Trainspotting

by Irvine Welsh

Book Overview

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 (Shallow Grave).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393314804
• ISBN13: 9780393314809
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Love it!

Love it!

brilliant

This is, quite simply, the most brilliant book I've ever read. Here's why.1. The Randomness. There is no plot. This is a book about real people, and real people have no plot in their lives. Especially not these people. And by switching POV, you get to see everything. The movie attempts this with Begbie's throwing-the-glass sequence, but it does no justice.2. The Phonetic Spelling. Granted, this book is hard to read, incomparably. But this facet holds up the entire book. You can't get to know a person until you know how they talk - more than that, how they SPEAK each and every word. Also - the slang! You will talk better than any cat you ken, likesay?3. The Personality. You really get to know at least 4 or 5 people in this book, and you like them. Renton the most, then probably Sick Boy, then Begs, then Spud, and the rest of the motley crew. The constantly-switching narrative never says upfront who's speaking, so you learn to identify the gang by speech tags - Hombre for Begbie, Catboy for Spud, the man Sean Connery in general for Sick Boy, and . . . well, let's just say that by the end of the book I could TELL when it was Rents talking. I knew his voice.4. The Cult Nature. It's everywhere...underground. Lots of online fan bases. It's fun.5. The Subculture. Face it, how many of us have shot up heroin in a moldy flat in the slums of Edinburgh? With a really intense accent? This book painstakingly shows you a whole new world, literally. And you come out knowing a lot more about drugs.6. The Message. Trainspotting is a multiple choice question. Here's what happens if you do, here's what happens if you don't. The only judgements in the book come from the characters themselves. Irvine Welsh the author has successfully disappeared - if his skag boys are his "mouthpieces", then he's completely hidden that fact.In conclusion, read it. This book is the face of modern literature and yes indeed, it deserves to sell more copies than the Bible.

Welsh's masterpiece of contemporary British literature

Finally. I no longer have to worry about buying a new paperback copy of this book every three months or so; this has always been a book that I've frequently enjoyed going back to multiple times after finishing...and now we've finally got a version that is built to last.Most likely you've already seen the movie before deciding whether or not to read the book. Be forewarned, however; John Hodge's screenplay is a masterful job of bringing continuity to a series of stories that are in fact only loosely related. The book "Trainspotting" is comprised of a series of short stories previously published independently in various periodicals over a stretch of time...the stories deal with the same core of characters, but that is really all that ties them together. You will probably find that Danny Boyle's job of directing the "Trainspotting" movie looks even more impressive after reading even a quarter of the book.The book does focus on a set of wrong-side-of-the-track friends involved with drugs, alcohol, petty crime, and anything else they can find to take their minds off their completely unfulfilling lives. An added challenge (and a fair extent of the book's charm) is that the book's dialogue and first-person narrative are written in the author's native Edinburgh dialect, making the book perhaps more accessible to Robert Burns scholars than the average non-Scots English speaker. However, there is a glossary in the back of the book that is rather helpful...and my personal recommendation is to read the book out loud whenever possible (I don't know why, but whenever I did this, the written words made more sense when heard as an audible accent).If you liked the movie at all, the book is for you. As with most books that are adapted to the screen, you'll find a level of depth in the book that the film simply could not attain due to time and budgetary constraints; Spud onscreen is presented as a cross between Spud and "Second Prize" in the book, and there are book characters who aren't even introduced in the film (yet who also bring added depth to a world that is portrayed as rather one-dimensional in the film). Choose life, choose a job, choose a career..but most importantly, choose this book. It will add a whole 'nother level of appreciation to the "Trainspotting" experience.

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 of contemporary Scotland. The play is significantly different from the novel (and the film as well) - different enough that I would call them variations on 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 find this work overly palatable. For those theatre buffs out there, it's a great read, and a fun choice for regional theatre companies looking for something new (but you will need actors with solid Scottish accents).

More Whacked Out + Rough Than the Film

You've seen the movie, now read the book (or vice versa). Despite the phantasmagorical nature the film adopts at times, the book is even more whacked out--in a good way-- not to mention rougher in many senses. Although it flows chronologically, the novel is plotless, skipping from vignette to vignette, told by a wide range of people. The main characters from the movie are the main characters in the book, but there are a number of stories narrated by more minor characters as well. This makes the whole thing more impressionistic and loose, and of course, allows space for many more entertaining stories. There are a few scenes that get really nasty, such as a scene where Renton has sex with his just-dead brother's pregnant wife in a bathroom after the funeral. The guys are also a fair bit older than the movie makes them out to be, Begbie is a good deal nastier, etc... It's actually rather amazing they found a movie in all the stories in the book. In any event, don't be intimidated by the dialect and slang, it's great fun once you get into it.

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.