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1and8pence2much's review against another edition
5.0
This book is definitely much less graphic than “Trainspotting” in terms of descriptions of people having sex and shooting up heroin. However, it greatly differs from it for the fact that it lacks warmth and occasional happiness. There are really only two points in the story where I can sense it, really, and this lack greatly contributed to my reaction to the story, as it reflects the situation of its characters extraordinarily well.
This book takes place between the years of 1984 and 1985 (this making me greatly question when “Trainspotting” is set. It is scary to imagine it being set in 1986, as I am so used to imagining it being set in the early 1990s!) and, fittingly, the 1980s being a horrible time, especially for lower class people in Edinburgh, whom this book concerns, starts with a detailed description of the Battle of Orgreave. The hopelessness the main character of this book, Mark, experiences after being beaten by police and seeing many other people be ruthlessly bludgeoned, resonates throughout the whole book (parts of this chapter appear near the end of the book too, which amplifies its importance greatly): if the government and the authority has no respect for who live under it, hope and, eventually, opportunity, dies.
Opportunity is, generally, a very well-represented theme. Opportunity in this book is very desperate and mainly consists of the characters run away from security in order to obtain money or heroin or try to steal money. To be honest, I did not consider this at all before I found an essay written about this book. As most of the characters in this book slowly lose their sense of purpose, it is fulfilled by addiction (considering this made the chapters taking place in the rehabilitation centre unnecessarily funny).
There is a Margaret Thatcher quote at the beginning of this book which states that “there is no such thing as society”. Irvine Welsh’s very negative opinions on Thatcherism are blatantly obvious through this book’s contents and what I particularly like is that, after reading the whole book and being faced with this statement, it started sounding really funny because of just how much it is contradicted. Society, and social marginality very much exists for the characters in this book. And, also, is not their friend group a society of its own, as conserving this friendship is an addiction to them (there is a chapter narrated by Nicksy, one of Mark’s friends who lives in London, who states that he dislikes Sick Boy, a very libidinous and manipulative friend of Mark’s and I nearly cried because he was so lucky to be able to say that, while Mark has no choice but to call him, and all of the others, “the best of them all”!)? Furthermore, economic individualism has definitely not brought any good to any of the them, but just destroyed them.
Although I really loved how these themes were developed in the book, I felt very overwhelmed by it. I also did not like Welsh’s use of offensive language (I know that Welsh uses derogatory terms to portray horrible people as horrible people, as they are never used by him as neutral descriptors, but I still think his use of them is wrong), which was, for some reason, very frequent. One of the reasons I love some of Welsh’s writing is because he writes black comedies very well and I also felt that this book lacked this element of dark humour which I really liked in “Trainspotting” and “Ecstasy”. Overall, for me, this was great, but, in my opinion, not “the best of them all”.
This book takes place between the years of 1984 and 1985 (this making me greatly question when “Trainspotting” is set. It is scary to imagine it being set in 1986, as I am so used to imagining it being set in the early 1990s!) and, fittingly, the 1980s being a horrible time, especially for lower class people in Edinburgh, whom this book concerns, starts with a detailed description of the Battle of Orgreave. The hopelessness the main character of this book, Mark, experiences after being beaten by police and seeing many other people be ruthlessly bludgeoned, resonates throughout the whole book (parts of this chapter appear near the end of the book too, which amplifies its importance greatly): if the government and the authority has no respect for who live under it, hope and, eventually, opportunity, dies.
Opportunity is, generally, a very well-represented theme. Opportunity in this book is very desperate and mainly consists of the characters run away from security in order to obtain money or heroin or try to steal money. To be honest, I did not consider this at all before I found an essay written about this book. As most of the characters in this book slowly lose their sense of purpose, it is fulfilled by addiction (considering this made the chapters taking place in the rehabilitation centre unnecessarily funny).
There is a Margaret Thatcher quote at the beginning of this book which states that “there is no such thing as society”. Irvine Welsh’s very negative opinions on Thatcherism are blatantly obvious through this book’s contents and what I particularly like is that, after reading the whole book and being faced with this statement, it started sounding really funny because of just how much it is contradicted. Society, and social marginality very much exists for the characters in this book. And, also, is not their friend group a society of its own, as conserving this friendship is an addiction to them (there is a chapter narrated by Nicksy, one of Mark’s friends who lives in London, who states that he dislikes Sick Boy, a very libidinous and manipulative friend of Mark’s and I nearly cried because he was so lucky to be able to say that, while Mark has no choice but to call him, and all of the others, “the best of them all”!)? Furthermore, economic individualism has definitely not brought any good to any of the them, but just destroyed them.
Although I really loved how these themes were developed in the book, I felt very overwhelmed by it. I also did not like Welsh’s use of offensive language (I know that Welsh uses derogatory terms to portray horrible people as horrible people, as they are never used by him as neutral descriptors, but I still think his use of them is wrong), which was, for some reason, very frequent. One of the reasons I love some of Welsh’s writing is because he writes black comedies very well and I also felt that this book lacked this element of dark humour which I really liked in “Trainspotting” and “Ecstasy”. Overall, for me, this was great, but, in my opinion, not “the best of them all”.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
1.0
I love Welsh. But recently some of his books (notably: Crime) have been fairly awful. Also, prequels tend to be pretty poor (i.e. Star Wars) and usually leave me thinking, "ah...that's why that story was left out of the first book."
Skagboys had me feeling the exact same way. It started great and then just began dragging. Then crawled and became worse. Then died on the table. Such a long and tedious effort. Boring. Uninteresting and unlinked stories bleeding in and out of one another. I'm still waiting for the return of Welsh to form. Another dismal read.
Skagboys had me feeling the exact same way. It started great and then just began dragging. Then crawled and became worse. Then died on the table. Such a long and tedious effort. Boring. Uninteresting and unlinked stories bleeding in and out of one another. I'm still waiting for the return of Welsh to form. Another dismal read.
charratesbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
The misogyny is accurate but hard to bare
barrydillon23's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
majortomwaits's review against another edition
4.5
Very slow compared to the other books, however, it is very introspective and very touching at the same time. Reading Renton's diary chapters was especially emotional and I found that formatting to be a wonderful addition (the very same 'skag diaries' were mentioned in Dead Men's Trousers).
All in all, not my favourite in the series, but it remains a fantastic read.
All in all, not my favourite in the series, but it remains a fantastic read.
cubit81's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is on par with Trainspotting. Better than Porno an amazing prequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug use, Sexism, Fatphobia, Rape, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Police brutality
yer_real_da's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Great seeing the Leith Four before their rapid descent into addiction, crime and violence that we see at full-throttle in Trainspotting. Enjoyable but a very slow read, multiple parts of the books could have ended up on the cutting room floor to make the book drag a bit less.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cursing, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Drug use, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
fitzin's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
paigebayliss's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25