Trainspotting

I love this book, and I have since I first read it back in the early 90s.Having just finished reading Skagboys, which is the prequel to Trainspotting, published a little under twenty years later, I couldn't resist re-reading Trainspotting to see how good the follow-on was.What became apparent was how much better Welsh has got at this particular style of writing - the chapter per character, written in dialect. I commented in my Skagboys review that it was immediately obvious which character we were with on commencing a chapter. I was surprised in Trainspotting to find that this wasn't always the case - I had to read a bit and place the context to figure this out. Not a bad thing, just interesting that Welsh was able to improve.I had no expectation that I would reduce from 5 stars on this reading, and I have not. For me this book, probably along with [b:Vurt 14780 Vurt Jeff Noon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344338113l/14780.SX50.jpg 1383955], by Jeff Noon represent a point in my youth when I started reading more, as these books really delivered something new and different from all I had read before.Excellent.

Wow, the power this book has oan me!

Tae sais fae the least, it's so brutally honest wi every single anti-social thought ye might huv when ye ur forced tae be born intae this world.

Alright, switch back to normal English. The point I'm trying to make here is, firstly it's the portrayal of Scottish people and the societal conditions during the 1990s, secondly it's about the brooding nihilism and that bit of renegade fight against the system, thirdly it's about life, the philosophy underneath it, maybe you just ought to conform a bit, since it's inevitable, as one of the many sad truths this book has taught us, all fitting very well with my personal philosophy of life. A shame it is.

The writing style is alright, since I don't know why but I've read Dead Men's Trousers first, got a bit used to the dialects.

The most life insights you could ever get from would be mundane life, but isn't a life with mere drug use also a life of mundaneness? It's just the sensual feeling of not getting in touch with reality for a wee bit only.

A very good anti-drug campaign, was it though? I don't think so.

Choose life.

This book had a LOT of characters and I felt that sometimes it was hard to tell who was narrating, and the voices were often pretty similar. Besides that, and the dialect being a challenge, I thought this was a hard-hitting and realistic portrayal of addiction, and an important read.

This was far better than I expected. I really thought that the hype may have been because of the very good film, but I have to admit that this one grabbed me and smacked me around the head. I have read 3 books related to drug culture in my time here on Goodreads. This and Praise by Australian author Andrew McGahan have a realism that suits the circumstances of their time and place. My strong dislike for the hardly readable Naked Lunch was the reason I took this on, there had to be something better than stream of consciousness cut-and-paste words that the author admitted to not even remembering writing. This was certainly it.

With over 167,600 rating and 3,000 reviews there is little I can add.

Choose this book.

this book is truly fucking punk and it would be a 5/5 if Irvine Welsh could write women beyond their vaginas

edit: i'm not changing the rating but i'm adding it to my favorites shelf because it belongs there, even if it isn't perfect

When Trainspotting came out ah mind it wis huge! Set in ma hametown, Edinburgh, but the dark underbelly the tourists dinnae see. It's no really a novel, mair a collection of sortay crisscrossing short stories meandering taewards an ending. Follaying a collection ay gadges in an aboot Leith as they get oan an aff the skag, get pished an doss aroond.
Disnae sound like much but it's disgusting, heartbreaking, shocking, poignant, revolting and revealing.
Ah luvved it.
Aw they mad cats an aw they twisted tales are aw totally believable. Ah'm pretty sure ah even met ah few - every pub on late 90s Leith Walk hud a bloke who kent Welsh an hud his ain story tae tell.
The language is no exactly Shakespeare, likesay, but it's raw an real. Ah've missed sayin bairn an barry an radge an aw. Ah'm resisting the choicer words, ya ken. Ay, dinnae read this if yer easily offended or hate swearin.
It's magic!

Just as good as the first time I read it, back in 1995.

“Cu cât văd mai mult, cu atât cred mai puțin.”

Audible version is excellent. The felly has a good grasp of ‘that accent' and manages the weegie accent well too. In fact it's one of the best Audible reads I've heard. Makes Begbie sound like one mental scary cunt, which is just what he is.

And that big where Renton's got withdrawal and sees the bairn on the ceiling. It's disturbing, and not in a good way.