I love Welsh. But recently some of his books (notably: Crime) have been fairly awful. Also, prequels tend to be pretty poor (i.e. Star Wars) and usually leave me think, "ah...that's why that story was left out of the first book." Skagboys had me feeling the exact same way. It started great and then just began dragging. Then crawled and became worse. Then died on the table. Such a long and tedious effort. Boring. Uninteresting and unlinked stories bleeding in and out of one another. I'm still waiting for the return of Welsh to form. Another dismal read. I did enjoy this book which acts as a precursor to Trainspotting but whereas Trainspotting was a short punchy and vibrant novel..somewhat punk in feel..this is more overblown and epic and as such a bit more progressive rock!!That's not to dismiss this book it it as engrossing collection of events within the characters lives and works well as a novel...however it's far more drawn out and I feel Trainspotting had it's strength in presenting a bleak tale but in such a short form that humour and warmth shone through more.There is still humour and warmth in this tale the characters remain likeable despite their flaws ..this is in many ways a origin tale..the origin of addiction and it succeeds in presenting the backstory that I think Trainspotting elevates.
It took me a few chapters to understand the writing but once I had it figured out it was worth it.
—mimidxo
LIVE LOVE LOVE Irvine Welsh - reminds me so much of home:)
—datao
Almost as good as Trainspotting.
—gabis199
Better still than the formers.
—kenks
