Welsh, Irvine

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Drug addiction and friendship
Grim and accurate portrayal of the drug scene in the UK
Choose Life
hard to understand, must be patient
Keeping Notes on the Arrival and Departure of Trains

Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Irvine Welsh's controversial first novel, set on the heroin-addicted fringe of working-class youth in Edinburgh, is yet another exploration of the dark side of Scottishness. The main character, Mark Renton, is at the center of a clique of nihilistic slacker junkies with no hopes and no possibilities, and only "mind-numbing and spirit-crushing" alternatives in the straight world they despise. This particular slice of humanity has nothing left but the blackest of humor and a sharpness of wit. American readers can use the glossary in the back to translate the slang and dialect--essential, since the dialogue makes the book. This is a bleak vision sung as musical comedy.

Book 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).
Customer Reviews:

Drug addiction and friendship.......2007-04-15
Once you get over the dialect (it is written a scottish accent), and it doesn't take long to do. You find a funny, sad and disturbing account of drug addiction and the nature of friendship.
There's so much more here than in the movie.
One of my favouries.
Grim and accurate portrayal of the drug scene in the UK.......2006-12-26
If you like the movie and you've also got the soundtrack cds then go the whole hog and give it a read. It consists of a series of vignettes that were woven together superbly for the film. Readers might be put off initially by Welsh writing in a scottish dialect, but once you suss it out, it works most effectively in setting the scene and the characters - and there's a almost complete dictionary in the back. Some of the scenes are a tad grimmer than the film portrayed - hence the beauty of books allowing character development etc. But that said the film captured the essence of the book very, very well. The cover shows the cast of the film, and I think they did a grand job matching up the characters to the actors especially Begby.

Welsh indicates how easy it is for the disenfranchised of the western world, and probably all cultures, to find themselves trying drugs "just the once, I can handle it" and then caught in the embrace of addition, needing the next fix and how to fund it etc.

A very powerful protrayal of the sad and seedy world of drug addiction. (The "Mile End" track by Pulp captures it perfectly).

Recommended!
Choose Life.......2006-10-18
As other reviewers have noted, Trainspotting is more a collection of short stories than an actual novel. Beyond the gritty surface, Trainspotting is more idea-driven than story-driven, as what ties it all together is the theme of addiction and acceptance.

On one level, heroin addiction is portrayed as a symptom of a moribund Scottish working-class, struggling to deal with a post-industrial, post-Thatcher UK. It's telling that the only thing for a healthy person to do in the book is to move to London or out of the country entirely.

On another level, heroin addiction is portrayed as a symptom of existential angst. Mark Renton AKA Rent-Boy is a nihilist for whom heroin is simply the most ready-made, prepackaged form of self-negation that he has access to. He fancies himself a martyr for the cause of oblivion, but as he himself attests, this martyrdom is childish, romantic, and entirely ego-centric.

I would argue that, in essence, Trainspotting is a coming-of-age story. It deals with a group of young adults who are addicted to self-pity in varying degrees, in this case in the form of heroin. Some of the characters are able to get beyond their own fear and needless self-loathing and become full-fledged human beings. Others are not so lucky; the book is littered with psychic debris. In a more just society, more people might make it, but not everybody. That's life, and nobody can make you choose to live it.

hard to understand, must be patient.......2006-06-16
i was real excited about reading this, being a big fan of the movie and all, but in the end was dissapointed. It just seemed to be a bunch of random scenes with no connection, and it was depressing, people shooting heroin, getting AIDS and dying all the time, getting off the heroin, and then going back to it. Also, the hard scot dialect was difficult to read, even out loud and irritating...this is a book that requires a lot of patience
Keeping Notes on the Arrival and Departure of Trains.......2006-03-31
Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh, is a book about a multiple of Scottish fellows, who are brought together by their addiction for heroin rather than their liking for each other. Renton, or Rent for short, is trying to overcome his addiction to live up to his parents' dreams. He and his friends have some good times and some bad times throughout their highs and shagging. Even though he thoroughly enjoys how he lives, he realizes that he should be living his life in a healthier drug and crime free way and eventually overcomes his addiction and chooses life over drugs.
I enjoyed reading the book very much it is written in a strong British tongue that makes it kind of difficult to understand sometimes, but you get through it and get deep into the book. Irvine Welsh is a very intellect writer and is very easy to enjoy.

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A case study in how to adapt a difficult book for the screen

Good Stuff

Must have f

Horrid

A great way to accurately understand the movie's dialogue.

