Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

The latest choice by my book club and no doubt the best so far, Trainspotting is a book I should have read years ago. Published in 1993, it was Irvine Welsh's first novel and one which brought him critical reclaim. The story follows the lives of a ragtag set of lowlifes on the Edinburgh drug scene: Renton, 'rid-heided cunt' heroin addict, Spud, naive shoplifter and addict, Sick Boy, manipulative pimp and serial womaniser, and Begbie, alcoholic psychopath addicted to violence. There is a wide host of other well-realised characters, but the females are arguably the weakest with no defining characteristics. Narration is delivered in a slip-shod way from the perspectives of different speakers and as such, chapters can be read more or less in any order.

What I loved most about Trainspotting was the language. Renton's heavy Jock slang was discordant and overwhelming to understand at first, yet after a few pages it became a second language to me and flowed like poetry. For those without a strong background in Scottish dialect however, the book is probably going to be extremely hard-going, or perhaps even unreadable. This would be a shame, as it's one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. Begbie steals the show every time he makes an appearance and was my favourite character. His point of view chapters were a sheer pleasure to read for all his vulgarity and aggression. The themes of drug abuse are very well accomplished and deliver the perfect mix of nausea and morbid curiosity. I particularly enjoyed the chapter 'Bad Blood'.

Rating: 4/5