Skagboys

Even though I am a big fan Welsh's work, this book worked a lot better than I had expected.
It is, of course the prequel to Trainspotting, and fills in the backgrounds of our favourite characters during the 1980s, including their introduction to heroin.

Like Trainspotting, and many of Welsh's other books it is written in part in Scottish dialect.
It amazes me, with the writing, how talented Welsh is to be able to have a different written form for each character. For each chapter before the narrator is fully revealed, it is almost always obvious who the character is just by the formation of their sentences and word choices.

At some 550 pages, this book sat in my shelf for a long time for two reasons - it is a lengthy investment in time, but more importantly, I was concerned it wouldn't be excellent. It could have been a shallow, or poorly constructed reverse-engineering of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie. It could have done a disservice to Trainspotting, one of my favourite books of my youth. Thankfully, it was none of these things.

Excellent, and 5 Stars.

Written as a prequel to Welsh's debut novel, Trainspotting, Skagboys is about Mark Renton and his friends as they descend into heroin addiction in 1980s Scotland. It's told in a series of vignettes from the point of view of many different characters. Like Welsh's other works, it is written completely in Scots dialect and does take some getting used to.
I've read many reviews saying that it's better to read Trainspotting before this one but reading this first really did not hinder my enjoyment of the novel at all. I loved this book a lot more than I thought I would. I didn't think Welsh could top the first novel of his I'd read, Filth, but I was proven wrong. This book is so enjoyable to read. The character's interactions are hilarious but the book is also depressing at the same time as we see a promising young man turn to addiction. The characters are brilliantly written and you can't help but empathize with them even in their situation. All of the characters are written with their own distinct voices so well that even when the view point switches, you don't need to be told who is narrating. This book was definitely a page turner and didn't leave me bored for a second. I am definitely planning on picking up the next books in the series.

This was such a fun read. It has a dark undercurrent of Thatcher's Britain in the 80s and heroin addiction, but the darkness makes the humour all the more stark. If you enjoyed Trainspotting, you'll like this too. In fact I think I'd go as far as to say that I liked this one more.