6 Irvine Welsh Novels Reviewed

It has been a non-eventful week, so I’m reverting to my trusted subject that is books. I am an avid fan of Scottish transgressive author Irvine Welsh. Here are 6 Irvine Welsh books that I have read. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Skagboys

Skagboys is a work of Transgressive Fiction whose main focus is many of its characters increasing obsession with heroin.

My Review: Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting. Its colourful, mostly young characters hail from the Edinburgh port suburb of Leith. There is the bookish, unambitious …(more)

Glue

Set in the author’s customary stomping ground, this episodic tome (556 pages) is in essence about growing up.

My Review: Glue is about four friends who hail from Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. It begins with them as infants in the 1970s, and ends at the dawn of the new …(more)

Marabou Stork Nightmares

This is an inventive book, boasting parallel stories and different levels of awareness. It is peppered with stylistic idiosyncrasies. 

My Review: Roy Strang narrates this story from the hospital in which he is lying in a coma. It begins in South Africa, where he and his friend Sandy Jamieson are hunting the …(more)

Dead Men’s Trousers

This work of transgressive fiction is infused with humour. The action takes place in Scotland and America.

My Review: The Trainspotting crew are back for another adventure. These days Mark Renton is a successful manager of DJs. Begbie is a famous artist, living the dream in California …(more)

The Blade Artist

The complex and manipulative protagonist, sordid characters and squalid descriptions will appeal to fans of the transgressive genre. 

My Review: Reformed Scottish ex-con Jim Francis (formerly Franco Begbie) is now a successful sculptor living the dream in sunny California with his former prison art therapist …(more)

A Decent Ride

This is one of Welsh’s lighter books. Its seediness, humour and bawdy Leith vernacular will appeal to many.  

My Review: Terry ‘Juice’ Lawson is an Edinburgh taxi driver who moonlights as a porn actor and drug fixer. Since losing his virginity at the age ofeleven, he has been obsessed with …(more)