Welsh - Back to his Best

Advantages: You already know the characters
Disadvantages: Can you handle another instalment?

...Irvine Welsh is back to his best with Trainspotting - Part II". I was disappointed with his offering like "Filth" in which I thought he was trying the shock and wierdo style a little too much. If you've read Trainspotting you'll know its slightly different from the film with a couple of additional characters but overall quite similiar. Porno keeps these characters but they are not in the story a great deal. Welsh keeps up his unorthodox style by having each chapter narrated by a different character which overlaps other chapters. Very similiar to the film Jackie Brown by Quinton Tarantino but not going back in time as much. The plot is set a couple of years in the future from where Trainspotting left off. I'm not too keen to tell you the complete story as you may not have read the book yet. But then again if you are...

The_Murf 26.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of Porno - Irvine Welsh

Sex Drugs and Videotape

Advantages: Seamless sequel, hilarious
Disadvantages: Dialect

...Irvine Welsh?s Trainspotting was a publishing sensation in 1994, and one of my all-time favourite novels. Eight years later, when Welsh reunited the Trainspotting characters in Porno, I had mixed feelings. I was absolutely dying to read it, but afraid that it wouldn?t be as good and that it would be a contrived piece of moneymaking. Could the characters stand the test of time, and would they have anything to say to each other or to us, the readers? For those who didn?t read Trainspotting, it concerned a group of mates from the poor areas of Edinburgh and their drinking, violence and, mainly, drug-taking. On the whole they were a thoroughly nasty bunch ? though also entertaining, funny and even charismatic. The novel ended with them all involved in a drug-dealing scam in which they were ripped off by one of the main characters...

sandrabarber 05.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Porno - Irvine Welsh

PORN

Advantages: Some great comic moments and a nice twist in the end
Disadvantages: Not as good as trainspotting

...PORNO, Irvine Welsh's highly entertaining sequel to the cult classic, Trainspotting, reunites the gang as they pursue another get-rich-quick scheme. Before reading Porno though, it would probably help to have read TRAINSPOTTING and/or GLUE. Porno is a direct sequel to Trainspotting, bringing back virtually all the characters from some ten years earlier, and adding some of the characters from Glue into the mix, most notably "Juice" Terry Lawson and Rab Birrell. Porno will lack a great deal of depth, resonance and familiarity for readers not acquainted with the characters and settings from those earlier books. • The Plot • It's been 10 years since Mark Renton walked away with the cash from a drug deal involving himself and his mates, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson, Danny "Spud" Murphy, and Francis Begbie. In this book...

proxam 16.02.2003 (08.03.2006) · Read review
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Review of Porno - Irvine Welsh

The Boys Are Back In Town

Advantages: A cracking good read.
Disadvantages: A bit hard for non-Scottish readers to understand.

...~ ~ The title for this opinion came to me as I was sitting in my ‘joe maxi’ at a red light, and the song “The Boys Are Back In Town” by the old Belfast band Thin Lizzie came on the radio. I’ve been planning a review of the Irvine Welsh novel “Porno”, where for the first time Welsh re-unites all of the seedy characters from his first (and only) blockbuster novel “Trainspotting” (1993) and brings them all together again in their old stomping ground of Leith in Edinburgh. And the title seemed very apt, considering the liking of the Thin Lizzie lead singer, the late, great Phil Lynott, for illicit pharmaceuticals of every description. ~ ~ I thoroughly enjoyed the novel Trainspotting, (but NOT the movie) and have read all of Welsh’s subsequent five novels, none of which reached...

the_mad_cabbie 15.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of Porno - Irvine Welsh

Choose Life

Advantages: It'll make you laugh
Disadvantages: You may have to master Scots before reading

...*This review contains offensive language* "Trainspotting" is considered a cult classic - will it still be read in 50 years from now? Many people would argue that Irvine Welsh writes only about drugs and uses his novels to portray their glory through the characters and their actions. The subject of drugs is potent in present day life and there are many other themes that are relevant to today's society but will perhaps not still be relevant in years to come. Drugs is just one of these issues and it does pay a major part in Trainspotting but there are manyother aspects that may not have been fully explored by the critics. These other themes include death, betrayal, friendship and rivalry; all of which have a main role in life as it is now. This particular novel is read by many different people, roughly 15-25 yrs old, perhaps...

