My favourite author is back! "Juice Terry Lawson" is one of Irvine Welsh's best creations who first appeared in "Glue" then "Porno" soon after and a couple of cameo's since. Regular readers know Juice Terry is a likeable rogue; a shagger who totally embraces his addiction to sex. Now it's Terry's turn to take the lead role in a story and take us on a rumpy bumpy humpy ride. We are back in Edinburgh and Welsh's city is every bit as vivid as the city portrayed by Ian Rankin. Just a whole lot darker.
Irvine Welsh books have many constants. Sex, drugs, violence, appalling behaviour from all directions and the boundaries of good taste are well and truly booted down. Most of all they are literally laugh out loud funny all the way through and the author usually manages to find a shining light to lead us out of the murk and into Euphoria. "A decent ride" has all these ingredients and is a brilliant read but for once I'd pretty much guessed what was going to happen and the twists didn't have the shock value of classic Irvine Welsh. This isn't necessarily bad because it usually went the way I wanted it to go. Juice Terry has to actually grow up, take stock and become sensible but will he actually learn anything from the experience? Does the addicted reader want him to?
I actually read to proper reviews of this book but not until after I'd finished reading it myself. A review in the Guardian by Stuart Kelly is negative and dismissive, it's writer has made the mistake of taking the book seriously. It's a comedy you twat. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/24/a-decent-ride-irvine-welsh-review-novel
This one by Anthony Cummins in the Telegraph is a lot more how I saw it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11541477/A-Decent-Ride-by-Irvine-Welsh.html
By the way both reviews contain spoilers.
Irvine Welsh books have many constants. Sex, drugs, violence, appalling behaviour from all directions and the boundaries of good taste are well and truly booted down. Most of all they are literally laugh out loud funny all the way through and the author usually manages to find a shining light to lead us out of the murk and into Euphoria. "A decent ride" has all these ingredients and is a brilliant read but for once I'd pretty much guessed what was going to happen and the twists didn't have the shock value of classic Irvine Welsh. This isn't necessarily bad because it usually went the way I wanted it to go. Juice Terry has to actually grow up, take stock and become sensible but will he actually learn anything from the experience? Does the addicted reader want him to?
I actually read to proper reviews of this book but not until after I'd finished reading it myself. A review in the Guardian by Stuart Kelly is negative and dismissive, it's writer has made the mistake of taking the book seriously. It's a comedy you twat. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/24/a-decent-ride-irvine-welsh-review-novel
This one by Anthony Cummins in the Telegraph is a lot more how I saw it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11541477/A-Decent-Ride-by-Irvine-Welsh.html
By the way both reviews contain spoilers.
No comments:
Post a Comment