Rating: 
Summary: just like home
Review: As i live in the area this great novel is based i hav a better insight to how real it is. This novel held me from front to back, unlike most people who have written reviews i had no problem with the language(but i realise how much of a problem it could be). Trainspotting portrayed what my area WAS like perfectly, even the toilet scene.One last thing to say, that novel is based in the 80's, my area has changed greatly since then. If someone was to set it nowadays they would have a hard time making it seem realistic. However overall the best novel i have read............yet
Rating:
Summary: By far, one of the best books I have ever read...
Review: Do yourself a favor. Read this book. It's a challenge. I've seen a lot of people get frustrated with the Scottish dialogue and give up. Don't quit. Just keep at it. You won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Feverishly Good
Review: I really, really like this book, but I honestly had no clue what was happening until somewhere in the middle, where I finally understood (somewhat). I will tell you this right now: you most likely won't understand until near the end. That's when all of the pieces will fit together. This book deserves more than 5 stars. The reason why I gave it only 4 stars is because of the dialogue... which confused the hell out of me! The characters are Scottish, so it took me a couple minutes for each page. If you don't mind struggling a little bit, then give this book a try. I think that you will be glad that you did.
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Summary: Powerfully addictive . . .
Review: from the start, the reader is pulled into a world of addiction and depression. The novel closely resembles the drug it so often mentions. This literary "smack", once read, is dark, dirty, humorous, and comes down hard. Read it and get hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonably Good
Review: I personally find Trainspotting reasonably good,the truth is that I've seen Trainspotting more than 7 times,and read the book at least 4 times in both plain British English as well as in Scottish slang. It is provocative, yes, especially the heroin scenes. But,it is also the Identification,that you'll probably start having after seeing the film,with the main character. Reasonably Good, that's my 5 Quid on this book review. Thanks for your time mates,cheers.
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Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This is the story of Scottish heroin junkies and their friends. Drugs, HIV/AIDS, drugs, sex, drugs, welfare, drugs and more healthy fun is what you'll find in this exquisite novel. Trainspotting is often compared to A Clockwork Orange... For one thing, they both write in slang (it takes a while to pick up but after a wee bit you'll find yessel typing the same wae, likesay... daft draftpaks) and are both very explicit. Still, they are different. Trainspotting is a little more "real," dealing with the present, while ACO warns us of the future. Trainspotting revolves around a group of characters while ACO is about one protagonist (who is actually an antagonist too, if you're keeping score). In any event, it's safe to say that if you liked one, you'll like the other. For people who are familiar with the movie but not the book: A few years after I saw the movie for the first time, I decided to read the book... And I must say, the book is much better. If you enjoyed the movie, you will LOVE this. Granted, the book is harder to follow. It's written from different points of view (not just Renton's), and thus includes many scenes/characters not in the film. Don't say "I saw the film, let's move on to something else..." READ THE BOOK!
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Summary: READ IT!!!!!
Review: That's the best book i've ever read... u can't miss it... unless u are afraid of knowing what's happening with our generation...
Rating:
Summary: Trainspotting the Novel
Review: After seeing the film "Trainspotting" I decided it was time to read the novel that got it all started. After all, the lead actors in the film even claimed they feel in love with it after thier first reading! Trainspotting had to be the first Real adult book I read. Now being 15, at the time I was 14, it was a bit of a chllange. The hard scottish accents were tough to get around, but once you got through the first two chapters it was fine. Welsh does however, start his chapter of strangely in the sense that you are never quite sure who is talk until you reach at least the second page. Over all. It turned out to be the best book I ever read! IThe characters caught my attention and they gained my sympathies (even when, at times, they didn't desrve it). Renton is an amazing voice in the book and it is no wonder that Ewan McGregor turned him into a cult hero in Britain. This book should definitely be on the top of everyones reading list. As it is, I have read it three times, not to mention lent it out so often, that I find I will have to buy myself a second copy. And it's definitely worth it. Trainspotting is Irvine Welsh's greatest accomplishment! READ IT!
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Summary: Brutally, disgustingly, hilariously disturbing.....
Review: Irvine Welsh's blistering debut novel hit the literary world like a meteorite on first publication, spawning a deluge of pale imitators seeking to reveal the seedy underbelly of society to a readership fascinated by the junkies, hooligans and losers that Trainspotting had brought to life so vividly. Welsh's book is the genuine article though, a fragmented collage of tales based around the lives of Renton, the anti-hero, cod philosopher and sometime heroin addict, Sick Boy, the Don Juan with a heart of stone, Spud, the gormless, animal loving humanitarian (and the only genuinely sympathetic charcter in the book), and Begbie, the psychotic thug whose twisted logic all bow down to through motives of self preservation. Those who have seen Danny Boyle's excellent film adaptation will know that Trainspotting's plot (in the loosest sense of the word) concerns the highs and lows, the thrills and despair of living on the Edinburgh schemes during the 80s, and Renton's attempts to escape the life he has built for himself. The film omits large chunks of the book out of the necessity to boil down the plot for the shorter attention span of cinema-goers, but the essence of the book is still captured admirably. The moral neutrality of Trainspotting is a huge positive for me. There is no sermonising here: Welsh makes no bones about the fact that using heroin is seductively pleasurable, but equally he paints a grim picture of the downside - Renton's attempts to give up the skag are particularly stomach churning. However, the book is exuberant in its appetite for life, and those living on the edge of it. The anti-right wing politics are present but not especially overt, and accountability is never shifted from the shoulders of the individual. The novel's shifting narrative, together with Welsh's decision to write in the Edinburgh dialect, is initially disorienting, but ultimately reveals events from several different perspectives - illuminating more than would otherwise have been possible. The language is visceral and pulsing with life - not for the faint hearted (you may well find yourself reading in a Scottish accent in your head!). Some of the episodes, such as the toilet scene and the bedclothes scene are brutally, disgustingly hilarious: Welsh shows no regard for the finer sensibilities of his readers and occasionally I found myself squirming in my seat! A certain amount of moral outrage has dogged Trainspotting since it's birth, but this has not prevented the novel from building a formidable reputation as an acute, funny, disturbing and painfully honest novel that is not afraid to confront its subject matter unflinchingly. It is one of my favourite books. If you can take it, it may well become one of yours.
Rating:
Summary: Extra-ordinary
Review: I had heard about the movie and decided to read the book first (only to find myself vastly disappointed with the cinema version). Irvine Welsh delves into the lives of these junkies and the pages seem to come alive. One finds himself disgusted, charmed and saddened by this lifestyle in Scotland. All in all I couldn't put the book down, reading it while on a bus tour through Europe. The vernacular style of the book was a bit difficult, at first, but once I got used to it I was off and running. I have read Welsh's other novels, as well, and found Ecstasy to be equal in entertainment quality.
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