Lil_Miss_Pink 14.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

Review of Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares

Advantages: An interesting read for all Welsh fanatics!
Disadvantages: Coarse Language, Racial and Sexual Prejudice, not meant for young readers

... Overview of Novel "Marabou Stork Nightmares" by Irvine Welsh Thoroughly explicit in his tales of personal struggle in the midst of a declining state, Welsh once again provides a truly delightful read. *Although not for the faintest of heart, as all Welsh novels are, one may desire to exercise caution while reading if there is predisposed sensitivity to harsh language, and prejudice. With that, Welsh in fact does well to uncover these prejudices that are still evident in modern life -- whether it be through racism, supression of homosexuality, sexism or any form of sexual derogation/humiliation. The interesting layout/style in which the story is written keeps the reader locked in, and the novel never gets dull with Welsh's keen knack for literary prose. Beautiful imagery is seen throughout the Strang family's travels to...

alovesey 04.04.2008 (03.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of Maribou Stork Nightmares - Irvine Welsh

Welsh sticks to winning formula

Advantages: Trainspotting in the new century!!!
Disadvantages: Over too quickly!!!!!

...Welsh's new offering - Glue - is a fast moving journey through the Edinburgh we all came to know in his first book, Trainspotting. This time, the four central characters are follwed through the 70's punk era, into the Thatcherite 80's, via the computerised 90's and finally into the new millenium. A fantasticly written book, his sharp, witty observations are - like Trainspotting - not for the faint hearted. His vocabulary has certainly been widely expanded by the inner city experience! The current thoughout the book is freindship, drink, sex, freindship, drugs, sex, freindship, violence, and freindship. A mixture guaranteed to keep you all rivetted! I have already read the book three times to savour it. Fast-paced, and "in your face", a true classic in the making. Miss this book at you peril!...

Steve.C 15.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Glue - Irvine Welsh

Junk Dilemmas

Advantages: Totally original, reality bites stuff
Disadvantages: gag moments & the getting used to reading with an Edinburgh accent

...To initially give you the boring bits, 'Trainspotting' was written by Irvine Welsh and was first published in Britain by Minerva in 1993. This was Welsh's first novel and I seem to remember at the time that it was acclaimed as the best first novel ever written - Welsh was seen as a major new talent and quite rightly so. From my own point of view, it's not the kind of book I would normally buy, but the acclaim was so high, I felt I had to see what all the fuss was about. Interestingly though, I have never felt the pull to buy any of his other books, perhaps because I was afraid they would be a disappointment - for 'Trainspotting' truely is an excellent novel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BOOK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trainspotting is based around the lives of a group of friends in Edinburgh who, mostly, are addicted to Heroin. We join the main...

Kes30 30.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

XTC...just say NO

Advantages: A look at some of the more distasteful aspects of life
Disadvantages: See above

...With the subject matter concerning paedophiles, necrophilia, bestiality, mindless violence and drugs, do you really need me to tell you this isn't a kid's book? Irvine Welsh's writing is documentary in style, a dark, gritty montage of a generation of losers who don't know where they're going and don't particularly care. ECSTASY, is his 'trip' into the rave generation. If he was guilty of making heroin highs sound a bit too tasty in Trainspotting, he's really gone over the top with the drug Ecstasy in this book. His long descriptions of the super-euphoric, love-everyone effects of MDMA make it sound like something that makes the world a better place. The three novellas collected in this volume present slice-of-life episodes from the lives of three quite different, yet alarmingly similar representatives of Welsh's favourite...

proxam 02.10.2002 (15.09.2005) · Read review
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Review of Ecstasy - Irvine Welsh

More Than Just a Hobby

Advantages: Humorous, a real insight, interesting style
Disadvantages: A bit rude/crude for those with a sensitive disposition

...raise its ugly head, all they can think about is scoring and everything else is of no importance. When things go wrong, they turn to smack to take away the pain. One character who does bear special mention is Begbie. Begbie is not a smackhead but instead is utterly psychotic and addicted to the adrenalin of violence and fear. He starts fights for fun, glasses people on a whim and controls his associates with fear. Even for his friends he is dangerous to know, as his instability and unpredictable nature can turn on those close to him. Despite the dark content of the book it is full of amusing incidents and Welsh?s storytelling frequently causes us to laugh out loud, which believe me can earn you funny looks on a train from Bristol to Reading. All in all the book is thought provoking, un-put-downable and highly entertaining but...

Ophelia 04.02.2003 · Read review
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Review of Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh