him to?Never mind that he is Scottish; no matter where he was from, he would be a genre unto himself.

Trainspotting ends with the main character, Renton, stealing his mates' money following a heroin deal, and taking off to start a new life.This book begins with a focus on Simon Williamson (a.k.a. Sick Boy).He buys a pub in Edinburgh, and soon gets involved in trying to make a porno flick.Simon is shrewd, manipulative, and totally selfish - but he has a weakness for cocaine. and eventually his ego begins spiralling out of control.The other major characters from the previous story begin to make appearances, along with some newcomers.Frank Begbie gets out of prison, and goes right back to his stupid, violent ways.He would love to get his hands on Mark Renton.Spud Murphy is off the heroin, but he continues to be lost, and a loser, despite his fundamental decency.There is a female this time too: Nikki Fuller-Smith, an English college student who gets mixed up with Sick Boy and ends up the star of his porno movie.

The whole book is in first person, split up into short sections. thus making it very suitable for today's short attention spans.The voices are all believably portrayed; each has their own character and style of speaking.Simon's smug arrogance, Nikki's lusty flightiness, Spud's kindness and foolishness, and especially Begbie's paranoid, vicious malevolence.In Begbie, Welch has created a heavy worthy of Dickens, an unforgettable working class nightmare of a man.Renton is the most complex of the bunch - suave, and with a light touch, but as capable of treachery as the rest, and in his case some brains come into the picture - and some guilt too.

Renton and Simon get to be friends and partners again, but their relationship continues to be full of tension and competition. Most of the suspense comes from whether or not Renton will run into Begbie, or whether someone will arrange a confrontation.The reader also has the humorous spectacle of Simon's attempt to make a porno movie with a motley crew of Edinburgh barflies.There are the usual pub scenes, fights, and one night stands, but drug use plays a far lesser role in this novel than it did in "Trainspotting".The ending is stranger, more random, and funnier than what one might imagine, and it sets up a third book in the series.This was a crackling good read, full of laughs, and worthy of the reader's respect as well.N.B. Look for the porno flick's website that gets mentioned in the book - surprise! - it's a real website.

Not Lost in Translation
Aye, this tirs oan bonnie buk. Nae tis izzy t'rid, n'aw, cooz is writtin' ina mad Weedgie brogue -- patois, argot -- tha' dinnae ken. Ays tryn tae git tru it anna fand ays cauld gate intae it bare ih ays riddin' alout. At wirks!

'Is Welsh ease oan mad buggare, ease. Ain't nowt writin' as gud as hee's -- nowt tha nonce Oopdyke, nair nunna aim Booger Prize wankers. Buh Welsh ease kinna Auld Skule, ken? Ease go'-a stoar t'be telt, anna punters innis tail is awl lak ril chariktairs tha ye noan. Anna struktoor oaf th'thin esses fine essa bonnie bridge oar th' Clyde.

Ahm imagin Welsh writtin oat this an ease larfin' alaut to hizzelf.Th' best, ahm tellin yas! Th' best!

Spice ay Life
Welsh's novels have always been let-downs after the magnificent epic of Trainspotting. Though Porno has a smaller scope, it is a.) a longer book and b.) a showcase of a far more talented writer than the Welsh of Trainspotting. The first 100 pages had me feeling doubtful, could this really provide me with a satisfying conclusion (for now) of the lives of Rents, Sick Boy, Spud etc? In fact, the complex psychological undertones of the novel left me feeling both viscerally satisfied and amused at the antics of some of modern literature's best characters. If you've liked anything Welsh has written, read this! ... Read more

Product Description
Using a range of approaches from bitter realism to demented fantasy, Irvine Welsh is able to evoke the essential humanity, well hidden as it is, of his generally depraved, lazy, manipulative and vicious characters. He specializes especially in cosmic reversals--God turns a hapless footballer into a fly--always displaying a corrosive wit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

You've f****d this one up, ya daft c**t
Though I had never read an Irvine Welsh book from beginning to end I love the movie of The Acid House and I'm forever quoting it. Being from Scotland and knowing some of the rascals portrayed so convincingly on screen I found it hilarious. I came across the book about 8 years ago and read some of the short stories, but I had never read it all until now.

The Granton Star Cause, A Soft Touch and The Acid House were all dramatized for the movie but there are a few others that have enough merit to be made into live-action dramas. Eurotrash, for example, is a darkly repugnant story with a macabre twist ending. Snuff, the darkest of all stories, would have been amusing. And Snowman Building Parts For Rico The Squirrel seems like something straight out of David Lynch's dreams.

There are a couple of duds though. A Blockage In The System goes nowhere fast and Wayne Foster is just plain confusing. The novella at the end however, A Smart C**t, is a truly grotty affair told from the point of view of the least likable man in history. It's a depressing experience filled with far too many characters with stupid names that have no personality outside of stereotypes, if that. I was thankful when it was over.

Judging by the opinions of others this novella is similar to Trainspotting only not as vile. Well, I can assure you I will be staying well clear of THAT one. When I was in high school Trainspotting was the book of choice for all the idiots who didn't read but wanted something that they could relate to for their English exam. Most of those guys turned into alcoholics and junkies themselves.

Sad fact that.

Rousingly Experimental
Although the European drug scene is not necessarily my usual choice of reading material, Welsh's nouveau writing style draws the reader in through its uniqueness alone. Welsh is experimental, not only through his inventive use of the Scottish dialect, but also through the syntax of his work.

Acid House is a conglomeration of short stories, an unfortuntely small collection of poems, as well as a creativly written novela. Many of the story plots may seem redundant; however, with a closer read one can find deeper words than a simply tale of excess and depression. My personal favorite story deals with a down and out pub rat and his strangely enlightening discussion with a disillusioned God.

Indeed, Welsh has been quite prolific in the last ten years, having a number of books converted to screen, including Acid House. It is nice to see an author taking a gamble and creating something new.

what were you thinking?
I just wanted to say to the woman who bought this for her son...what were you thinking? the book is called the acid house...that should have been your first clue..

anyway...i found it delightful, yeah delightfunl, in a twisted sort of way. I enjoy Welsh's writting, though yes, it is a bit hard for us Americans to understand...i love the psychological twists

not for the timid (or young)
I bought this book as a Christmas gift for my 13 year old son, who is an avid reader.I guess I didn't pay enough attention to the info available, because this book is NOT appropriate for a young teen.Thankfully, I decided to 'peruse' the book prior to allowing my son to read it.It was so graphic in language and content that I didn't even want to read it.I managed to skim through two stories before I decided it was just too explicit for me.

Tear on through it.
For just the end story, "A Smart C***", The Acid House is worthwhile. Welsh is often super morbid and seriously wickedly wacky in these short stories, most of which play out a lot more like bad dreams than pristine vignettes. The closing aforementioned novella, however, is diferent. It's a surprisingly moving character study of a guy who seems to completely lack character. The guy is so totally caught up with analyzing everything surrounding him that he forgets to live. This seems to be subject matter close to Welsh's heart, and he gives it a surprisingly sympathetic treatment. The other stories range all over the place, but have enough energy to make up for a lack of direction. Gotta love Irv. You just gotta. ... Read more

Product Description
A bestsellig romance author suffers a paralyzing stroke and her philandering husband wonders how this will affect his gambling and whoring budget; two young lovers must come to terms with their chemically induced deformity; Lloyd from Leith transfigures his passion for an unhappily married woman. These three tales confirm Irvine Welsh's position as a master of the "chemical" romance genre.Amazon.com Review
With three wickedly funny and harrowing tales of love and itsups and downs, the ever-surprising Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting,virtually re-invents a new genre of fiction: the chemical romance.In "Lorraine goes to Livingston," a best-selling author ofRegency romances, paralysed and bedridden, plans her revenge on agambling, whoring husband with the aid of her nurse, Lorraine.In"Fortunes's Always Hiding," flawed beauty SamanthaWorthington enlists a smitten young soccer thug to find the man whomarketed the drug that crippled her from birth - in order to give hima taste of his own disastrous medicine.In the upbeat final tale,"The Undefeated," we experience the transfiguring passion ofthe miserably married young yuppie Heather and the raver Lloyd fromLeith - a grand affair played out to a house music beat. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

tales of love, drugs, and raves
this was an interesting book. it involves the lives of people what are into the UK club scene. there wasnt a ton of chapters about the partying, and thats why i gave it 3 stars. i expected a little bit more from it.

modern romance
Irvine Welsh takes the readers creature comforts and beats him or her over the head with them.
This book is divided into three short stories about chemical romance:
Lorraine Goes To Livingston - this story was just bizarre
Fortune Always Hiding - a tender story about backwards love and
The Undefeated - my favourite out of them all with a surprising ending.
Irvine Welsh delivers romance with urgency in this fast read.

Written for the stonger stomached
when people speak of shock writers Welsh is brought up for good reson... his stories are like seeing a car accident... you don't want to look but something tell you that you must... his stories twist and turn, and so do the characters, through hospitals, clubs and the streets of England. Americans be warned this is a book sometimes hard to follow because of the diction... but as in all of his work, Welsh will leave you speechless in the end.

Addictive
Irvine Welsh, of "Trainspotting" fame, delivers three edgy stories that are somehow related to one single element: ecstasy. In "Lorraine Goes to Livingston", the author offers a multi-layered, sometimes confusing tale about love and the twisted nature of some people. "Fortune`s Always Hiding" is a powerful and unsettling revenge story that resembles Quentin Tarantino`s movies at parts, due to its explicit violence, badass characters, non-linear storytelling and a very acid sense of humor. "The Undefeated" focuses on the relationship between a yuppie woman and a bohemian, messed up man. Altough far from a masterpiece, "Ecstasy" is a fun and enticing read nonetheless, presenting an author with a personal, recognizable, harsh, direct and gritty style. This book is not for everyone, but those who enjoy this kind of stuff may find it compelling.

Deserves a look.

Three novellas - one drug
I am a big fan of Irvine Welsh so I was anxious to get my hands on ECSTASY: THREE TALES OF CHEMICAL ROMANCE. Sadly, I was left disappointed. The premise of each novella as described on the back of the book is excellent, but Welsh's execution was very poor. For example, in the first story, "Lorraine Goes to Livingston", Welsh was not consistent in his use of Scottish dialect for the main character which was more than distracting. Also, the idea of a mortuary worker having free sex with the corpses in full knowledge of everyone in the hospital is a little too far fetched, even for Irvine Welsh. I will not bother to continue with the shortcomings of the other two stories.

Although I was disappointed in ECSTASY, I will not give up on Welsh as I still believe he has an amazing talent. ... Read more

Product Description
For the first time in hardcover with the original jacket art: "The best book ever written by man or woman...deserves to sell more copies than the Bible."—Rebel, Inc.

Trainspotting is the novel that first launched Irvine Welsh's spectacular career—an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives. It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn did for his. Rents, Sick Boy, Mother Superior, Swanney, Spuds, and Seeker are as unforgettable a clutch of junkies, rude boys, and psychos as readers will ever encounter. Trainspotting was made into the 1996 cult film starring Ewan MacGregor and directed by Danny Boyle (A Shallow Grave).Amazon.com Review
Irvine Welsh's controversial first novel, set on theheroin-addicted fringe of working-class youth in Edinburgh, is yetanother exploration of the dark side of Scottishness. The maincharacter, Mark Renton, is at the center of a clique of nihilisticslacker junkies with no hopes and no possibilities, and only"mind-numbing and spirit-crushing" alternatives in thestraight world they despise. This particular slice of humanity hasnothing left but the blackest of humor and a sharpness ofwit. American readers can use the glossary in the back to translatethe slang and dialect--essential, since the dialogue makes thebook. This is a bleak vision sung as musical comedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (182)

Like most addicts, hasn't aged well
..and speaking of books that were *way* overrated on initial publication, I submit this as the most unjustly overpraised book of the nineties. Film hasn't aged too well either. (caveat Ewan McGregor.)

Not for everyone
This is why I love reading challenges - they allow me to discover books I would have never picked up on my own. Let's face it, would I ever intentionally seek a book about Scottish low-lives - junkies, thugs, and prostitutes? Don't think so. But alas, the fate threw Welsh's "Trainspotting" my way and I ate it up like hot cakes.

"Trainspotting" is a collection of short stories narrating scenes in the lives of a Skag Boys (skag = heroin) - Rents, Sick Boy, Begsbie, Spud, and various people around them - their families, lovers, drug suppliers, partners in crime, or victims. Mark Renton (Rents) is more or less is the protagonist, this is mostly his story, even though the stories are written from multiple points of view in 1st and 3rd person. The majority of them are also narrated in Scottish dialect, so some initial effort to understand is required.

The best thing about this book is that it takes you on a roller-coaster ride - it takes you from revulsion to uncontrollable boasts of laughter to tears of compassion. Considering that every other word in this book is a profanity, I think Irvine Welsh has talent.

"Trainspotting" starts off as a rather repulsive read - within the first 10 pages Rents is fishing out the drugs that he has just rectally ingested out of the filthy overflowing public toilet. The repulsive factor doesn't really go away as the story progresses, we are faced with psycopath Begsbie who is extremely abusive to everyone around him, including his girlfriends, or Sick Boy who is very popular with women and at some point becomes a pimp of a few of them, or Rents himself, who drunkenly has sex with a 14-year old girl or shags his dead brother's pregnant fiance in the bathroom during his funeral. The list goes on and on. But the thing is, in spite of all these depravities, Skag Boys are strangely relatable and, dare I say it, often likable. They are losers and addicts and criminals, but their emotional and moral struggles are real.

The book is, although very dark, at the same time hilarious, it is filled with Rents' sarcastic humor. This quote from the scene can give you a good taste of the writing.

Here Rents is held by his parents under the house arrest. They are attempting to get him off the heroin, Rents' mom is trying to feed him.

"The auld girl sticks us in the comfy chair by the fire in front ay the telly, and puts a tray oan ma lap. Ah'm convulsing inside anyway, but the mince looks revolting.
- Ah've telt ye ah dinnae eat meat Ma, ah sais.
- Ye eywis liked yer mince and tatties (potatoes). That's whair ye've gone wrong son, no eating the right thing. Ye need meat.
Now there is apparently a casual link between heroin addiction and vegetarianism."

In the latter part "Trainspotting" is no longer a repulsively hilarious read, it gets darker and darker, as we follow the fates of Rents' many friends, and it's not pretty - too many of them are dying - from HIV from sharing needles, from cancer, gangrene, heart attacks. Seeing this many deaths, 25-year old Rents attempts to kick his habit over and over again, but will he and his friends succeed?

I think "Trainspotting" is a remarkable read and I will definitely read more of Welsh's work. But is this book for everybody? Absolutely not. It is filled with human depravities, profanity, and written in Scottish dialect. This will turn off many readers. But if you are looking for a challenging (in many ways) read, give "Trainspotting" a try. You won't be disappointed.

loved it
Loved the movie, loved the book more once I got the language.Would recommend

I don't have one negative thing to say about this book!
Irvine Welsh is, hands-down, my favorite author.Years ago, I saw "Trainspotting" in the movie theater and definitely thought it was a unique piece of cinema that was worthy of acclaim.The book upon which it is based, however, is one of the most creative forays in fiction that I've ever encountered.It's engaging, hilarious, profane, disgusting and riddled with drugs, drunks and bad behavior, not to mention rich with fascinating characters.Welsh is a literary genius.You'll definitely learn how to talk like a Scottish guy from the schemes when you read this.A real page turner, despite the challenging vernacular that Welsh employs.Enjoy.

fabulous
The vibrancy and dialogue of Trainspotting is its forte.It's a harrowing funny sneak into the life of junkies in Leith, Scotland, as told by a group of friends, each taking his turn to narrate.The main junky, Rents, is a smart lost one, and despite his despair and reversals, you start feeling for him, wanting for him.The structure of the book is loose and vignetty and doesn't always come together.For example, the chapter on Dave and his revenge, or wee Nina's story, seem out of place as it's unclear how they fit into the group.But other chapters, like the ones from Begbie's perspective, or Sick Boy's or Spud's, are fabulous for showing what it might be like to a reader who isn't more like Rents with philosophical Uni leanings.But in the end, it was the language that got me.I had to read the book out loud, at least in my head, to understand much of it, and ay wisnae always successful, ken, but I loved it, the slang, the pronunciation, the force of life on each page, every filthy witty piercing second. ... Read more

Product Description
This story of two men locked in a war of wills that threatens their very existence is vintage Irvine Welsh.

