Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration [Paperback]

"Reheated Cabbage" gives us seven previously uncollected short stories and one never published novella by Irvine Welsh, international best selling author known as the master of "Scotsploitation." Welsh, author of ten previous works of fiction, including Porno, Crime, Glue, Filth, and the classic Trainspotting that was adapted into the 1996 international art house hit of the same name (Trainspotting [DVD] [1996]), has culled the stories from out-of- print journals and magazines. They are all set in Edinburgh, Scotland, but it sure isn't the tourists' Edinburgh: most of Welsh's characters appear to be out of work layabouts from the working class port area of Leith: one of them makes a crack about the working class origin bona fides of Edinburgh's current patron saint, Sir Sean Connery, who hails from the now-gentrifying area of the city known as Fountainbridge.

Could Welsh be considered also a practitioner of the current Scottish school of tartan noir writing? I would say so: most of these stories are violent, bloody, grisly, and laced with profanity: yet they are scathingly funny, with the darkest of Scots humor. His characters, none of whom seem to be burdened with jobs, are still, somehow, getting lots and lots of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The stories are largely written in dialect, for which the author has a pitch perfect ear: they are somewhat more difficult to read through than I, for one, would have liked, but, believe me, I haven't a drop of Scots blood, and I didn't find them that difficult. The author's imagination doesn't flag; stories rise to the heights of absurdity, and fall to the depths of depravity. The author's command of the ambiance of his home city is, of course, absolute.

Fans of the author's previous work will find some familiar faces in this collection. The novella, "I Am Miami," which does seem to present an unexpected softer side of the author, reacquaints us with "Juice" Terry Lawson and now internationally famous DJ Carl Ewart, the main characters from the 2001 "Glue," as they meet up with, in Miami, their old enemy and schoolteacher Albert Black, now retired. The volatile drunk Francis Begbie, of "Trainspotting," is back, angry as ever, as star and narrator of "Elspeth's Boyfriend." In "State of the Party," two friends high on LSD drag the corpse of a recently overdosed young friend across town, and get into a fight with some heat-seeking soccer hooligans. In "Victor Spoils," Gavin and Victor fight over a young woman getting her teeth pulled, as the dentist is sexually aroused by her mouth. In "A Fault on the Line," a young husband whose wife is emergency-room bound after losing her legs to a train station accident, wants only to be dropped off at home so he can catch the day's big game, Hibs versus Herts. In "The Rosewell Incident," a venture into science fiction, we learn why the inter-galactic aliens think in and speak the Scots inflected English of these young men, and plan to put them in charge of the planet.

Welsh's world isn't for everyone, what with one thing and another, but for those seeking the offbeat and the unexpected, here it is, and welcome to it. I don't think I'd personally want to meet any of these young men, but they sure are fun within the pages of a book.

Since I thoroughly enjoyed reading Filth, Glue, Porno, Crime, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs and others by Mr Welsh, when I saw this work of previously released short stories had been merged into a book, I clicked on Add to Basket and purchased and eagerly awaited my delivery.

I delved into the book almost the second it had been delivered and boy was I disappointed.

This collection of 8 short stories is in no way a true representation of the talent Mr Welsh has for writing some truly weird and wonderful fiction (let's hope they are fiction!!!).

The first story, A Fault on the Line, starts off the book badly and the rest of the book doesn't seem to get better from then on in. Although Mr Welsh's books have to be taken with a pinch-of-salt there are some truly unbelieveable stories which are a waste of time to read.

If you haven't read any of Irvine Welsh's books then please do so, he has written some brilliant stuff; just don't start with this book as it may put you off him for good.

Sorry but it might have been best not to re-publish these stories at all!

p.s. I gave this a rating of 3 stars and published this review, if I could alter this I would only give it 2 stars - the reason for this is that if you are a fan of Welsh, you have hope that the next story will be better than the last.

Welsh remains a genius, laughs tears and life exposed. One of a kind. There are ups and downs through these stories but any fan of Welsh must read