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Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
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Marabou Stork Nightmares (original 1995; edition 1997)

by Irvine Welsh

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,3561213,724 (3.8)26
Roy Strang is engaged in a strange quest in a surrealist South Africa. His mission is to eradicate an evil predator-scavenger bird, the marabou stork, before it drives away the peace-loving flamingo from the picturesque Lake Torto. But behind this world lies another- the world of Roy's bizarre family, the Scottish housing scheme in which he grew up, his mundane job, a disastrous emigration to Africa, and his youthful life of brutality with a gang of soccer casuals. As one world crashes into the other, this potentially charming story of ornithological goodwill mutates into a filthy tale of violence, abuse and redemption.… (more)
Member:seadog
Title:Marabou Stork Nightmares
Authors:Irvine Welsh
Info:W. W. Norton & Company (1997), Edition: Norton Pbk. Ed, Paperback, 264 pages
Collections:Your library
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Work Information

Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh (1995)

  1. 00
    Yeval by C. W. Schultz (GeekyRandy)
    GeekyRandy: The first person narrative and the unreliable narrator are edgy, while the content is fearless.
  2. 00
    Oh, Play That Thing by Roddy Doyle (SqueakyChu)
    SqueakyChu: Henry Smart is a strong lead character in Oh Play That Thing - just as Roy Strang is in Marabou Stork Nightmares.
  3. 00
    A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (SqueakyChu)
  4. 00
    The Bridge by Iain Banks (andomck)
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» See also 26 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
This book left me freaked out for weeks. It's told from the perspective of someone in a coma, drifting in and out of three levels of awareness: nearly aware of his real surroundings; remembering the events of his life that led him to be in this coma; and in a surreal fantasy African safari. Very well written, easy to follow despite the narrative tricks, and with a narrator that will draw you in somewhat against your will. ( )
  grahzny | Jul 17, 2023 |
Irvine Welsh is apparently brilliant at writing some seriously mind-tripping novels. I noticed that a lot of people rated this poorly after getting to the particularly gruesome sections of the book, but that doesn't do the story justice. I found myself weaving back and forth between feeling utter disgust towards the narrator as well as a confusing sense of sympathy. The narration eventually ties together at the end so things begin to come together as to what has truly happened, but the flashbacks Welsh uses also create an interesting picture of what causes human behavior. I promise, there really is a point to all the sick and twisted violence and it's definitely worth reading all the way through! ( )
  PagesandPints | Sep 1, 2016 |
Possibly one of my favourite ever book titles, and truly nightmarish too. Narrated by a man in a coma, it starts out as a trip through South Africa on the trail of the eponymous stork, but it quickly becomes clear that this is nothing more than an imaginary smokescreen to obscure the real story of squalid violence that led to him being in a coma in the first place. In this regard you get the picture quite quickly, but it's not until the end that the full picture emerges, and as one might expect from this author, it's brutal and shocking. Not one I'll be able to get out of my head in a hurry. ( )
  jayne_charles | Mar 2, 2015 |
I'm becoming quite the fan of Mr. Welsh. His prose just continues to slam into, daring you to put the book down. ( )
  hhornblower | Sep 6, 2014 |
If you can accept violence and other off-putting contents of a book and want to enjoy a novel that’s compulsively readable, this is it! If you’ve never before heard of Irvine Welsh, he is the Scottish author who is best know for his novel Trainspotting which was subsequently made into a movie. Start with that book and make yourself familiar with the Scottish dialect he uses in it before beginning to read Marabou Stork Nightmares. Use an online glossary, if necessary, to help understand the Scottish vocabulary.

Your next step should be to read this book which is incredibly imaginative. It’s the story of one Scottish lad and his family who live in the projects of Edinburgh, move to Johannesburg, South Africa, but end up returning to Scotland. As the story opens, Roy Strang lays in a coma in a hospital. We follow his story on three levels: as he becomes aware of his current environment, as he remembers his past, and as he forces himself into a deeper state of consciousness in which he and a pal are hunting a Marabou Stork.

Oddly, what brought me to reading this book in the first place was a challenge to read a book with the name of a bird in its title! When I looked up that marabou stork, I found one truly ugly bird and wanted to learn more about it, albeit in the form of a novel. What I found was a truly captivating story of an Edinburgh family, a brilliant piece of fiction that I could not put down. Granted that some of the contents of this book (sex, violence, animal abuse) may be off-putting to a few readers, however I was really taken up by the voice of the narrator. The compelling nature of this story reinforced my need to read more books by this author. ( )
8 vote SqueakyChu | May 6, 2011 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Irvine Welshprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bocchiola, MassimoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Skepticism was formed in Edinburgh two hundred years ago by David Hume and Adam Smith. They said: 'Let's take religion to the black man, but we won't really believe it.' It's the cutting edge of trade.
--P.R.
We should condemn more and understand less.
--Major
Dedication
For Trish, Laura, Davie & Scan
First words
It. was. me. and. Jamieson.
Quotations
It’s only through resistance that one can sense one’s own power: in the overcoming of that resisteance. Power always goes on and on until it finds its limits.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Roy Strang is engaged in a strange quest in a surrealist South Africa. His mission is to eradicate an evil predator-scavenger bird, the marabou stork, before it drives away the peace-loving flamingo from the picturesque Lake Torto. But behind this world lies another- the world of Roy's bizarre family, the Scottish housing scheme in which he grew up, his mundane job, a disastrous emigration to Africa, and his youthful life of brutality with a gang of soccer casuals. As one world crashes into the other, this potentially charming story of ornithological goodwill mutates into a filthy tale of violence, abuse and redemption.

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W.W. Norton

An edition of this book was published by W.W. Norton.

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