Book Review - If You Liked School

Without glancing at the name of the author of this book it will be immediately apparent that your reading an Irvine Welsh novel by the 25th page of the book when, even despite the colloquial Scotch spelling used, the main character is having the rattlesnake poison sucked out of his ‘wee felly doonstairs’ by his friend in the middle of a desert while two Mexican fugitives look on at the disturbing display of friendship.
But even while this is becoming one Welsh’s trademark moves it is increasingly disturbing that in his recent efforts he does appear to be being sick for the sake of sickness. While his first book Trainspotting is by no means a particularly publicly correct affair he does appear to be becoming far more risqué for no real reason other than the fact that he can. Also in his last book, Bedroom secrets of the master chefs, he attempted to do this which lead to me not enjoying the book as much as some of his earlier works such as Porno or Glue which In my opinion are two of the greatest works of fiction of modern times.
This is his first attempt at a collection of short stories since The Acid House in 1995. There are 5 different stories in the book, 3 set in the states, and these seem to be there mainly for Welsh to do a bit of Yank bashing but they are still some very imaginative pieces. So fortunately, the other four latter stories to varying degrees see Welsh back in old form. When he takes the time to endow his characters with emotional and psychological depth, we know that Welsh is the master of creating the most politically incorrect, hilariously funny, pathetic, deeply tragic and yet perfectly real-world people that you just can’t stop reading about. And as always, much of the beauty and the fun lie in the casual unfolding of events that will outrun the imagination of even an experienced Welsh reader.
7/10