Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

16 reviews

microwavedchicken454's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Irvine Welsh's masterpiece, better and more disturbing than the iconic film - the Scottish dialect in particular makes it a challenging yet unforgettable read. If you love the film, this is a must read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Terminal illness

alice_appleby's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blau_elmo's review against another edition

funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The book is mostly written in a Scottish accent, filled with Scottish slang that I couldn't understand. That being said, that added to the memorability and appeal of the book.

The themes of drug use in the early 80s, the replacement of heroin with lesser drugs or alcohol or cigarettes etc. all feel very real, and even in the humorous moments, there is a darkness that permeates throughout. 

Ultimately, it is a book about the wasted lives of a group of junkies, their desires for redemption (unfulfilled), and the sheer dark power of addiction. 

Very unique, very subtly sad. But at least

good ol' Rents gets away from his terrible friends at the end of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

zoinkie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

isaacalaister's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I won't give it 5 stars, because I enjoyed the movie more and it made the characters seem more... human? Empathetic? Idk
This book is acid, hard, bleak and hilarious at the same time. 

It's all written in modern scots, so be aware of that. I recommend making your own glossary, you'll need it. 

This book is also a trigger warning fest, it has almost all trigger warning possible except necrophilia or something like that.
It's not for the thin skinned, but if you can handle anything that an author throws at you from the perspective of a drug addict in the 90's.

It's super recommended, even if you have never seen the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty

janewa's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

my_a's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It felt hyper-realistic, like people were filling me in on their lives. The style sucks you in. 

But I didn't get a lot of it. Seemed like a series of short stories rather than a novel. You get used to the dialect quickly but I found it difficult following who was narrating & who was being spoken about - so I'd know what was happening but not who it was between. Especially was confused by the switching people characters names and nicknames - but didnt want to google them and ruin any plot! Made it really hard to track characters and plot. Lots of moments seemed undeveloped and just left without follow up - particularly "The First Shag in Ages" chapter. Somes scenes and dialogue I found really disturbing and uncomfortable.

I think I need to watch the film and re-read it more intentionally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Trafficking

ailurolily's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Torture, and Excrement

Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Rape

quinnviv's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I went into it knowing that it could be a difficult read due to the dialect however that was my main draw to the book for research purposes. What I initially set off on when starting the book changed entirely once I found myself in the world and with the characters, who I didn't necessarily like but seemed to care for in some way.

The way Welsh differentiates the characters point of views through the change in writing style and accent was marvellous and I loved the working class perspective on big topics. I would've loved to see more of Stevie's and Nina's character as they presented an interesting outsiders look into the depravity of the scene that Renton has found himself in. My only gripe with the book was that at times I found myself disappointed in the disappearance of story threads but the disjointed structure of the book seemed to reflect the headspace of its characters which I appreciated.

This structure of vignettes coming from multiple peoples perspectives rather than a fully cohesive story was reminiscent of sitting around a table with old friends and telling the highlights/lowlights of the past year. It treated the reader as smart, engaging with topics of systematic injustice for the working class in Britain with an educated but genuine voice of the lower class, as well as forcing you to infer gaps within the story.  The moments where the perspective was from a woman showed an appreciation for their resilience when not only are they systematically oppressed but also poorly treated by the misogynistic men in the story. 

Practically, reading this book allowed me to process the writing much easier as well as improved my Scottish accent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism

anniekayobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol