Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

17 reviews

whoisrois's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

So so so good. (obviously) 

I enjoyed the self contained short story chapters outside of the main plot best

A lot of characters to keep straight, I keep mixing 2nd prize, Davey, Marty and Tommy up 😮‍💨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Excrement, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

bookmuva's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I loved this book so much more than I originally thought. It took me a bit to get used to the way it’s written in Scots/English but it added more to the book. Some parts were super out of left field and hard to read, but all in all an interesting story. It was hard to keep up with the characters, but once you get them in order you see how all their lives intersect. Another book I would potentially read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

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

dannymonty's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

4.25

The movie which this book is based on is probably my favorite of all time. I like it better than the book, but Irvine Welsh's novel has a style and charm that can't be ignored. This is a challenging read. Without the glossary, I would have drowned in the Scottish dialect completely. Once you get used to it, the language becomes part of the fun. The novel switches perspectives a lot, often without warning. What is impressive about the heavy use of dialect is that, because all the characters speak differently, you can tell who is talking without their name being mentioned in the text. Overall, this book is a substantial collection of shocking, gritty moments that make for a unique and memorable reading experience.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism and Chronic illness

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, and Pregnancy

wantstoloveajedi's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

maxor76's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Transphobia and Suicide attempt

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

porporina's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

beac's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer

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