Troubled restaurant inspector Danny Skinner is on a quest to find the mysterious father his mother will not identify. Unraveling this hidden information is the key to understanding the crippling compulsions that threaten to wreck his young life. His ensuing journey takes him from the festival city of Edinburgh to the foodie city of San Francisco. But the hard-drinking, womanizing Skinner has a strange nemesis in the form of mild-mannered fellow inspector Brian Kibby. It is Skinner's unfathomable, obsessive hatred of Kibby that takes over everything, threatening to destroy not only Skinner and his mission but also those he loves most dearly. When Kibby contracts a horrific, undiagnosable illness, Skinner understands that his destiny is inextricably bound to that of his hated rival, and he is faced with a terrible dilemma. Irvine Welsh's work is a transgressive parable about the great obsessions of our time: food, sex, and celebrity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

No secret Welsh is a great author
While not as start-to-finish brilliant as "Trainspotting" or as sincere as "Glue," "Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs" did not disappoint.

Welsh adroitly writes both a suave playboy type and quiet loner character more than believably, which is half the battle in a book like this. Not only that, he builds a background for each that drives actions further along in the book.

I also enjoyed the metaphysical twist, which reminded me a lot of"Maribou Stork Nightmares," another Welsh must-read.

I read this several years ago and don't remember all the nitty-gritties of the plot, but I do remember liking it and I recommend reading it.

easy read, not a whole lot of soul searching however
It's an entertaining book. The ending is somewhat predictable. I bought it because I wanted to read something by Welsh besides Trainspotting or Porno. This book is nowhere near as good, I guess Trainspotting is his Magnum Opus. It's not bad but not great either, and in your heart you kind of know that although it's an alright book, it's actually just... Buy it if you are going on vacation and want an easy read, just don't expect too much.

Running out of steam
There's some good stuff in this book, but Welsh is running out of steam.Maybe he's trying to be more disgusting than Chuck Palahniuk?Surely there are better motivations for writing.Try his earlier works, such as Porno, Marabou Stork Nightmares, and of course Trainspotting.This one is not quite up to it.

A delightfully disgustig read.
I'm a big fan of Irvine Welsh and I was not disappointed with this great book. I think it is a masterpiece of social commentary, One scene with some old hag getting her knickers down was absolutely disgusting and very close to the bone and that's just one of the things I love about the author's work because it's so true to life. The man can do no wrong in my eyes. If you enjoy this kind of reading I recommend checking out this bombshell of a book.Mind Bomb

Masterclass from Welsh
Another pageturner from Irvine - hope to see this on the big screen sometime in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
All the short stories in "Crimespotting" are brand new and specially commissioned. The brief was deceptively simple - each story must be set in Edinburgh and feature a crime. The results range from hard-boiled police procedural to historical whodunit and from the wildly comic to the spookily supernatural. ... Read more

Product Description
This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not cheap, but definitely worth it
This is a small book but they've managed to pack an amazing amount of information and opinion into it. I'm a huge fan of Trainspotting, in all of its incarnations, and the energy of the work really comes through in this book - Robert Morace is clearly a big fan as well. He provides some fascinating background on Welsh's own background (especially about Thatcherism and its effects on Scotland) and his analysis of the novel itself is readable and hardto disagree with. I've read Trainspotting 4 or 5 times, but this has made me want to go and read it again. ... Read more

Product Description

Enfant terrible of Scottish letters and subcultural scion of devolutionary protest and rebellion, Irvine Welsh has become known as the founding father of a groundbreaking tradition in post-devolution Scottish writing. The unprecedented worldwide success ofTrainspotting, magnified by Danny Boyle's iconic film, revolutionized Scottish culture and radically remade the country's image from dreamy romantic hinterland to agitated metropolitan hotbed. Although Welsh's career is still taking shape, his influence on contemporary Scottish literary history is indisputable. This volume covers all of Welsh's fiction, as well as his dramatic work for the stage and for television, and features a detailed analysis of Danny Boyle's film. It tracks the author's critical and popular reception at home, abroad, and overseas, and questions the popular cult and mainstream hype surrounding his work. Issues of class, subculture, nationhood, gender, and narrative experimentation are tied to broader developments, such as devolution and globalization, within contemporary Scottish, British, and world culture. The book also examines Welsh's relationships to other writers, both Scottish and non-Scottish, and his contentious position within the Scottish literary canon. All in all, this guide merges a critical assessment of Walsh's work with an analysis of the writer and his phenomenon.

