- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; First Edition edition (3 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 022407587X
- ISBN-13: 978-0224075879
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 392,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for Irvine Welsh:
" The poet laureate of the chemical generation."
- "The Face"
" Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades."
- "Sunday Times"
" A pure writer, producing staggering feats of storytelling... the skill of a master."
- "Independent"
" One of the most original writers in Britain. He writes with style, imagination, wit and force."
- Nick Hornby, "Times Literary Supplement"
" The poet laureate of the chemical generation."
- "The Face"
" Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades."
- "Sunday Times"
" A pure writer, producing staggering feats of storytelling... the skill of a master."
- "Independent"
" One of the most original writers in Britain. He writes with style, imagination, wit and force."
- Nick Hornby, "Times Literary Supplement"
Peter Parker in Th eSunday Times
‘In the outrageous and exhilarating foul-mouthed book, Welsh once again uses the demonic to create serious comedy.’
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The further decline of Irvine Welsh,
By Mike Cormack (Aberdeen UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs (Paperback)
This is another novel by Irvine Welsh following pretty much the same trajectory as his others. Like "Marabou Stork Nightmares", "Filth", and "Porno", it's a story of a man working towards a breakdown. There are lots of drugs taken; this time it's mostly alcohol, and there's some welcome reflections on the destructive slow descent from social drinker to alcoholic. There's good use of mulitple perspectives to show each of the main character's thought processes, though not for any other real reason. There's some graphically-described sex, and one truly revolting scene (as always). Relationships and the banal malevolence of office politics are acutely described - Welsh has a razor-sharp eye if nothing else.The conceit of the novel is that, after Dorian Grey, a man suffers the consequences of another's substance abuse. Quite what this is meant to suggest I don't know. Apart from some musing on the symbiotic nature of enemies and nemesis', it's not really an allegory or a metaphor for anything, it's just a conceit to allow some highly vivid descriptions of physical decay. The thing is, it's not only following a law of diminishing returns (so that these retreads on familiar material get progressively worse, "Porno" excepted because of his all-too-evident fondness of the old characters). To progress with your art you have to struggle. There's no struggle here, no development. It's slightly more "literary" in that there are more allusions and quotations, but far less literary than "Trainspotting" because there's no depth to the novel. It's in present-tense, this-this-this style which allows no reflection and no real substance. Welsh really must get out of his comfort zone. If he would write about street culture as its happening now, or about the corruptions of power without resorting to bodily metaphors, or about the class war from the post-modern perpective, I'd be interested. But he's not pushing himself, and it's getting boring.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hit & Miss,
By Craigers (Norway) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs (Paperback)
Just finished reading this book in a rare 1 day stint. Having read all his previous books, some brilliant (Trainspotting, Glue, Porno), some average (Ecstacy) and some downright weird (Marabou Stork nightmares)I found this to be a muddle of a book containing elements of all the above.Yes it was entertaining enough to keep me reading in almost one session, and there are some parts which are classic Welsh, but in saying that the author seems to have bursts of creative energy followed by sections which seem to contain a distinct lack of interest or inspiration. There are many interesting threads which if they had continued would have made great reading, however most of these seems to get forgotten or die a quick death. There are also sections which dont seem to add any value to the overall novel themes. The relationship between Kay and De Freitas and what becomes of it being a typical example. Another would be the Ian / Brian / Star Trek thread. The book is highly cliched in parts and I guessed the "shock revelation" about half way through the book. Definately not up to scratch with the classics, full of promise that never quite materialises and disappointing in the end.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lacking in humour but not his worst book ..... just.,
By
This review is from: The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs (Paperback)
First of all I would like to point out that I am a big fan of Irvine Welsh and I really wanted to like this book as it's been a long time in the making. I love his style of writing and you can usually rely on him to provide some genuinely laugh out loud moments as well as moments of gut wrenching horror. The main problem with this book is that, in my opinion, the humour is somewhat lacking. Another issue I have is that the protagonist is instantly dislikeable with no redeeming features whatsoever. I just didn't like the guy and couldn't relate to him at all.I think perhaps Irvine Welsh has maybe spread himself too thin by concentrating on the plotline as opposed to establishing a strong network of characters. And therein lies the problem because the interaction between the characters are what makes Irvine Welsh novels, novellas and short stories engrossing. The plot itself revolves around Danny Skinner, a handsome 23 year old from (as always) Edinburgh. It focuses on his relationships with women, his mother, the father he never knew and is desperate to find, alcohol and a new work colleague called Brian Kibby who he takes an instant dislike to. In a surreal plot twist, Skinner finds that damage that ought to accrue to his body through his lifestyle is instead inflicted on clean living Kibby. At first Skinner enjoys this power but then finds it to be an albatross round his neck hindering the search for his father. This search takes him from Leith to San Francisco and back to Leith. Along the way he interacts with many people who, for some reason, take a liking to this loathesome character. I won't spoil the ending but to me it was pretty obvious who the father was from very early on in the book. Whether or not that was supposed to be apparent I am not sure. As suggested at the start, Welsh always provides some toe curlingly horrific moments in his stories and this book has two such moments. Two too many for me but some people might find the second incident (when Skinner meets the White Witch) funny. If you do, you've got problems! :-) As the title of this review suggests, this isn't Irvine Welsh's worst book. However, in all honesty, I would say I found it only marginally more enjoyable than Maribou Stork Nightmares which was a horrible book to read for me.
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