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Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
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Trainspotting

by Irvine Welsh

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
3,62624688 (4.07)74

All member reviews

English (23)  Finnish (1)  All languages (24)
Showing 23 of 23
Sometimes we seek to project ourselves as the custom essay essay
  Gina_Carano | Oct 5, 2009 |
I LOVE everything about Trainspotting. I love the language, though it may be confusing at first, once you get the hang of it its beautiful. I love every character (especially Sick Boy and Spud, they're hilarious). The story has gritty realism and fantasy at the same time. It's moving, compelling, disturbing and one of my favorites.

The film is also great; Danny Boyle gives Trainspotting the respect it deserves. ( )
  ryannc62 | May 11, 2009 |
Perfect read and not as intimidating as the first page makes it out to be. Like the movie but added bonus of different narrators throughout. I loved it. ( )
  stipe168 | Oct 28, 2008 |
1 vote Iain_S | Oct 7, 2008 |
Fan-fucking-tastic. This book was incredible, very bizarre, but great. The movie of the same title is based on it and that also is good. I read this for work, but loved it anyway. I’m glad I read it for work, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have. Written in dialect with no quotation marks, stylistically very interesting. About a bunch of junkies running around Scotland trying to live. ( )
  burningtodd | Jun 3, 2008 |
After reading Trainspotting I had to ask myself what else I've been missing. The main characters are addicts, junkies, heavy drinkers and a sicko or two, with heroin as the star here. It's an alien culture to me, but I just couldn’t put the book down, dialect and all. I also have no clue about this subculture of underclass in 1980s Scotland, but Welsh writes it as if he’s been there and followed this group of people around. I won’t go into the plot here (there are lots of places you can find info on this book), but at times I was horrified to find myself actually laughing in the midst of what seemed several pointless and hopeless situations – in appreciation of some scenes of incredibly black humor. At the same time, I found myself getting into the characters emotionally, seeing them as people who are disenfranchised on many levels. Welsh does a superb job of capturing the anger, boredom and disconnection of his characters (who come off as being very real) showing both the positives & negatives of friendship & other emotional connections in a series of small, connected vignettes, told in chronological order.

Very well written; I highly recommend it. If you get stuck while reading it, there’s a glossary in the back; I found myself at least at first trying the dialect orally and after a while it wasn’t even noticeable and the book flowed. Readers of Palahniuk or other writers who have the ability to capture the rage of a generation might enjoy this one, but this book is definitely not for everyone. ( )
2 vote bcquinnsmom | May 12, 2008 |
Some chapters in the book don't work in my opinion (the ones with the female points of view) but, otherwise, a great read. ( )
  DameMuriel | May 5, 2008 |
This is just a terrific book. It's not that easy to read until you get used to the dialect, then once you get it you'll really enjoy the richness of the language. It's one of my favourites of all time. Choose life. ( )
  mstores | Mar 11, 2008 |
I remember it well. A day off from work in Aberdeen. Rather than sit in my digs all day, I set off up Union St and popped into one of the big bookstores and bought Trainspotting. On the way back I dropped into a quiet pub and ordered a pint and found a snug corner and opened the book.
To cut a long story short, I was crying. The barman must have thought I was a nutter. But I read and read and laughed and laughed, pint after pint.

The part where Rents is on the bus on the way to score a deal and he is sitting behind some old dear, the pangs of heroin depletion running through his body, wishing cancer cells on her is typically sick of Trainspotting but bloody hillarious at the same time. One of my best experiences in reading pulp fiction. ( )
  LesMiserables | Oct 27, 2007 |
was little apprehensive when I started to read Trainspotting because before beginning it all I had heard about the book was that no one could get through it because the Scottish dialect the book is written in made it completely unintelligible for most.

However, after maybe two or three pages, I was flying through the Scottish slang. Maybe it's because I grew up in the Cajun south, one of the few places where one can still encounter a true dialect from time to time, but dialect in books just doesn't phase me. I flew through A Clockwork Orange, and I barely blink when I encounter passages written in dialects in other novels, so what is for many Trainspotting's major downfall didn't phase me one bit.

Having said that, I'm still not saying that Trainspotting lives up to its own hype. Its billed as this amazing novel that "deserves to sell more copies than the Bible," but I just don't see it. There are some moving moments and the book is by no means bad or unenjoyable, but it's not stunning either. It's another interesting escape into a world full of drugs I'll never experience firsthand, but not, for me at least, much more than that.

My recommendation, if dialect doesn't phase you, pick it up and give it read, but if dialect is something you have to struggle through, it's okay to pass this one by. ( )
  twomoredays | Oct 27, 2007 |
Very disturbing.Written in the local scottish dialect,the novel records the often violent anti-social antics of a bunch of scottish junkies living off the dole.They rob,mug and defraud to supplement their income, used to buy drugs and alcohol and to holiday abroad.The author paints a picture of a society where drugs,violence,women abuse is the norm.

A depressing, unenjoyable, but fascinating read. Westbrook. ( )
1 vote Westbrook | Aug 9, 2007 |
[ purchased ]
personally? found the resolution disappointing. there's some lyrical prose a nicely disguised plot interspersed among comedy & addiction.
[ used a hollowed-out " bad blood " as a speech presentation ] ( )
  vyode | Jun 8, 2007 |
I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. I read it when I was young and impressionable and before it was a big hit and it blew me away. Don't know how I would feel now but for what it did when I first read it I'm giving it a 4. ( )
1 vote s_mcinally | Mar 18, 2007 |
It was a little hard for me to get into the swing of this book, because it's written entirely in a dialect that's almost as impossible to understand when spoken. That being said, once I got the hang of it, I could not put the book down any more than I could look away from the movie. Some parts are terrible, some funny, and, as someone else has stated, often times it is both. ( )
  kuuursten | Dec 19, 2006 |
The story of a bunch of Scottish drug addicts. Or I suppose more particularly, a group of Glaswegian drug addictions. I wonder if Welsh writes by dictating? The dialogue is written as it might sound, to some degree, in a spoken type dialogue.

A novel that is both entertaining and disturbing, and sometimes even both at once. ( )
  bluetyson | Nov 8, 2006 |
The ups and downs of a group of Edinburgh drug addicts , a classic of our day ( )
  vicarofdibley | Oct 1, 2006 |
This book is written in Scottish, which means you may have to read it aloud to understand the text. The book is far supperior to the movie, which I saw after reading the book. An interesting and disturbing read, though it might take a little extra work to understand. ( )
  kawgirl | Oct 1, 2006 |
f*cking brilliant! ( )
  centime | Sep 3, 2006 |
Not for the squemish ( )
  hudsy | Aug 17, 2006 |
Once you get to the point where you can "hear" the dialog in your head, it gets a lot easier to understand this book. I loved it almost in spite of myself. ( )
  Crowyhead | Mar 16, 2006 |
Unlike the other Irvine Welsh books I've read (or tried to read), I couldn't put this down. It's one of my favourites. ( )
  hippietrail | Jan 29, 2006 |
trainspotting is the handbook of the gutterati elite. the flickering of gold in the crust on the heavy black shitkicker of society.
  oh_terrorista | Oct 18, 2005 |
Showing 23 of 23

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