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scottiesandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
“The world changes, the world stays the same”
People have waited 20 years to read more of Rilke the auctioneer and his dark, seedy adventures with Glasgow’s underbelly. Luckily for me I only had 6 months to wait and even that was long enough.
Where The Cutting Room taught us about LGBT history from around the time of Clause 28, The Second Cut shows us how much has changed for queer people in such a short space of time between two books. Ok, yes it’s 20 years or so BUT in the grand scheme of things it’s not that long!
I did miss the seedy, sexy, dangerous side of Rilke from The Cutting Room but as times have changed so has he. He has matured along with Glasgow and is more careful (but alas still manages to get himself into all different kinds of mischief- read to find out).
I loved how current it was and yet, as the above quote suggests, same old same old. As society changes, crime remains. It just gets slightly smarter. I would say that there are more crimey elements to this one than the first, but it didn’t take away from the message the author wanted to portray.
The way Louise Welsh paints a picture of Glasgow will always blow me away. No one writes Glasgow like she does, making some of the dankest, dirtiest streets seem absolutely picturesque! No one writes the people of Glasgow like her either, she just gets it. Every single type of person you would come across, Louise can conjure on the pages.
Again, Les and Rose were formidable characters and it was lovely to see where they are at in their lives now too (exactly where I expected them to be). I absolutely loved when Les and Rilke had a conversation about trans rights and how things have changed from the past. Louise has definitely used her platform, and peoples love of Rilkes story to educate and inform. Where The Cutting Room was brave, the Second Cut is just as much.
I really hope this isn’t the last we hear from Rilke. I need more. Even if I have to wait another twenty years….
People have waited 20 years to read more of Rilke the auctioneer and his dark, seedy adventures with Glasgow’s underbelly. Luckily for me I only had 6 months to wait and even that was long enough.
Where The Cutting Room taught us about LGBT history from around the time of Clause 28, The Second Cut shows us how much has changed for queer people in such a short space of time between two books. Ok, yes it’s 20 years or so BUT in the grand scheme of things it’s not that long!
I did miss the seedy, sexy, dangerous side of Rilke from The Cutting Room but as times have changed so has he. He has matured along with Glasgow and is more careful (but alas still manages to get himself into all different kinds of mischief- read to find out).
I loved how current it was and yet, as the above quote suggests, same old same old. As society changes, crime remains. It just gets slightly smarter. I would say that there are more crimey elements to this one than the first, but it didn’t take away from the message the author wanted to portray.
The way Louise Welsh paints a picture of Glasgow will always blow me away. No one writes Glasgow like she does, making some of the dankest, dirtiest streets seem absolutely picturesque! No one writes the people of Glasgow like her either, she just gets it. Every single type of person you would come across, Louise can conjure on the pages.
Again, Les and Rose were formidable characters and it was lovely to see where they are at in their lives now too (exactly where I expected them to be). I absolutely loved when Les and Rilke had a conversation about trans rights and how things have changed from the past. Louise has definitely used her platform, and peoples love of Rilkes story to educate and inform. Where The Cutting Room was brave, the Second Cut is just as much.
I really hope this isn’t the last we hear from Rilke. I need more. Even if I have to wait another twenty years….
francesgardner's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
lachesisreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Edinburgh has Inspector Rebus, genteel and a little sad; Glasgow has Rilke, always chasing his next Grindr match while trying to stay afloat.
At a time when novels with gay protagonists often come with pink covers, Welsh shows us a different side to what it means being gay: the slurs, the sexually motivated violence, oppression and danger from without and within the community.
Welsh portrays the seedy, the dark, the animalistic ugliness of human desires, be they sex, money or oblivion. The Second Cut's Glasgow is not the 'dear green place', it's a character in its own, dark and despicable and yet strangely alluring, and always vaguely threatening.
Her masterly use of the weather plays into this effortlessly; it is always raining or about to, it is cold and dreary (dreich, a word I had forgotten I knew), and reading it one feels it never gets warm, or even properly light, all through the book. We cling to Glasgow's seedy underbelly, and it is wet with slushy mud.
There is a mystery - two mysteries entwined - in this story, but against the rich backdrop of the lives of the people we follow throughout the book, they almost take second rate; not the sleuth's personal problems as a backdrop to the crime they solve, but the other way around.
The build-up of the tension towards the end is impeccable; you both desperately need to read on and yet don't want to know; and against this the denouement felt a little flat, too easy; but then it is not the roaring thriller that needs a big show-down with bangs and bombs, so perhaps this was fitting in the end and a parallel to the lives lived in this book: full of potential and expectation that cannot be fully realised.
There are many very descriptive passages, and converations are also interspersed with generous helpings of description. It's all good description and helps set the rich mood of the book, but it does get a bit much and at times took me out of the reading experience.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary mysteries/thrillers with dark realism but low on the graphic violence/gore scale.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free review copy of this book. All opinions here expressed are my own.
At a time when novels with gay protagonists often come with pink covers, Welsh shows us a different side to what it means being gay: the slurs, the sexually motivated violence, oppression and danger from without and within the community.
Welsh portrays the seedy, the dark, the animalistic ugliness of human desires, be they sex, money or oblivion. The Second Cut's Glasgow is not the 'dear green place', it's a character in its own, dark and despicable and yet strangely alluring, and always vaguely threatening.
Her masterly use of the weather plays into this effortlessly; it is always raining or about to, it is cold and dreary (dreich, a word I had forgotten I knew), and reading it one feels it never gets warm, or even properly light, all through the book. We cling to Glasgow's seedy underbelly, and it is wet with slushy mud.
There is a mystery - two mysteries entwined - in this story, but against the rich backdrop of the lives of the people we follow throughout the book, they almost take second rate; not the sleuth's personal problems as a backdrop to the crime they solve, but the other way around.
The build-up of the tension towards the end is impeccable; you both desperately need to read on and yet don't want to know; and against this the denouement felt a little flat, too easy; but then it is not the roaring thriller that needs a big show-down with bangs and bombs, so perhaps this was fitting in the end and a parallel to the lives lived in this book: full of potential and expectation that cannot be fully realised.
There are many very descriptive passages, and converations are also interspersed with generous helpings of description. It's all good description and helps set the rich mood of the book, but it does get a bit much and at times took me out of the reading experience.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary mysteries/thrillers with dark realism but low on the graphic violence/gore scale.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free review copy of this book. All opinions here expressed are my own.
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