Trainspotting
John Hodge , and Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: Miramax Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A case study in how to adapt a difficult book for the screen.......2002-04-14
There are two reasons to pick up John Hodge's screenplay for "Trainspotting," based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. The first is because you have trouble understand English spoken with strong Scottish brogues and you cannot figure out how to use closed captioning. Admittedly, this is the minor reason. The second and major reason is to appreciate how well Hodge transformed Welsh's novel into a solid screenplay. After all, the novel was a collection of loosely related short stories about several different characters that neither aspires to nor reaches a complete narrative form. Also, the key to the characters comes as much from their internal monologues as it does from anything they say or do. Of course the solution was to focus on one character and make him the "narrator" of the film. This becomes Mark Renton, the unrepentant drug abuser who does not seem to be as hell-bent on self-destruction as the rest of his mates.
This volume includes an introduction by Hodge, who explains how he came to be coerced into writing the screenplay. The screenplay is indeed the screenplay, and not a transcript of the film, so there are plenty of changes in dialogue and editing if you actually do sit down and follow along while watching Danny Boyle's film. Notations tell you want scenes or bits of dialogue were cut from the film and there are plenty of black & white photographs of the various scenes (but just Ewen McGregor coming OUT of the toilet...). The Afterword consists of a brief interview with author Irvine Welsh, conducted during the penultimate week of the shooting of the film (Welsh was doing a cameo performance as the drug dealer Mikey Forrester). Welsh speaks candidly about the transformation of his novel into a film and how the drug scene in Scotland has changed since the book's original publication. However, for those who have actually tracked down and read the novel, reading the screenplay soon afterwards will give you a greater appreciation of how excellent a job Hodges did with this adaptation.
Good Stuff.......2001-04-21
I didn't buy the Screenplay for a need to understand the movie persay, however it was a definate treat. Sometimes you just don't want to read the entire book but you want to visualize the movie in your head. The screenplay is perfect for this. I recommend it for any Trainspotting fan.
Must have f.......2000-07-20
Trainspotting the movie was full of great details and funny dialogue that has to be tasted and thought about which like good wine gets better with age.
The companion interview with Irvine Welsh is a real treat. The man is articulate, funny, and has a lot to say. It is seldom one can get inside the author and his feelings on a movie that is made.
There is also a preface written by John Hodge himself that details his process of from writing Shallow Grave and how that movie got made and then how the others convinced him to make trainspotting although he was terrible reluctant. That in itself was an amazing story.
I loved his note to the readers about how he was sorry he didn't put our favourite bits of the book in the movie and how he didn't get to put his own favorites bits himself. He also comments about the liberty he took with the text, and explained some of them. As an Irvine Welsh fan I felt placated and had a new respect for Hodge.
As for the screen play itself. You can read about Sick Boy's ideas about Sean Connery, personal thoughts of renton, his relationship with Diane, in detail. Everything in the movie is amplified. A small detail and a big scene takes the same importance on the page.
I love picking it up and reading my favourite bits. As an avid Irvine Welsh fan I could really take the time to see what John Hodge added to the film and apreciate it.
Watching the movie again takes about two hours of your time, and replaying your favorite bits is never the same. This screen play allow you to do just that without much effort. It is short and easy to read, and hey to be honest, I didn't hear what was said in the film because of the accents. Here I can read exactly what was said. If you love the book and/or the movie god this is a great companion to go with it.
Horrid.......1999-06-19
The screenplay was horridly written. A complete mockery of hte book and of the movie.
A great way to accurately understand the movie's dialogue........1999-02-22
I loved the movie "Trainspotting." I watched it in the theater on my 14th birthday and have worshipped it since. This book was an instant buy after watching the movie, not only to memorize the entire script (well, not exactly,) but also to actually understand what the movie was saying. After all, the movie was a bit difficult to understand with the strong accents and all. Buy this book, it's a great way to "see" the movie all over again.

Average customer rating:

modern romance

Written for the stonger stomached

Addictive

Three novellas - one drug

Chemical Love

Ecstasy : Three Tales of Chemical Romance
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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With three wickedly funny and harrowing tales of love and its ups 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 of Regency romances, paralysed and bedridden, plans her revenge on a gambling, whoring husband with the aid of her nurse, Lorraine. In "Fortunes's Always Hiding," flawed beauty Samantha Worthington enlists a smitten young soccer thug to find the man who marketed the drug that crippled her from birth - in order to give him a taste of his own disastrous medicine. In the upbeat final tale, "The Undefeated," we experience the transfiguring passion of the miserably married young yuppie Heather and the raver Lloyd from Leith - a grand affair played out to a house music beat.
Customer Reviews:

modern romance.......2006-03-22
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.......2004-07-26
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.......2004-04-23
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.......2003-12-06
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.
Chemical Love.......2003-10-20
This book contains three stories that revolve around romance and Ecstasy among other things.
Lorraine Goes to Livingston is the first story. It was titled a "Rave and Regency" romance. Famed regency romance novel writer Rebecca Navarro (who writes stories such as Lucy Goes to Liverpool and Yasmin Goes to Yeovil) has a stroke, which jolts her out of her dreamworld. When she actually takes a look at reality, she realizes that her husband is a prick who's using her for her money, and he uses her money for all forms of debauchery. She, along with the help of a nurse -- Lorraine, plan revenge on her dear husband.
This was my favorite story in the whole book. The next two stories are powerful, especially the one following this one, but this one held the most value to me. When you first meet Rebecca, you don't really like her much, but you feel empathy for her. And Lorraine is one of those characters that you can relate to. She's a single woman who has questions about her sexuality and wishes that everyone would stop trying to force love down her throat. Then, of course with this being your typical Irvine story, you have drug abuse, raves, and some bizarre sex practices (bestiality and necrophilia for this particular story).
Fortune's Always Hiding is the second story and is subtitled "A Corporate Drug Romance". The story revolves around a woman, who was the unfortunate victim of a drug marketed in the 60's, and a man, who's obsessed with soccer (or fitba, as they commonly say ;Þ). The woman is hell-bent on revenge and the man is in love and would do anything for her.
Another powerful story revolving around revenge, but this time it's against a big corporation who refuses to take responsibility for destroying people's lives. They've given money, but they aren't truly remorseful about their actions. I loved how Welsh jumped back and forth giving us tiny portions of what happened to the woman, Samantha. This one is my second favorite story in the book as well.
The Undefeated, an Acid House Romance, is about a jobless, drug dealer-slash-raver named Lloyd, and a unhappy, sexually frustrated housewife named Heather.
There's not a lot that I can say for this story. Most of the story is spent following their everyday struggles and few pages are actually dedicated to their meeting up. Lloyd's side of things didn't interest me all that much. It was interesting at times, but most times, I found his commentary lacking. Heather's side of things was quite fascinating though. It was just something about reading about her going from "good" Heather to "bad" Heather that really kept me reading her chapters.
It seems like I liked the stories in the order they were written. I loved the first and was only partially impressed by the last, even though, I did really love the hopeful ending we get at the end of the last story. Yeah, I'll admit the characters aren't all that drawn out, but this is only a 275 page book. What do you expect? Shrek's analysis? A wonderful addition for people who collect Welsh's off-beat works.

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Rousingly Experimental

what were you thinking?

not for the timid (or young)

Tear on through it.

insanely delightful

The Acid House
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Made up of three of Welsh's most powerful stories, all come from the rough, tough badlands of the schemes of North Edinburgh and take us into a dark but hilarious world of drugs, deviant sex and football hooliganism fired by Welsh's passion and fierce steaming rock and roll.
Customer Reviews:

Rousingly Experimental.......2004-11-05
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?.......2004-05-03
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).......2004-01-16
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........2003-01-07
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.
insanely delightful.......2002-07-16
Welsh is one of the most gifted writers I've come across. Acid House is a compilation of some of his short stories, each of which shows a different side of his unique talent for pulling you in and messing with your mind.

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Sometimes you have to put it down to take a shower.

masterpiece

Guerrilla=vibrator!

Filth, Glorious Filth

A book that lives up to its title.

Filth
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Talk about truth in advertising! Irvine Welsh's novel about an evil Edinburgh cop is filthy enough to please the most crud-craving fans of his blockbuster debut, Trainspotting. Like Trainspotting, Filth matches its nastiness with a maniacal, deeply peeved sense of humor. Though one does feel the need to escape this train wreck of a narrative from time to time for a shower and some chamomile tea, just as often Welsh provokes a belly laugh with an extraordinarily perverse and cruelly funny set piece. Nicely violent turns of phrase litter the ghastly landscape of his tale.
Our hero, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, is a cross between Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant and John Belushi in Animal House. His task is to nab a killer who has brained the son of the Ghanaian ambassador, but bigoted Bruce is more urgently concerned with coercing sex from teenage Ecstasy dealers, planning vice tours of Amsterdam, and mulling over his lurid love life. He's also got a tapeworm, whose monologue is printed right down the middle of many pages. Here's one of this unusually articulate parasite's realizations: "My problem is that I seem to have quite a simple biological structure with no mechanism for the transference of all my grand and noble thoughts into fine deeds."
Welsh's real strength is comic tough talk and inventive slang. The murder mystery helps organize his tendency to sprawl, but the engine of his art is wry, harsh dialogue. At one point, his books hogged the entire top half of Scotland's Top Ten Bestsellers list--and half the buyers of Trainspotting had never bought a book before. The reason is not that Welsh 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
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:

Sometimes you have to put it down to take a shower........2007-03-10
I was only bored for about 1.5 pages of this book, which says quite a bit for a novel. Usually I get to about page 180 of a book and say, "All right, let's wrap it up. Enough's enough." Not so with "Filth" (or "The Great Gatsby" [which isn't all that long, mind you].)

If you buy this book and read it and have some sort of decency about you, you will, at times, feel ashamed that you continue to turn the pages, wondering what D.S. Bruce Robertson is going to do or say next. The main character is about as deplorable as any human being can be, but he does try to save a man having a heart attack, so he's got that going for him.

Robertson has a tapeworm inside him that occasionally speaks through text overlaid on text. Trust me, you don't miss anything due to some words being obscured.

The part where Robertson goes to Amsterdam is really the part where the hammer drives the spike. Just remember, there are people out there like the main character, spiralling into depravity and cruelty.

It's really a wonder that this thing ever got published . . . but I'm glad it did. Long live free speech and publication.
masterpiece.......2006-03-07
bruce robertson one of my favorite kooks this one belongs between your dostoevsky and shakespeare on your bookshelf i kid you not
Guerrilla=vibrator!.......2006-02-11
"Irvine Welsh, the delusion that drug fetus become pregnant to non-resettable corpse feti=streaming, the guerrilla=vibrator of the abolition world, exterminated the human body pill brain universe of a chemical=anthropoid." - Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric
Filth, Glorious Filth.......2005-12-22
Admittedly, this book will not be for everyone...some of you may be too prude to swallow Welsh's violent and raw prose ;)

Some may be turned off by the tape worm's story, or by the chronic masturbation, or by the abundant misogynist comments. But others may think it's a brilliant bit of creative sickness...others who are sick and twisted like me, that is.

The use of Scottish vernacular/phonetic spelling may slow some down, but I feel it truly adds depth and feeling to the story. For me, Welsh's writing is musical and realistic (almost painfully so).

If you haven't read any Welsh yet - you're missing out! If the reviews on this page are turning you off, try Trainspotting first - it's a good introduction to Welsh's style & not nearly as revolting or shocking.
A book that lives up to its title........2005-10-23
Boy, talk about truth in advertising. "Filth" is a book so morally ambiguous, so repugnant, so dirty, so mean-spirited and so unrelentingly dark and disgusting that they might as well sell it with biohazard-safety gloves. This is not a novel for the faint of heart. Misogony, racism, rape, brutal violence, bestiality, drug addiction, autoerotic asphyxiation, the death of a small child...and i haven't even mentioned the tapeworm yet! None of this should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Welsh's other works, although the book certainly ranks as one of his fouler works in memory. What might surprise people is how much of a disappointment the book is after the brilliant "Trainspotting", the wonderful "Ecstasy" and the awe-inspiring "The Acid House". There are some minor, albeit sickening charms to be found here, but so much repetitious cruelty can only take you so far. Welsh is one of the most skilled fiction writers out there, and even his worst stuff is better than 99% else of what is out there, but even considering that, "Filth" could have been so much more.

The protagonist of the story is D.S. Bruce Robertson, a seargent on Scotland's scheme police force with an affinity for cursing, drinking, sausage rolls, meaningless sex, hate, bile and degradation. This is a man who makes the Franco Begbie of "Trainspotting" look like a saint. Robertson has just been assigned to head the investigation of a hate crime involving a young African-American male- a subject he could not care any less about- whilst gearing up for his annual sex-and-drugs excursion into Amsterdam. Nagging at his black heart are a few sizeable setbacks however- Roberston has developed quite the taste for hard nose candy, a nagging cocaine problem that has led to severe problems with his distraught wife. A plethora of whores, tired old women and battered prostiutes are floating in and out of his miserable existence, which is slowly deteriorating into a bleak, impenetrable hell, and if that's not all, he has recently discovered a monstrous tapeworm living in his intestinal tract, slowly eating away at his vital organs.

If what I just wrote makes you want to vomit, the book's depressing denouement might make you cough up a lung. The tapeworm, as it were, hosts itself inside Bruce and begins to narrate the earliest details of his hell of a childhood, where his father forced him to eat coal after pushing his brother down a hill. It's Welsh's form of redemption of an unredeemable character. Ok, ok I get it... he's a human being too, right? Welsh has a myriad of gifts, not the least is which is finding a hidden humanity in what is generally considered to be the scum of the earth. No such luck with Bruce Robertson. He is a vile, bigoted, evil, hateful person with nothing good in him, and the book's attempts to humanize him come off as half-hearted at best. Despite some brilliantly put-together comic set pieces involving an E'd-out drug dealer and his wacky girlfriend or many, many, MANY scenes of coked-out abandon, as well as some rather delicious dialouge, "Filth" comes nowhere near the brilliance, humor and heart of Mr. Irvine's earlier work, finding its home safely in the gutter and settling there.

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The picture of Danny Skinner

reality literature

Bedroom secrets of the Master Chefs

Very Disappointing

Classic Welsh

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs: A Novel
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393064530

Book 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.
Customer Reviews:

The picture of Danny Skinner.......2007-03-10
I was quite surprised upon finding out that I actually liked this novel. I got it as a present and I wasn't expecting much from it, thinking (no doubt with a bit of prejudice on my part) that Irvine Welsh was essentially a foul-mouthed writer whose career was based on a simple shock-marketing tecnique.
Granted, Welsh is no stylist, he doesn't have the linguistic prowess of the great writers but with "The Bedroom secrets...", he has managed to write an engaging novel that I greedily devoured over a few days.

In terms of "plot", the novel's central narrative concept echoes "The Picture of Dorian Gray": you get a party-hard, increasingly debauched and mischievous guy (Danny Skinner) who manages to stay young (meaning that he doesn't suffer from all the drugs and alcohol he takes) by diverting the nefarious effects of his "lifestyle" to a pictu... ahem, to another guy: Brian Kibby. Brian is exactly the opposite of Danny (and the stark contrast between the two is something that reminds me of the beautiful simplicity of greek myths): a nerdish virgin, innocent as a lamb.
Right at the outset, Danny hates Brian, which is why the whole curse-thing starts, but then their relationship becomes somewhat ambiguous, ending with an epic final.
The relationship between the two characters (along with Danny's search for a lost father among the chefs' world) is the central theme of the novel.
Amidst all that you get a lot of alcohol, drugs, filthy chefs, sex with an octogenarian lady and the usual content of excess that you have come to expect from Welsh.

Again, Welsh is no stylist, but the novel is downright enjoyable, well constructed and with some clever humorous passages. Recommended if you want to intersperse more "highbrow" readings with something lighter.
reality literature.......2007-01-29
Irvine Welsh can be a difficult author to read with rambling dialogue and phonetically spelled Scottish-English, but this book is a pure joy! If you are a person in their late 30's to early 40's you'll find much to relate to with classic punk flash backs and slams on current trends. This book defines "reality literature" with a behind the scenes narrative that will delight and disgust. The perfect combination of the sordid and sweet with magical voodoo undertones.
Bedroom secrets of the Master Chefs.......2007-01-04
Pornographic rubbish.I have lived in Scotland and have yet to hear the argot as preached by Welsh.
Very Disappointing.......2006-12-02
I've read all of Welsh's novels and story collections, and loved them all to varying degrees (4-5 stars each, no problem). Unfortunately, while trafficking in many of the same themes as his earlier work (albeit in much more accessible language, i.e. the Scots lingo is toned down), this latest Leith-set novel is mediocre at best. Alas, even worse, it's something I never thought one his books could be -- boring.

I suppose any novel which opens with a prologue at a Clash concert has nowhere to go but down, but for the first 80 pages or so I held out hope. The two protagonists are Danny Skinner, a typical 20something wide boy who works as a kitchen inspector for a city agency. He's a rather unlikable cunning bastard (quite literally, his search for his father drives a good part of the story), whose descent into alcoholism costs him his beautiful dancer girlfriend and his self-respect. Meanwhile, awkward, geeky, insecure, model train enthusiast Brian Kibby joins his office and immediately becomes fuel for Skinner's nasty side. Skinner's irrational antagonism for Kibby is so strong that it triggers a curse -- anything bad that happen's to Skinner's body is transferred to Kibby's. It doesn't take long for Skinner to work this out, and he embarks on a malicious campaign of chemical and physical self-abuse which sends Kibby's life into a nightmarish tailspin.

