The Acid House

I love the idea of short stories in one book! Sometimes it's easy to get a little distracted when reading or to have to set a book down and won't be able to get back to it in awhile. So, it's nice to get a change up every once and awhile or to be able to finish something shorter and pick it back up a little later and start something new. I got this book at a gift and can't wait to give it since it's the person's favorite author!

What a book. Full of rich language that celebrates the Scottish brogue. A clear, sharp view of post Thatcher Scotland in lyrical short stories.

It wasn't clear from the description at first that the Kindle Edition was only in Italian so I bought it and now have wasted $8 on a copy I can't understand. I want a refund.

Bought as a gift. Looks great and the shipping was very, very speedy! Thanks

Irvine Welsh is fantastic.

This was the second book of Welsh’s that I have read, the first being of course the incomparable Trainspotting. This was a collection of short stories and a novella, some of which was along similar lines as his famous first novel, and other pieces that looked in other directions. Throughout the reader can count on Welsh’s wiseguy drollery, quick pacing, and narrative surprises. He often paints a dark picture, but the humor of a rebellious, working-class youth is never far from the surface. He sees the world in a negative light, full of backstabbing and fatuousness, but somehow that is all right – the evils of life are redeemed by the adventures and odd individuals that his characters run into.Welsh is very devoted to the working class Scottish milieu in which he himself grew up. Most of these stories are set there or feature characters from it, and much of his work is written, Robert Burns style, in the way that the Scots speak. In fact, there is a certain type of character that is the focus is most his writing: a young, Scots male – disillusioned, fond of drink and/or drugs, an intelligent non achiever with a wiseguy attitude. Mark Renton, the hero of Trainspotting, was just such a character, as is Brian, the lead in the novella. Brian travels the same streets as Renton and his mates, and even knows a couple of the same characters. It all seems quite believable, although the level of violence and drug consumption must be a bit exaggerated. I enjoyed Brian’s story for reasons similar to why I liked "Trainspotting" – the wit, the realistic feel, the vicarious pleasures of walking on the wild side. But somehow his story did not move me as much as Mark’s did – perhaps because Mark was walking through the darker and more dangerous world of heroin addiction, and there was a stronger plot. Plot by the way is not Welsh’s strong point as a writer – his longer stories can have an aimless, episodic feel which is not necessarily unenjoyable.The book starts off with “The Shooter”, a first rate little thriller with a nasty little twist at the end. This is followed by perhaps the best story in the collection: “Eurotrash”, the tale of another young Scottish tough who finds himself in Amsterdam and enmeshed with a strange, trashy woman. “The Two Philosophers” is about two philosophy professors who debate their ideas in a blue collar bar, and end up pressured by local bad boys into doing something they ordinarily would not do. Welsh also shows another side in some of these stories: a more absurd and experimental approach that sometimes yields clever results. My favorite in this vein is “Snowman Building Parts for Rico the Squirrel”, which is a hilarious spoof of a corny Hollywood movie. Oh yes, and 3 of these stories were made into good short films and released together with the same title of the book. All in all, a fine collection from this unique talent.

I read this for my group group and was the only one who enjoyed it. It is crazy out there and gross, but also enthralling. You can't help but be impressed by the ideas and execution of his stories. Maybe time I finally watched Train Spotting.

Picked up without any expectations, or knowledge of the author, dazzled by interesting architectural arrangements of words while flipping through (LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT... in "The Acid House", title story, possibly the best as well), I am SO GLAD I found this book. And Irvine Welsh. Relentlessly honest, lasciviously poetic and descriptive, amazingly precise character insight and sympathy about the inner twistings of despair. I'm not quite articulate yet because I'm still high with excitement over this book, and I feel like I now have to read everything he ever wrote just to revel in the disgusting, glorious, cruel and beautiful human condition some more. The back-cover blurbs make him sound like a guttersnipe who miraculously picked up a pen to wield like a mighty fork into the marshmallow shat out by bourgeois Men of Letters in Europe, but Welsh is clearly a master of language. His skill is no accident. His deftness and cleverness is on par with Martin Amis, and his tapestries of profanity and rough vernacular better than anything by Hubert Selby Jr. or Louis-Ferdinand Celine.He isn't just sick and deranged for stylish effect, either -- or purposes of irony and shock -- as Chuck Palahniuk can be faulted for (although I'm a fan of him as well). Welsh is just DRIVEN towards this kind of stuff, possessed of manic energy to tell the stories of the people he knows and feels the most intensely (lower-class mangle-mouthed Edinburghers [Edinburgheans? Edinberghites?])... with a clear commitment to artistry and honesty. This is not a book to be skimmed for shock value, but one guaranteed to shock and jolt with the best kind of reality-consciousness, if you're willing to dive into it. My favorite stories are "Eurotrash", "Vat '96", "Granton Star Cause", and "The Acid House" -- but they're all good.So -- yes. Yes yes yes. Read Irvine Welsh. Revel in the filth, because it's pretty glorious. And deciphering that verbatim Scottish accent is worth every second of your time as well -- the characters are there, living and breathing and dying, right between your ears.

I see Welsh very much as a contemporary equivalent of Joyce which is probably not a very original observation but still a valid one. Not since I read Dubliners have I found a collection of vignettes which draw out settings, dialogue and characters with such a vivid and assured style. The only differentiation seems to be the way that Dubliners uses didactic epiphany in the main or occasionally the lack of it, whereas characters in the Acid House who have epiphanies are in the minority, which gives the book a more pessimistic feel. Also Dubliners has that classical “unity” feeling of progressing through stages of life, whereas Acid House jumps around a lot more. Fun to read though, genuinely funny and well observed.

Irvine experiments with different writing styles in this short story collection. Some classic welsh stories in here, he does a good job of potraying schemeys in Scotland.Whilst this is not my favourite it is definitely worth a read. There are several short stories and a novella in this collection. The novella was okay but don't expect too much from it.

Some good short stories early on and did make me laugh in some places. The longer story in the second half of the book is ok. Worth a read.

Not bad

Not for the faint of heart!