Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The further decline of Irvine Welsh, 20 Dec 2006
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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A quality read!, 9 Jul 2007
A quality read!
What really did this for me is the writing, the language was incredible. The use of strong words that flowed together like a dream, and at the same time keeping Welsh's prominent style of laugh out loud, alcoholism, and the usual debauchery.
The story line is interesting and also quite meaningful, the comparison between the two characters Danny Skinner and Brian Kibby was masterfully created into two extreme personalities that Welsh had described with complete preciseness. Kibby is a totally nerd, goes to Star trek conventions, loves model railways and plays the lamest computer game on earth...Harvest Moon. Yet we get drawn extremely deep into his life, and at times i was hating him, feeling sorry for him and other times actually liking him.
In my opinion this is one of Welsh's best books, definitely worth a read!
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hit & Miss, 12 Aug 2006
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.
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