The Acid House
Ratings14
Average rating3.8
The characters in this extraordinary book are often - on the surface - depraved, vicious, cowardly and manipulative, but their essential humanity is never undermined. Two professors of philosophy turn pugilists; Leith removal men become the objects of desire for Hollywood goddesses; God turns Boab Coyle into a house-fly; and in the novella, 'A Smart Cunt', the drug-addled young hero spins off on a collision course with his past. The Acid House is a bizarre, disturbing and hilarious collection from one of the most uncompromising and original writers around.
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As good now, as the last time I read it, when it was first published. I'd pretty much forgotten every word!
If you've read anything by Irvine Welsh (or seen the film Trainspotting), you should know what you're getting here: drugs and alcohol, working-class and chavvy Edinburghians., football, and a healthy dose of punk rock attitude. What Welsh also shows here, though, is a sharp, wicked sense of humour.
This collection of short stories definitely isn't for everyone (especially due to the language issue – Welsh writes half the time in a working-class Scots dialect, and uses a lot of four-letter words when doing so), but some of the stories in here are just excellent, especially The Sexual Disaster Quartet, Granny's Old Junk, The Two Philosophers, and Disnae Matter.
