Ecstasy

by Irvine Welsh

A best-selling authoress of Regency romances suffers a paralyzing stroke and plots revenge on her unfaithful husband; a soccer thug and his love go in search of the man who marketed the drug that crippled her – in order to cripple him; Lloyd and Heather explore the true nature of house music and chemical romance in the grim backstreets of Edinburgh.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Contemporary, Drugs, Scotland, British Literature, Novels

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting (1993), Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry. Irvine Welsh is also known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect, making his prose challenging for the average reader unfamiliar with this style.

Reviews

[JK · Rating 4 out of 5]

You all know how I feel about Welsh. His crass, brazen stories filled with shock, drugs, and all kinds of abuse, absolutely thrill and delight me. Every new release of his I will devour rather than savour, subsequently churning out reviews filled with crazed praise and fangirl ramblings. This time I decided to go back to his earlier work and treat myself to something more raw and rough.

Ecstasy is comprised of three short stories, all in relation to chemical romances and relationships. This is the only vein running through the three; they are incredibly unlike each other, and all brought something original to the table.

There's a certain feel to Welsh short stories which is far lighter and less fucked up than his novels. They're nice for a quick injection, and something to go to when you're not quite in the mood to have your heed blown off your shoulders into pitch black darkness. Although Ecstasy gives us (amongst other things) Austen-esque pornography, beastiality, necrophilia, deformity, and child dismemberment, we end on an ecstasy high of two people falling in love. And despite me relishing the necrophilia more particularly, love is what it's all about.

You're uncomfortable, it's grim, some of the plot twists and situations will either give you a mindfuck or the boke, but it's so good. If you're too lazy to read and interpret Scot's dialect, you are an arsehole and you have my pity.

Although I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for Welsh beginners, it's twisted, it's clatty as fuck, and it's the boy's true early stuff. Canny beat it.

[Makis Dionis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ξέρει τη χημεία, ξέρει το περιθώριο, ξέρει τους εγκλωβισμους της σύγχρονης μικροαστικής τάξης, ξέρει τα μικρά πάθη που ομορφαίνουν τις στιγμές και δίνουν νόημα στο να συνεχίζεις.
Ξερει να γράφει γαμημενα υπέροχα.

[itsdanixx · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Ecstasy' (or 'Ecstasy: 3 Tales of Chemical Romance') is a book comprised of three short stories all centring around love/sex/relationships/romance whilst high on Ecstasy.

I really enjoyed the first two stories in this collection, but wasn't such a fan of the third. Which is a shame, as that was the longest. Overall though I can say I did like it more than Trainspotting, which I found good but quite painful to read.

I'm really glad I've finally read this book; I've been meaning to since I was about 14 years old (10/11 years ago), as it is My Chemical Romance's namesake. Haha.

Anyway: I definitely recommend the first two stories.

STORY ONE: Lorraine Goes to Livingston: A Rave and Regency Romance.
Obese romance author Rebecca is sneaking chocolates whilst watching her (dick of a) husband, Perky, in the garden when she suffers a stroke. In the hospital - where celebrities can pay to f**k cadavers - she strikes up an unlikely friendship with her E taking, rave loving nurse, Lorraine.

STORY TWO: Fortune' Always Hiding: A Corporate Drug Romance.
Criminal and druggie Dave experiences love for the first time when he meets the armless Samantha - armless due to a pregnancy drug, Tenazadrine, given to her mother during her pregnancy and marketed to her by a few specific businessmen - men who Samantha, with Dave's help, is not ready to forgive or forget about...

STORY THREE: The Undefeated: An Acid House Romance.
Lloyd is a drug dealer and user going about his business with his druggie mates whilst starting to realise that he's getting older and has never really experienced love. Heather is unhappily married and unhappy with her life, desperately hoping for change when, on a night out with her friend, she tries E for the first time.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really disturbing, but I remember this as a great read nonetheless. Welsh has the ability to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck with deceptively simple descriptions of wholly credible human callousness and abuse, peppered with characters that you know you met at some party or other, late one night... Hideous but awesome in equal quantities. I really enjoyed his writing style.

[Richard English · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dirty, disgusting, and disturbingly amusing.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far, the most twisted book I've ever read.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stories - the first two of which were brilliant, the last a bit long and pointless though not without charm - which properly illustrate Welsh at his best. Witty, shocking, touching in places.. I also thought the author's wider range of subjects/characters showed his talents to the full. Despite never having really been part of any of the 'scenes' touched on in depth in these stories, I did however gain a lot of pleasure from remembering younger and more carefree times in my youth.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I love how this man writes. I'm mean he's funny and he's clever but it's the romantic in him that I love. His ability to find the beauty in the warts and all

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd heard this collection of "three tales of chemical imbalance" weren't so good, so it was a pleasant surprise to find myself quite enjoying them all. Within each of the three "stories" there are multiple plot lines running with entertaining characters abounding. A listing of the subtitle of each story hints at this: "A Rave and Regency Romance," "A Corporate Drug Romance" and "An Acid House Romance." Amok with explicit drugs and sex, these are clearly love stories for youth, and yet they all celebrate rather traditional notions of love and falling in love. I found the combination very pleasing, although others might find it a bit forced perhaps even cheezy. What is lacking is the dense dialect of Trainspotting which might make it more accessible reading for some.

[Olena Benkovska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Зовсім трохи не вистачило цій книзі, щоб стати у мене твердою четвіркою.
Мабуть тема любові, сексу і наркотиків, що проходять єдиною незмінною темою у всіх тьох оповіданнях, трохи таки набридає до 300ї сторінки.
Але загалом - це досить яскраво, місцями відверто і нахабно написано, а, іноді, навіть дуже смішно… і точно не нудно.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Тази книга съдържа три самостоятелни новели на Ървин Уелш.

Струва си да се прочете само средната, все пак не всеки ден някой сътворява безръки терористи, но и тя не е връх на сладоледа. :)

Другите две се оказаха безнадеждно остарели и безинтересни за мен.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ecstasy is a collection of three short love stories by Irvine Welsh. Not love stories in the classical sense, more love stories for the modern, ecstasy fuelled, party age. The kind of love stories where the characters are heavily flawed and you aren't sure if their love will last, or even if they were really in love to begin with.

The first story, Lorraine Goes to Livingston, was my least favourite of the stories. I found Freddy Royle, television personality, necrophile and all round shit-bag was a little too over the top, even by Welsh's standards. The other characters are more believable, putting up with each other and just trying to get by. The story centres on a romance (the classic kind) writer, Rebecca, and a nurse she meets after being admitted to hospital. The pair develop an odd friendship, with overtures of obsession. The story stops a bit too abruptly, I was just starting to get into it when it quickly wrapped into a unsatisfying conclusion.

The second story, Fortune's Always Hiding, is about a girl afflicted with severe birth defects caused by a Thalidomide like drug her mother took. Samantha meets Dave, a hooligan, thug and burglar by trade at a party. They bond over her passion for revenge against the corporate suits who marketed the drug knowing its side effects and his passion for wanton violence. The parts from Dave's perspective are Welsh doing what he does best: writing a complete asshole, while making them believable and even managing to make you sympathise with them. Dave is a horrible person, violent, misogynistic, and a thief, but he has his own moral compass. He'll defend his friends and family, but in his own way. Samantha is a bit less fleshed out. Outwardly she's tough as nails, never letting her disabilities hold her back, but she is bent on revenge and uses Dave as means to it.

The final story, The Undefeated, I think is the best of the bunch. The story alternates between chapters by Lloyd and Heather. Lloyd is a 30 something, trying to live like a 20 something. He downs drugs every weekend with a group of people he can barely relate to while sober. His excessive life style hides his underlying desires to meet someone he can have a real relationship with. Heather is his opposite, a straight laced woman stuck in a loveless, sexless marriage to a man she met a university. Her life is a dull routine of dinner parties, contrived political discussions, and sexism. Heather laments that she married too early and longs for some excitement in her life. The back and forth of their stories propels them towards each other. I think Welsh's writing really shines with the juxtaposition of Lloyd and Heather's chapters. In particular Heather as the housewife battling constant belittlement and her push to break out of a life of boredom.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Irvine Welsh. I start every review on here of one of his books with that because I think it'll be very difficult for me to ever be too critical of his work. This is no real departure from what I've known to love but I still lapped it up. The first story of the three is slightly more bizarre than I've come to expect but still entertaining. The second was an ideal example of the short-story format, yet scarificed none of Welsh's 'everyday' life characterisation - it was utterly depraved, which is exactly what I love about his stories! The third and final story was a lot longer and probably the 'main' tale. I felt it had plenty of scope to be a full-blown novel but it, again was excellent at what it did. The fact of the matter is that 'Ecstasy' gives off a totally different vibe to Trainspotting et. al., which is quite clearly Welsh's intention as there is (I am told) a world of difference between taking ecstasy and taking heroin. Many will fail to grasp the different and deride it as the same old filth, but immerse yourself in it and you'll find it a lot more charming and a lot less desperate to his other works. Very worthwhile reading.

[Alesandros · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 2 stories were incredibly gripping and disturbing - in other words brilliant. Tale no.3 however, was the only thing preventing a 5* rating. To make matters worse, a film was made based solely on the 3rd tale... and I thought it was bloody awful. Maybe after watching Trainspotting, The Acid House and Filth my standards were too high - but there it is. As far as the book goes I would still recommend it. Tale no.1 has a chilling Saville-esque character up to all sorts of disturbing activities. Tale no.2 is told by an ICF football hooligan and challenges Welsh to use his cockney dialect - and although it was a little Australian for my liking, it did not detract from an exhilarating story. Tale no.3 is about the coming together of an ageing clubber and a suburban housewife via the world of drugs.

[Rafo Zarbabyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Երեք պատմություն սիրո, այլասերվածության, սեքսի, բռնության ու, իհարկե, թմրանյութի մասին

Գիրքը բաղկացած է երեք վիպակից, որոնք միմյանց հետ աղերս չունեն: Ոչ մի այն սյուժետային առումով իրար չեն շարունակում, այլև տարբեր են իրենց ոճով և հեղինակային մոտեցմամբ: Չէ, Ուելշի հանրահայտ հայհոյախառը լեզուն առկա է, բայց միևնույն է տարբերությունները հստակ են:

Առաջին վիպակը մի կնոջ մասին է, որ սիրավեպերի հանրահայտ հեղինակ է: Նա ապրում է իր ամուսնու հետ ու, խոշոր հաշվով, գոհ է կյանքից: Բայց ամեն ինչ փոխվում է, երբ կինն ընկնում է հիվանդանոց ու ծանոթանում բուժքրոջ հետ: Կնոջ կյանքում ի հայտ են գալիս դավաճանություն, պոռնոգրաֆիա, թմրամոլություն, այլասերվածություն ու դիասություն: Ու այդ ամենն սկսվում է ներծծվել նրա գրականության մեջ:

Երկրորդ վիպակը վրեժի մասին է: Այստեղ, խոշոր հաշվով, չկան Ուելշին բնորոշ թրմանյութերը (ի հակասություն գրքի վերնագրի), բայց կա մեծ քանակությամբ բռնություն: Դեղագործը ստեծում է մի դեղ, որն ունի շատ վատ բացասական հետևանք. այն օգտագործողների երեխաները հաշմանդամ են ծնվում: Հարուստ դեղագործն, իհարկե, մնում է անպատիժ, բայց դե հաշմանդամ երեխաներից շատերը մեծանում են...

Երրորդ վիպակն ամենաշատն էր սազում գրքի վերնագրին: Գրված էր երկու հոգու անունից՝ աղջկա, ով ամուսնացած է, ապրում է տխուր ու միապաղաղ կյանքով, և երիտասարդի, ով իր կյանքը վառում է ակումբներում ու երբեք դուրս չի գալիս թրմանյութերի ազդեցության տակից: Նրանց ճանապահրները խաչվելու են...

Հեշտ կարդացվող, ոչ շատ խորը գիրք է: Չնայած, չի կարելի ասել, որ ամբողջովին դատարկ է: Բավական հետաքրքիր մոտեցումներ կան, ու ասելիք էլ է զգացվում, բայց այն գրքերից չէ, որ կարող ես խորհուրդ տալ ընկերոջդ:

Կարող եք կարդալ, զուտ եթե հետաքրքիր է թեման:

[ΠανωςΚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

για τη γαμημένη τη νοσταλγία μιας άλλης εποχής νο2

[Παύλος · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αγώνας σχεδόν καθημερινός για δύο χρόνια μέχρι να καταφέρω να βρω το συγκεκριμένο διαμάντι. Ερωτήσεις σε όλα τα βιβλιοπωλεία, μικρά και μεγάλα, στον κ.Νίκο Χατζόπουλο (ιδιοκτήτη του Οξέως) και σε φόρουμ. Τελικά βρέθηκε και δε πρόκειται να το αποχωριστώ.

Τρεις ιστορίες όλες εμποτισμένες με την αβεβαιότητα και τον φόβο των ναρκωτικών. Πρωταγωνιστές είναι η γενιά του acid house και του techno οι οποίοι ζουν ουσιαστικά μόνο τα Σαββατοκύριακα μέσα στη δίνη των χαπιών και των πάρτυ.

