Rating: 
Summary: Right on target!
Review: Trainspotting immediately drags you into the world of a junkie, with all its pain and ecstacy. The power (like a blow to the stomach) of this book are its poignant observations, and lack of moralization. You'll find it hits a bit too close to home, no matter what your lifestyle. You become a bonafide co-dependent member of this click, and sink into the carpet right along with them. Although painfully violent and twisted, the book tells it like it is - and in the end, we're all dealing with the same shit. A must read for those creatures curious about the soft underbelly of life. Trainspotting will take you there
Rating:
Summary: Hearts and Minds
Review: People keep comparing this book to "A Clockwork Orange", but I'd throw in "Catcher in the Rye" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn", yet perhaps with more heart and pathos than any of those. Also an outstanding example of how dialect can work in the hands of a skillfull writer
Rating:
Summary: Trainspotting: Choosing Life
Review: The controversial novel Trainspotting may be a challenge for those of us Americans who may not grasp the culture or language of the Scottish people. But when you take a closer look, Trainspotting is a book that anyone who has ever had friends going on a downward spiral can relate to. There are no heros in this book. Everyone has their share of downfalls and bad experiences. In no way does the novel glamorize heroin use of any kind. In fact, it should serve as a wake up call for anyone looking into the junkies' life. It is sometimes touching, often humorous, and most of all, real and disturbing. Even so, the reader becomes attached to the characters. The bold and outspoken Mark Renton, the cocky yet gorgeous Sick Boy, and even the screw-up Spud are all characters that will be etched into the reader's memory. I personally enjoyed this book thoroughly. Not just because of its use of integrating different outlooks and directions, but because it gave me a taste of what it is like to live on the "other side" of society. It is a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in what goes on in the mind of thieves, bar-hoppers, and drug addicts. Irvine Welsh's writing is a style that is hard to compare to any other author. Two thumbs up
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: On the surface, this novel is an unapologetic story about junkies. But there's much more to it than that:
You're missing half the meaning of the novel if you
don't catch the references to Kierkegaard. Ultimately,
the characters are wrestling with the concept of morality.
Renton mirrors Kierkegaard's spiritual development, but with a twist. I don't want to give too much away, so you must read it yourself. Each chapter is a story unto itself,
full of wit and irony. I couldn't put it down!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: As a reader currently accustomed to standard paperback bestseller crap "Trainspotting" was a welcome change. I admit, I didn''t discover this book in its obscurity but was influenced to read it after the great media-hype surrounding the film, but I still feel gratitude I read the book before watching the movie. This book, unlike other mind-numbing American novels later turned into films, intrigues the reader and teases his thoughts and his perception of border lines and what is acceptable and unacceptable. The novel never urges the reader to try any drug but rather shows the real side of drug use, the ups and downs of mainly Heroine and alchohol, in a funny and provokingly interesting way. With the use of intricate scottish slang Welsh manages to expose the dark realities of
hopeless junkie lives and bring out the humor of those empty lives, while still incorpporating hilarious sex scenes, harsh violence and drug use. A definate must-read, this book will
hopefully open the minds of its readers, if there is any hope
in the youth of this great world of ours!
Rating:
Summary: Are we straights really that different from junkies?
Review: I couldn't put it down. I was amazed at the self-annihilating depths to which young people can sink. Welsh's exquisite
writing illuminated for me that the seemingly insane rationalizations the characters invoke, to themselves and to others, are different from those used by the rest of us only in degree.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: See the movie or not, but you've got to read the book. Welsh is brilliant in his gritty, yet all-too-real, portrayal of the disaffected, heroin-addicted, corrupted, conniving, comical youth of Scotland. Welsh gets criticized for glamorizing heroin, but it's just honesty. There's got to be a reason, or multitude of reasons, why people shoot up and Welsh tells it like it is. No more no less. Shades of Burroughs' 'Junky' and Johnson's 'Jesus' Son' are here. Just different faces and places.This isn't a "Go out and try heroin now!" book, it's a fascinating glimpse into the life of a junky, and if it's too real or too right on for the mass media than Welsh has done his job. Read it. Love it. Savor it. Books like this don't come along that often
Rating:
Summary: Like spotting a train, then getting hit by it
Review: Love this book! Probably the first twenty pages are the roughest in terms of acclimating yourself to the dialect--which is unfortunate, because some really great stuff happens right up front. Overall, you'll be shocked. You'll be disgusted. You'll be depressed. But you'll leave redeemed and really knowing all of the characters and feeling like you've gone a few paces in their Docs. The novel definitely smacks (excuse the pun, it just popped out) of A Clockwork Orange, in many respects. Not a bad benchmark. Definitely a can't put it down kind of book. I was hooked from the getgo. Saw the movine the day I finished the book, and while seeingthe characters and situations come to life on-screen was interesting, someone who only sees the film will be missing 90% of Trainspotting. Don't get me wrong, see the film, but read the book first. Anyway, enough about the film. Go get the book, pop open a Guiness, put on some Iggy Pop, then take a quick read through the glossary and dive in
Rating:
Summary: Choose life. Choose Trainspotting.
Review: When I first came across Trainspotting in the fall of 1994 I was reluctant to immerse myself in the graphic protrayal of heroin addicts. After seeing the film on a visit to "Auld Reekie" this spring I reconsidered.
I say to anyone who isn't quite sure about whether or not to take on the adventure of Trainspotting that it is worth it. Yes, much of the subject matter is dark (comedy) but Welsh's writing is spectacular, you begin to understand the depths of the human condition and how we get there. (PS- Scots can be tricky but most of the slang can be understood from context)
Rating:
Summary: hot stuff
Review: read it
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