Ok, I know I'm not even a little objective when it comes to Mr. Welsh... I've read all his novels and loved them all, although I'm still a bit skeptical about his short-stories - this is because I think his writing skills better develop in long stories than in short ones - and Skagboys, with its 618 pages, is quite a long novel.
Skagboys is the prequel of the world famous, much beloved and never prized Trainspotting. If you've ever wondered who Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie were before heroin, now you've got the chance to know it. As all is told in first person, besides their stories, you'll be acquainted with their thoughts and inner selves too.
Once It has been long since I read Trainspotting and, surprisingly, almost ten years have already passed since I read Porno (Trainspotting's sequel published in 2002), something that I haven't been able to track so far is the contextual coherence among the three novels but considering how lucid Welsh's writing is, I don't think lack of coherence is anything to be faced ever. So I admit it's definitely me who's lacking coherence now and I will solve this soon by reading the other two books again.
Further to the "Fab Four", you'll get to know better poor Tommy and his once fortunate relationship with Lizzie; Johnny Swan, a former schoolmate and late drug dealer of all of them; and Alison, who you'll surely remember to be the mum of the poor baby who dies unattended. Tommy and Alison are given personal chapters and their stories are as intruiguing and complicated as the main characters'.
As usual, Welsh's writing is witty, entanglements and plots are described with mastery and all smaller details is meant to deploy a much bigger situation that will surprise you at each page. From time to time, the narration is paused and page of notes on the political situation of that time will appear here and there, relieving you a bit from its tense stream and giving you impressions and facts on Scotland
at that time, smashed as a consequence of the most fierced Thatcherism.
Likewise, caustic and extremely bold notes from our skag heroes will also appear here and there, with the same purpose in writing as to hold on the story for a bit.
Get prepared to a handful of youth anger, offensive language, filthy behaviors and bad, cruel thoughts on sex, money, drug use and abuse; to the exaggeration of what can be bad in drug addicts to an extent that seems impossible; and to situations that are completely out of anybody's mind.
But Irvine Welsh's of course.
A particular and positive mention is for the translator, Massimo Bocchiola, for having the guts to translate such a big work of literature in the best way possible: knowing Welsh in the original language from other books, I can easily state this translation is pure state-of-the-art.
After all, it couldn't have been any different.
