Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Trainspotting
Book Review: A genre-defining, modern classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the one hundred greatest fiction works of the twentieth century. I'm not joking. This is the book that launched Welsh as a prominent author. It spawned heroin-chic. They even made a great movie out of it.Book Review: A good laugh
Summary: 5 Stars
A wid hiv tae sae that this is wanae they books that make yi laugh ootloud. A started readin it in the boozer and ended up in a fit, wae everboby lookin it me.Book Review: A great book that I could not put down.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got done reading the book & it is now one of my favorites. Along with Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," this book is a search for your place in life & the friends that travel with you. If you ever wanted to open a window to the thoughts, ideas & dilemmas of an idealistic junky then this is the book for you. It also opens up the world of today's youth. Very entertainingBook Review: A great ride.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read trainspotting in about three days, which, for me, a semi-literate, self-absorsed, junkie teenager is pretty good. I didn't have a bit of difficulty with the dialect, in fact Welsh has a much better writer's ear than noted "greats" Pynchon or Burroughs. All you have to do is hear it in your head, a skill which comes naturally for those of us who move our lips when we read. And nobody puts you in the picture like Irv. Of course he steals from his predecessors, but that just shows he has good taste. As for a lack of a plot; here's the plot: Margaret Thatcher's Tory Administration served to seriously damage Scottland's (and working class England's) economy. Once well-payed and well respected workers were now often broke or on the dole (that's "slang" for welfare). Pour newfound poverty and strife into ill-considered project-style tenement housing (they call them "schemes"), add Heroin to the mix and you end up with this tragic generation of self-absorbed, absurdist junkies. If you understand the context, the resultant ride is fascinating. And entertaining as hell!Book Review: A most harrowing, enticing, repulsive, addictive read
Summary: 5 Stars
How can self-abuse, masochism, obsession and addiction be related in such a way as to be a totally compelling read? If it is written by Irvin Welsh it is all of the above. This novel thrilled yet sickened me and in the darker recesses of my mind I wished I could experience what these "victims" went through. Welsh's characters are wholly authentic, pathetic and pitiable individuals. The authenticity is heightened due to the novel being written in dialect. This is not a book to be skim-read; it requires concentration and a strong stomach.