Meanwhile, Skinner plays detective, trying to suss out who knocked up his punkette mother back in 1980. His mother refuses to tell him, and Skinner's hoping that finding out who his father is will help him stop drinking and womanizing, and generally being a bad person. This leads him to try and track down various chefs who worked at the restaurant his mother waitressed at in 1980, and takes him from the inner sanctum of the local blowhard celebrity chef all the way to San Francisco. Skinner and Brian, while archetypes who are yin and yang are well-depicted. Unfortunately, the supporting cast of characters is not nearly as memorable as in books past, and all too often, people drift in for a scene or two and drift out, never to reappear. There are scenes, characters, and situations which add nothing at all to the story.

Probably the main reason the book fails is that the reader knows too much. The Dorian Grayesque curse is explained from almost the very start, and yet one has to slog through another 250 pages of Brian's suffering and inability to understand what's wrong with him. Much more problematically, the big "mystery" over the identity of Skinner's father will probably be guessed by reader extremely early on. So, the big revelation which should carry a punch at the end, lacks any impact whatsoever. There are certainly plenty of novels where the reader is in on the big secret and yet still utterly engaged by the storytelling -- this is not one of them. Despite some trademark flourishes (notably an anal rape scene and a grotesque Monty Pythonesque sex scene involving a witch), Welsh fails to unleash his vivid imagination in the way that his readers have come to expect in this tedious disappointment.
Classic Welsh.......2006-11-22
In the tradiotion of Trainspotting, Porno, Filth, and Glue; The Bedroom Secrets is an amazing novel that will trap you between its covers until the ride is over, whether or not you are willing top take it.

Average customer rating:

An uneasy subject

A bad trip.

Not for the weak-stomached

Warning

Only Welsh could pull off a plot like this

Marabou Stork Nightmares
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Welsh, Irvine | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393315630

Customer Reviews:

An uneasy subject.......2006-01-10
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........2005-10-30
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".
Not for the weak-stomached.......2004-08-31
From the author of Trainspotting, this story is told on three levels: the world around the main character in the hospital room where he lives in a coma, the flashbacks to his life in his mind, and the deeper dream world in which he and a fictitious friend hunt the terrible marabou stork. The main character is not a very likable fellow, and the story gets pretty hardcore at times, once making me physically sick. But if you like a book that has a visceral effect on you, as I do, this might do.
Warning.......2004-08-24
I can't tell you if this book is good or bad but it is written in a hard to read dialect. I'm not telling anyone not to read this, but if you can't read poetry, you probably wont be able to read this.
Only Welsh could pull off a plot like this.......2003-08-28
Once again Irvine Welsh delivers another brillant book deplicting the struggle of everyday life. As the book summary says Roy Strang is in a coma and fantasizes about hunting the Marabou Stork in Africa. It also tells his life leading up to his coma and the hardships he endured while growing up. A great book.

Average customer rating:

Great author, failed play...

Would love to see the stage version

Worth reading... or putting on a production.

great quick read if you like irvine welsh

You'll have had your hole?? huh??

You'll Have Had Your Hole
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: Methuen Publishing, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0413728609

Customer Reviews:

Great author, failed play..........2007-06-13
I'm a huge fan of Welsh's other books, but his characters don't translate well here. He's got a leg up in that the three main characters should all be familiar to Welsh fans, so minimal effort is needed to flesh them out, but in the end the notion that they somehow find love is so far-fetched that I thought it was a joke at first. Imagine Frank Begbie from 'Trainspotting' going soft over a bird and suddenly wanting to escape his violent and nihlistic life (all within the span of two or three pages) and you've got the essential problem I had with this play. The introduction by Welsh is actually the best part.

You get the feeling that the lost production costs are being recouped through the sale of this screenplay. Buy "Ecstasy" or "The Acid House" instead.
Would love to see the stage version.......2007-04-01
First play I've read from Welsh, but I was very impressed with the balance of humor, drama and typical screwed up mentality of the characters, which is a very common flavor of Irvine Welsh. It's a short read, but extremely entertaining and I couldn't put it down until I was done.
Worth reading... or putting on a production........2005-12-20
There's a much publicised divide 'twixt Edinburgh and Glasgow... the two cities lie less than fourty miles apart. One is huge and cosmopolitan, the other is the capital of Scotland. The title of the play subverts the phraze Edinburgh hosts are alleged to greet their guests with; "You'll have had your tea, then?"

This play, I think, preceeded Gargarin Way (by a playright whose name I cannot recall at present, but a similar sceniario, and just as good if not better).

It's worth reading. Really sick, obviously, but there's Mr Welsh for you.
great quick read if you like irvine welsh.......2005-12-12
just going to be brief, but i thought this was an enjoyable quick read about two kidnappers and the guy they kidnap and his gf. its like welsh's other novels where it has some very funny parts but at other times has some very deep serious portions.
some of it might seem to be a bit of a stretch, but hey it is fiction, it'd probably be interesting to actually see on stage.
so if you like welsh i suggest readin this. or if you havent this might be a good starter read.
You'll have had your hole?? huh??.......2001-06-15
For those of you who don't know, such as myself, the phrase "you'll have had your hole", translates to getting some action. Which is exactly what this screenplay is all about. I enjoyed it very much. It is a quick read. Yet, somehow disturbing to the mind for a very long time. Once again, Irvine Welsh, has giving us charaters we can relate to. Though we may not all want to cop up to it. I have always found welsh's dialogs between charaters the strongest part of his work. This play is a great example of this.
It takes you though a few days in the life of three main charaters. The reader is becomes a part of a kidnapping, a seduction, a love story, violence, a rape, and into the head of a very twisted HIV infected, brutal outcast. I must confess, the end of this play really messed with my head. I wasn't sure I liked it. Until it dawned on me, how much of an impact it had on me. Any serious Welsh fan will love this play! Anyone who is sick of the same old recyceled fiction should love love it too. I've said it before, Welsh is not for the light hearted and easily distrubed people. That would be why this play was pulled off the stage in the U.K. Most people just aren't ready for this kind of writing. Which is why I think Welsh has such a big following among my generation. We all have a rebel in us wanting to get out. We all have twisted thoughts we never admit to. Welsh has no problem putting these thoughts into words. I'd hope that you fellow Welsh fans get ahold of this play. It will definatly shock even the most unshockable!

Average customer rating:

Nothing Special Here

Babylon Heights: A Play
Irvine Welsh , and Dean Cavanagh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393329860

Book Description
If you put four dwarfs in a room with enough opium and alcohol, it's bound to end in tears… In 1935, MGM studios embarked on a movie adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The production called for the casting of many dwarfs to play the Munchkins of the mythical Land of Oz, and the studio began recruiting 'small persons' from all over the world. During production, rumors spread around Hollywood of wild Munchkin sex orgies, drunken behavior and general dwarf debauchery. More sinisterly, a Munchkin is said to have committed suicide by hanging himself on the set during filming—what appears to be a small human body is clearly visible hanging from a tree in the Tin Man scene. It is a claim that has passed into Hollywood legend. Set in a hotel room in Culver City, California, Babylon Heights is Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh's scabrous and hilarious imaging of what could, very possibly, have led to the dwarf suicide.
Customer Reviews:

Nothing Special Here.......2006-11-03
I am a Welsh fan as tried and true. The idea behind the play was great. I love reading plays above anything else. I hate to say it but I was dissapointed in this effort (or lack of effort). The only reason this work gets 1 stars instead of zero is because of the idea of using normal sized people with oversized furniture and props to draw the viewer in to make them sympathize with the characters. The problem is that none of the characters are worth caring about, much less likable. The action goes nowhere. I read the whole play in one sitting (normally I am a slow reader). I read it that way because I kept waiting for something to happen. Pleading and begging the authors to give me one great line. One amazing piece of writing just in a statement that would at least given me my hard earned coin back out of this. I got to the last page and closed the book, set it on the shelf with my beloved Irvine Welsh collection, and tried to forget all about it. This could be the most boring play ever, and a complete waste of a phenomenal idea.

Average customer rating:

These are real people - simply brilliant

Great Sequel

this is not a waste of time

The boys (and one girl) are back in town.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooodddddd

Porno
Irvine Welsh
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Welsh, Irvine | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393324508

Amazon.com
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
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:

These are real people - simply brilliant.......2007-05-10
Ditto to the all previous reviews.
Irvine Welsh is an extremely talented writer. He displays such finesse in putting several different personalities, mindsets and even gender to paper. I couldn't believe that it was one mind writing as the different characters.
The characters were tragically too real. The situations were tragically humorous and perverse. Just when you start to root for a character and think everything's going to be okay, something pulls him (or her) back down exposing that this is real life he's writing about here and not Pretty Woman.
Kudos to him.
Great Sequel.......2006-12-17
I found Irvine Welsh's Porno in a bookstore before I had ever heard a review or even learned of its existence. I'd only read Trainspotting, and was thrilled to discover that this book followed the same group of terrific characters--years later. Renton, Sickboy, Spud and Begbie return under a whole new set of circumstances. None of them are saints, but drugs are not the focus anymore. No, it's sex this time. The gang gets involved in making a porn film to hilarious outcome. Like Trainspotting before it, Porno goes with the first person perspective of several characters, divided by chapters. Welsh shows off his writing talents by making clear who we are reading in each chapter by the voice he uses for each of them. The book is laugh-out-loud funny, well drawn, and a true gift for fans of Trainspotting and the characters that inhabited it. Now if only they'd get Danny Boyle and the original cast to make this movie. Trainspotting made his and the actors' careers. Let's hope they realize that and give us a sequel on film. Great book. Synopsis available elsewhere.
this is not a waste of time.......2006-01-06
Irvine Welsh is one of the most brilliant writers I know, he has mannaged to create a sequell to "Trainspotting" which is not dissapointing as I expected it to be. in this book you get to know more about simon (sick boy), begbie and spud murphy from their one point of view , about severall characters who appear also in "Glue" ( Terry, rab birrell...) and to an interesting new female character (nikki).Welsh has an extraordinary talent of bringing his characters alive and making you feel as if they realy exist. the ending is just perfect. you must read this!
The boys (and one girl) are back in town........2005-11-20
"Porno" is a rambunctious, high-energy, coked-up and stressed-out sequel to the much bleaker (and much better) junkie opera "Trainspotting", a story of a gang of Scots trying to make ends meet- perpetual losers, screwups, abusers, junkies and sluts that they are- in despair-ridden urban Scotland. This time around, Welsh takes us on a globe-hopping trip through the bright-n'-happy streets of London to the decadent Red Light District in Amsterdam, all the way to a French film festival, letting these whacked-out sociopaths roam free in a guilt-free environment. This is one metaphor for the change in the book- gone is the heroin-addled pathos of "Trainspotting", "Porno" embraces a sillier, stranger tones with dollops of surreal humor and the same working-class Scottish dialect Welsh fans have come to know and love. There are still some moments of heartbreak and disgust, as with any Welsh novel, but ostensibly (as one reviewer described it) "Porno" is "Seinfeld" on hard drugs, let loose in the ghettoes of Scotland. Which might not be such a bad thing after all.

After a sizeable hiatus from his grime-ridden criminal roots, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson returns to his hometown of Edinburgh to start up a pub. With business as slow as ever, and cocaine, ecstasy and birds taking up his every breathing moment, thus preventing our scheming hero from getting anything done, Sick Boy gets a flash of inspiration: make a porno film, build an empire and make tons of cash. Our sleazy chum starts recruiting nubile young stars for his film "Seven Holes for Seven Brothers", including fantastically endowed local drunk Juice Terry Lawson, student-type raver Rab Birrel and a pretty young thing named Nikki Fuller-Lawson, whom Simon strikes up an affair with. Sooner or later, however, problems arise when Mark Renton makes his way back onto the scene, with a cache full of the money he stole from Simon and his mates ten years prior. And yet, its Spud Murphy, that sweet-hearted, but essentially dimwitted smackhead, now an aspiring novelist, and the cold-blooded, sexually and verbally abusive sociopath Begbie, now fresh out of a prison sentence full of "poof's porn", that may be the ones to watch out for.

"Porno", like many other Welsh works, runs the gamut of emotions from sick humor to depraved desparation to keen political and social commentary- there's actually some rather witty satire on the status of labor unions, feminism and the adult film industry to be found here. Mostly though, it's a chance for Welsh to show off his well-honed skills in dialect and storytelling, including many riotous set pieces, not the least funny of which has a junked-out Spud desperately trying to fix a crying woman's dishwashing machine. And yet we find that sooner or later, these events dissolve into tragedy and sadness, as Mark Renton intends to make off with the money, Sick Boy uses and abuses those who work for him and Franco Begbie goes buck-wild with bloodthirsty, savage rage, personified in a chilling rape scene perpetrated on a street prostitute. All in all, "Porno" is about the friendship of that same old group of losers, propelling themselves with loving longing to the day that it would all go wrong, and ranting, raping and raving in the midst of the sick pleasure of it all. It may not be "Trainspotting", but it comes damn close.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooodddddd.......2005-07-07
If you loved trainspotting's ability to spin a good yarn and spill your mind at the same time, DEFINITELY buy this book.
Authors:

Welty, Eudora

Wenzel, Kurt

Werfel, Franz

Werner, Ann

West, Nathanael

Westcott, Frank

Whalen, Philip

Wharton, Edith

Wheatley, Dennis

Wheatley, Phillis

Authors
Authors