Customer Reviews (4)

A wonderful adaptation of the book!
Before I discuss, I would like to note for those who are looking for Trainspotting the novel... this is not it.Irvine Welsh adapted his wonderful novel for the stage and this is the result.Along with another play, Headstate, you can enjoy some of the great drama coming out ofcontemporary Scotland.The play is significantly different from the novel(and the film as well) - different enough that I would call them variationson a theme, but not truly the same story.There is a lot of role-doubling,so if you are not used to non-realist theatre styles, you might not findthis work overly palatable.For those theatre buffs out there, it's agreat read, and a fun choice for regional theatre companies looking forsomething new (but you will need actors with solid Scottish accents).

Finally,a writer that non-readers can enjoy.
I read that half the people who bought the novel "Trainspotting" have never bought a book before!I fall into that category,with the exception of non-fiction.I bought Filth for the flight home fromEdinburgh to New Jersey because I had enjoyed "Trainspotting" themovie.Once I started reading it (slowly!) I could'nt put it down.Itwas absolutely amazing.It helps that I'm originally from around the areaI suppose but the fact remains that "Filth" is an amazing book. Bruce Robertson is a thoroughly despicable person (soccer fans will notethat Welsh is a Hibernian fan and made Bruce a Hearts fan!).We aresupposed to be following Bruce along as he solves a politically sensitivemurder case when in fact all we're doing is following histotal andcomplete degeneration.This book is incredibly funny and will testyour stomach at times,but for a "non-reader",this will getyou into reading,especially Irvine Welsh books of which,this is thebest.

Gritty and much better than the film
Read the book it far outclasses the film which in itself was very good.END

A marvelous piece of real life written down.
This book is about real people. People who will do whatever they feel.Revenge, stealing, and death are a part of life. and this book covers it.Welsh is an author with a strong understanding of real life.His characters are genuine.It is not hard to think this book could be about real life. ... Read more

Product Description
Amidst the grease splattered fish wrap and the topshelves of single malt scotches, a thriving literaryscene has sprung up at a Scottish pub in one of SanFrancisco's shadiest neighborhoods. Since 1995,internationally acclaimed authors and local literatihave read their works and hawked their wares at theEdinburgh Castle Pub on Geary Street in SF'sTenderloin District. Now the Castle's own publishingcompany, Public House Press, has released thisself-titled anthology, collecting works by a wideassortment of the authors who have read, spoken andshouted on the tavern's stage.

Public House features short stories by suchbest-selling authors as Mary Roach (Stiff),Anthony Swofford (Jarhead), and Po Bronson (WhatShould I Do With My Life?) Also included in this edition is a never-before-released live CD of Trainspotting author and godfather of the Castle literary scene, Irvine Welsh. Reading from his his novel PORNO, recorded at The Edinburgh Castle Pub in 2004.

A special introduction to the book is penned by Keith and Kent Zimmerman, authors of Hell's Angel with Sonny Barger. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Awesome Footie Stories
Awesome collection of 25 short stories and essays about soccer. My favorites were Stephen Baxter's "Clods," Tim Pears' "Ebony International" Nicholas Lezards' "The Beautiful Game," SteveGrant's "Casuals," Geoff Nicholson's "The WinningSide," Mark Morris's "The Shirt," and Mark Timlin's"Wonder Boy." That said, almost every story has somethingworthwhile about it, and for a soccer fan, this is a must read. ... Read more

Product Description
Reprinted to tie in with the sequel, this collection of novellas from Scotland's emerging writers of the 90s contains the first sci-fi story by Irvine Welsh, and a bizarre tread through Scottish surrealism in the form of spaced-out crematorium attendants and vengeful traffic-wardens. ... Read more