Στην πρώτη ιστορία έχουμε τρεις βασικούς πρωταγωνιστές: τον Λόυντ (κλασικό παράδειγμα "πίνω χάπια, ζω τα Σ/Κ μόνο) την Λορέιν η οποία είναι νοσοκόμα και παλεύει να βρει νόημα στη ζωή της και τέλος την Ρεμπέκα, συγγραφέα ερωτικών μυθιστορημάτων εποχής. Όλοι αυτοί θα βρεθούν μεταξύ τους μετά από ένα εγκεφαλικό επεισόδιο της Ρεμπέκα και θα γίνουν οι εξής αλλαγές: ο Λόυντ θα προσπαθήσει να κόψει τα Ε, η Λορέιν θα ξεκινήσει τα Ε για να συμβαδίζει με τον Λόυντ και η Ρεμπέκα θα αφήσει κατά μέρος τα αισθηματικά μυθιστορήματα και θα δημιουργήσει λίγο πιο πιπεράτα έργα (σε ένα εκ των οποίων ο αριστοκράτης-ήρωας αρέσκεται στο να βατεύει ένα πρόβατο...)

Στην δεύτερη ιστορία ο Ντέιβ είναι ένας φανατισμένος οπαδός ο οποίος υπό την επίδραση των Ε (μη ξεχνιόμαστε) προσπαθεί να τραμπουκίσει όσους περισσότερους οπαδούς αντίπαλων στρατοπέδων μπορεί ώστε να επιβάλει την κυριαρχία της Γουέστ Χαμ. Παρακολουθούμε τις περιπέτειες λοιπόν του νεαρού Ντέιβ για την ανάγκη αναγνώρισης που ψάχνει μέσα από την βία και τους συνεχείς ξυλοδαρμούς...

Τρίτη και τελευταία ιστορία με ήρωα πάλι τον Λόυντ ο οποίος στο πρόσωπο της Χέδερ βρίσκει τον έρωτα που θα τον κάνει να αλλάξει. Όχι μόνο θα προσπαθήσει να κόψει τα ναρκωτικά αλλά και να βάλει στην καθημερινότητά του το μπανιο και την αλλαγή εσωρούχου...


Εξαιρετική γραφή, ακόμα και οι υπερβολές είναι σωστά δομημένες και καταφέρνει για ακόμα μια φορά να σε βάλει στην εποχή αλλά και στο μυαλό των ηρώων που περιγράφει. Εγώ προσωπικά έχω αδυναμία στους Ιρλανδούς πεζογράφους της εποχής αυτής. Δεν υπήρξα ποτέ ναρκομανής ή παιδί της γενιάς του rave αλλά και μόνο που τα διαβάζω είναι σα να έκανα ταξίδι στον χρόνο...

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welsh excels at that kind of Clockwork-Orangian art of endearing the reader to shitty people. In these three stories--all loosely bound together only by the characters' frequent use of the titular drug--we meet an obese romance writer and her filthy husband, a soccer hooligan seduced by an armless woman to viciously murder the people who made the drug that made her born armless, and two sad-sack fucks who fall in love (or do they?) when they are on titular drug.
The blurb is misleading, somehow, so ignore it. The stories are much more loosely packed and episodic than that would suggest, which is part of what I love about Welsh so much: the punch, gutterfuck, quality of his mad-dash, almost ADHD storytelling. It's like Beowulf on meth. Grendel is banality.

[Artur · Rating 1 out of 5]

People say it's foul, interesting and exciting. It's not. I bought it years ago and picked it up because I finished a book I had on me, big mistake. Misogynistic boring nonsense, forcefully made to be more controversial but in style that reminds of a middle schooler. I managed to read a half and only skimmed the rest. It's not disturbing, it's cheap and lazy

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Welsh fun, 3 stories...2 stars for the first, 3.5 for the second, 5 for the last.

[Jillian Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super weird but really interesting

[гейлінка (тгк: книжкова буря) · Rating 3 out of 5]

знаєте, я б верещала від захвату в свої 16, але не в 22 🌝

якщо коротко, то в нас тут три історії про кохання, але тут воно дике, збочене, неадекватне та наркотичне

кхм, надалі я буду таки читати анотації, бо я не очікувала педофілії, некрофілії та зоофілії на перших же сторінках

це було гидотно, але я не могла відірватись, поки не дочитала, а це вже щось

перша історія про рейв та наставництво сподобалась саме завдяки жіночим персонажам
вони збіса круті
письменниця, яка хоче помститись чоловіку за численні зради та медсестра, яка їй в цьому допомагає
це було цікаво

друга історія про бізнес і хімію вразила більше
в нас тут безрука дівчина, яка хоче помститись винуватцю за своє каліцтво (так, знову помста 🥰) їй в цьому допомагає закоханий у неї чоловік
нуууу кінцівка неоднозначна і це для мене мінус, але, принаймні, без всякого трешу, який був у першій історії (так, я досі не можу відійти від злягання з вівцею 🥴)
третя історія про ейсид-гауз найбільш лайтова зі всієї збірки
тут про жінку, яка втомилась від свого убогого життя та затятого наркомана, який нічого не хоче від цього життя
вони знаходять одне одного та намагаються не втратити
дуже життєствердна історія про те, як справжнє кохання може вплинути на людину
дещо затягнута, але мені сподобалась

