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Filip's Reviews > Skagboys
Skagboys (Mark Renton, #1)
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Ah dinnae really expect ah'm gaunny git intae a 500 page book that wis written in this dialect, likesay ken? Ah'm nae Scottish gadge masel.
But it really did wonders to the book, the language, and the culture that Irvine Welsh depicted in this prequel.
TL;DR - if you liked Trainspotting, you'll definitely like Skagboys too.
Note that this was my first venture into the world of Trainspotting, the crown jewel of this story - I deliberately decided to follow Renton & co. from the start, sticking my head into sand and ignoring the rest of the series until it was time to read/watch what happened next.
Like I said, the writing style discouraged me, as did the sheer size of the book, but it didn't take long for me to become immersed in the gritty reality of drug (and Margaret Thatcher) stricken Edinburgh.
The characters are as real as they can be. Welsh really takes his time to develop their persona and unique voice, evading the "bad character development" complaint that we see every so often in other books or films. We get to see inner dialogue of key characters at certain points in the book which sounds like a potential disaster and a jumbled mess of different accents and mannerisms, but comes across as necessary, fresh and coherent in this particular book. The characters are so well written that they became the plot itself, and didn't leave us desiring for a more linear one.
But it really did wonders to the book, the language, and the culture that Irvine Welsh depicted in this prequel.
TL;DR - if you liked Trainspotting, you'll definitely like Skagboys too.
Note that this was my first venture into the world of Trainspotting, the crown jewel of this story - I deliberately decided to follow Renton & co. from the start, sticking my head into sand and ignoring the rest of the series until it was time to read/watch what happened next.
Like I said, the writing style discouraged me, as did the sheer size of the book, but it didn't take long for me to become immersed in the gritty reality of drug (and Margaret Thatcher) stricken Edinburgh.
The characters are as real as they can be. Welsh really takes his time to develop their persona and unique voice, evading the "bad character development" complaint that we see every so often in other books or films. We get to see inner dialogue of key characters at certain points in the book which sounds like a potential disaster and a jumbled mess of different accents and mannerisms, but comes across as necessary, fresh and coherent in this particular book. The characters are so well written that they became the plot itself, and didn't leave us desiring for a more linear one.
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Reading Progress
October 10, 2012
–
Started Reading
October 10, 2012
– Shelved
October 22, 2012
–
Finished Reading
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Carly
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Nov 28, 2017 03:13PM
yay i'm always full of respect for people who read this and aren't scottish
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I just started this and am already discouraged by the dialect. I’m going to stick with it and hope it gets easier for me
Once you’ve been reading it for a while you get past that.
The dialect was slow going for me when I started reading Welsh, and for the first part of this one, since I hadn’t read him in a while. But I really enjoy it once I got into it. I’d say it was Barry, even. The frustrating aspect of this story, to me, was the constantly shifting perspective. As I read many chapters, I wasn’t sure who was speaking for several pages. Sometimes I’d think it was Rent only to get a clue that is was actually Simon or Spud.
