|
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Irvine Welsh
|
by Irvine Welsh
|
by Irvine Welsh
|
by Irvine Welsh
|
by Irvine Welsh
|
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Irvine Welsh delivers another grisly yet enthralling insight into the mindset of the Scottish underclass in Marabou Stork Nightmares. This bleak tale is told by Roy Strang, a jug-eared underachiever who happens to be in a coma. As he flits in and out of reality in his hospital bed, we learn about the dysfunctional Strang family--Vet, his well-intentioned dinner-lady mother, John, his violent security guard father, half-brothers Bernard and Tony, disabled brother Elgin and naive little sister Kim.
Growing up on a housing estate in Muirhouse, Edinburgh, Roy unavoidably gets into scrapes with other kids and, as his crimes eventually become more serious, the police. Welsh expertly interweaves into this base reality Roy's surreal hallucination of his time spent in South Africa with "Sandy Jamieson"--the fearless hunter (a figment of his troubled mind) with whom he goes in search of the vicious but elusive Marabou Stork, a beast that isn't what it seems to be. Roy trains his mind to shut out the present and finds comfort in his African escapism--anything to avoid dealing with the consequences of his actions in real life, and his mother's singing.
The Strangs move out to South Africa in the hope of making a better life for themselves and to raise their "prospects", but they are disillusioned when, in a country where white skin is considered superior, they still fail to achieve their desires. Back in Muirhouse Roy works his way up to systems analyst from a trainee, but in his own time gets his kicks from football hooliganism; he gets involved with a bad crowd whom he finds himself joining in the docks before long.
The exercise and abuse of power is a consistent theme throughout the book: it's depicted between the hunters and animals, nurse Patricia Devine and Roy, Roy and the family dog, uncle Gordon and Roy, Lochart Dawson and the black South Africans, rapists and their female victim. Having been abused in his early years--physically, verbally and sexually--Roy, in a comatose state, is unable to fight anymore and is rendered a victim as well as a perpetrator in his state of limbo.
Using style nuances now familiar in his work, such as writing in dialect and eschewing quote marks, Welsh presents a modern-day Kafka-esque tale of exaggerated realism, told with dark humour and making sure to blunt any polished edges. --Angela Boodoo
Review
"A wonderful success: a funny, cleverly composed, genuinely exciting and assured leap of a novel."
--"New Statesman"
See all Product Description
Browse and search another edition of this book.
It. was. me. and. Jamieson. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
Related forums
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > W > Welsh, Irvine
- Books > Fiction > By Period
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
Fun for Everyone |
More From Irvine Welsh
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh 'Welsh has certainly described the world surrounding Edinburgh's...
Read more
|
A Close Shave |
Treat Someone
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). |
|||||||
| |||||
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
Amazon Home | |
| International Sites: United States | Germany | France | Japan | Canada | China | |
| Business Programs: Sell on Amazon | Fulfilment by Amazon | Join Associates | Join Advantage | |
| Customer Service | Help | View Basket | Your Account | |
| About Amazon.co.uk | Careers at Amazon | |
| Conditions of Use & Sale | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates |