869. Trainspotting

Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
1993
Around 345 pages

Well, if Complicity didn't make you throw up, try giving this novel a go! I had seen the movie already, which, strangely, only strengthened my crush on Ewan McGregor. I can't say I enjoyed this, but it was very effective in upsetting me, which I guess was the point.

The novel is comprised of short stories that follow a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh in the late 80s. The characters and events feel very True. The life of a heroin addict is just completely different than people who aren't addicted, with different rules, culture, cycles, and, um, bodily issues. If you read this, or watched movie, you know about that one unforgettable upsetting scene. Actually, make that two unforgettable upsetting scenes.

This is the best novel on the List so far to deal with drug addiction, and I don't see it getting dethroned before the List is over. It is raw and real. God knows it doesn't glamorize drug use, but it also isn't one of those overly moral and melodramatic works either. We just watch these doomed individuals live lives that have been entirely corrupted by heroin. It's a horror show, the gross kind of horror a la Saw movies.

I actually read this in Scotland, which was the perfect choice as this is an immersive novel that you couldn't imagine taking place anywhere else. Thankfully, I didn't see that side of Edinburgh. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

A sequel was published in 2002.

Adapted into a musical in 2021.

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