не впевнена, що перечитуватиму, але це було досить непогано
6,5/10 💫

[Anthony · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the three short stories in this collection to be completely implausible. I initially chose to read this book because I assumed it would realistically portray the underground life of club-goers and the highs and lows of ecstasy use. Needless to say, it did not deliver on either facet.
On a side note, I personally think that the transcribing of the Scottish dialect phonetically really deters from the stories themselves, for I found myself getting bogged down more often than not in trying to sound out the cryptic dialogue between the characters.

I would not recommend this book to anyone. That's all.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay...so all three of these stories created very very different feelings in me. The first one was sick and twisted and made me laugh, the second one made me cringe a bit and feel slightly depressed, and the last one I thought was a very sweet love story. This book has a LOT of foul language, so enter at your own risk.

[Natalya · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I am finding it difficult to express my opinion about IW's brill writing without the use of expletives.

[Vid · Rating 4 out of 5]

jednom godišnje mi mozak dopusti da pročitam knjigu pa mi je drago da je ovo dobra knjiga

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the type of book I would normally read, but the bold, ballsy cover art seduced me and I was hooked. Before 'Ecstasy' I'd never read an Irvine Welsh book but had flirted with the idea for a number of years. Considering the number of successful film adaptations his novels have spawned (think Danny Boyle's 'Trainspotting' or most recently 'Filth') I didn't doubt Welsh's talent but more the confrontational nature of his graphic and typically grotesque subject matter. With this book however, I actually enjoyed basking in the filth with his hapless, selfish stoned protagonists, and although I never rooted for any one character, I did pity many of them, thus eliciting some sort of necessary empathy to justify reading on. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be reading - and almost enjoying - stories of illicit drugs, explicit and unsatisfactory sex, masturbation, bestiality, necrophilia, rape, disability, mutilation, thuggery and divorce. I have to admit I was intensely sickened at times by Welsh's brazen, shamelessly intimate detailing of sexual intercourse (not because I'm a prude, but because many of the sexual experiences in the novel were immensely unromantic/borderline violent) but I was so fascinated by every characters pathetic predicament that I could overlook it most times. Welsh's voice is commendably unapologetic, and once I got my head around the intensely Scottish pronunciations (think J.K.Rowling's Hagrid dialogue on steroids) I settled into the disgusting world of his characters with morbid fascination and awe. This trilogy of drug-fuelled romance is so well written. The tone is honest, bold and urgent, and like a good, hearty slap to the face, necessary. I stepped outside of my comfort zone with this novel and I'm so glad I did. Once you get over the initial shock of it all and try to shake off the guilty feeling you have while reading it (like you're watching pornography or something) let the eloquent and sophisticated writing style immerse you in the deliciously smutty world that is 'Ecstasy'... And then have a cold shower! ;)

[Sara Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It was the books I started reading. It was the music I started listening to. It was the television I started watching. I found myself thinking again. I tried to stop because it was only causing pain. I couldn't. When all this is in your head it has to come out into your life. If it doesn't, you get crushed. I'm not going to get crushed.”

My first Irvine Welsh.
I purchased quite a few of his books for a very cheap price (unfortunately the iconic Trainspotting wasn't on the list, neither was Filth) but still, I decided to dive hard into this world of madness.
Welsh's writing is very weird in all honesty, and his stories are taken to the absolute fucking ridiculous point and that is the funniest part of it all. In Ecstasy, we follow three different stories. The first follows Rebecca who is a successful writer after she almost colapses and finds out her beloved husband was trying to poison her. The second follows a woman who was given a drug that crippled her from birth trying to get revenge and lastly, we follow Heather who is unhappily married and looking for some new experiences.
All of them have the E factor in them and my favourite part was undoubtly, Irvine's descriptions of the glamour (or lack) of the parties. Those were absolutely vivid in my mind.
They're all little tales of empowerment and doubt, self love, self hate, and a lot of hard drugs. They were amusing to read, but nothing impressive at the end of the day.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how you look away when watching a gruesome movie to be spared the most horrible scene? Ever done that when reading a gruesome book? This book made me look away. And then, because you can't help it, you continue reading...

[Victoria Unizhona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мені сподобалося і я прокайфувала від оповіді.

Історії багато в чому неоднозначні і досить відверті, але тим не менш цікаві. Автор дуже мій.