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The Acid House
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.
304 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1994
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11802 people want to read
About the author
Irvine Welsh
128 books7,591 followersProbably 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 567 reviews
April 15, 2022
A collection of 21 short stories and a novella from the, at the time of publishing, enfant terrible of Scottish Fiction Irvine Welsh; and he doesn't hold back, asides from about a quarter of the stories being banal, the rest are ground breaking, at times shocking, and mostly could be seen as extension of the 'Trainspotting' universe. Like his bestseller, they are frantic episodic escapades set in the heart of a world transformed by Thatcherism/Reagan-ism that leaves the working masses, and more essentially their young disenfranchised and seemingly left with only self absorbed non-constructive personal pleasure seeking.
With nearly all single Scottish male protagonist with some sort of drug connection led, but this further allows the reader to see the pure naked talent of Welsh's world view of a stark working class 'lost generation' with limited prospects living life day by day... but importantly at times darkly comedic as well though. Overall 5 out of 12... usually triggers for drug use, violence and explicit male-lens sexual imagery.
2022 read
With nearly all single Scottish male protagonist with some sort of drug connection led, but this further allows the reader to see the pure naked talent of Welsh's world view of a stark working class 'lost generation' with limited prospects living life day by day... but importantly at times darkly comedic as well though. Overall 5 out of 12... usually triggers for drug use, violence and explicit male-lens sexual imagery.
2022 read
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September 9, 2022
‘I was anti-everything and everyone.’
Irvine Welsh certainly knows where to find the pulse on the underbelly of society and all those who scurry there. The author and playwright best known for Trainspotting has a rhythm of life lived on the edge and in the gutter flowing marvelously through the short stories and novella collected in Acid House, a collection of barfly fiction (or gutter lit, as a friend termed it) that is dark and grimy but also honest and without judgement. These are simply ‘just people trying to get by,’ and Welsh brings their stories, as uncomfortable they may be, into lovingly crafted fiction. His skills as a playwright are certainly evinced in these dialogue heavy stories that often amazingly recreate the Scottish brogue and create characters that feel very present and very real. While bleak, baudy and full of violence, Acid House is a playfully experimental collection that may feel a bit one-note, but it is a note played quite well as he shows people struggling to keep their lives together while everything around them gleefully tears them apart.
‘This is what being alive's all about, all those fucked up feelings. You've got to have them; when you stop, watch out.’
The characters in these stories are usually teetering on the edge of destruction--usually self-inflicted--and living dark and violent lives. Yet, despite these grim outlooks, Welsh doesn’t moralize or preach but simply show these lives as they are. These are people for whom fornication and fisticuffs register interchangeably on a deep emotional level, and are looking for anything to make them feel alive to escape crushing despair. A man watches every movie in a guide until he can’t take life anymore, rival philosophers grow so angry with each other they brawl in the streets (and find out they are gratified), a man books a cruise for one last fling before flinging himself in the ocean still torn up over his wife’s death a decade ago...this isn’t exactly an uplifting collection but Welsh handles the situations with grace and near-humor.
The people here seem unable to get out of the grooves in their lives, and a fairly existential look at nature-vs-nurture slow-boils in these stories. Particularly in the novella, A Smart Cunt, which feels very akin to Trainspotting (almost like a draft, honestly, as the characters could very well be the same just with different names). ‘It seemed that drug-taking over the years had reduced me to the sum total of the negative and positive strokes I received from people,’ the narrator, Brian asserts, ‘a big blank canvas others completed.’ Like many in this book, Brian isn’t a bad dude and is fairly bright but at every turn is a friend ready to shoot-up or offer another wild night. The world around these characters, it seems, is always ready to bring them down. But there are those in the same situation, like Brian’s brother, who was able to clean up, get educated and get a good job. Brian wonders if the fault is on him, or the world around him.
Which is an easy line of thinking to become trapped in, particularly in Thatcher-era Scotland where these characters feel unwanted, with nobody looking out for them on a political realm either. There is a sense of powerlessness resonating everywhere and characters can’t help but become adrift. As a counterpoint is Brian’s Scottish boss in London who chastises Brian saying his anti-establishment of raves, drugs and giving up is taking the easy way out. ‘Thats what the people that control things want,’ he warns, ‘people opting out, taking the easy way out.’ He advises a more productive manner of anti-establishment, organizing on a political level, fighting back through social programs. But to many in Scotland, this seems helpless and futile.
What is the point of fighting back, going clean, if it seems everyone ends in the same forgotten mass grave of humanity. Any depiction of wealthy people in the book are just as ugly as those puking in the gutter, such as in the sci-fi-esque Vat ‘96 were a wealthy woman is more concerned over the loss of her car than her husband in a wreck. So why not chase a high if nothing seems to matter and nobody seems any better than anyone else, Welsh asks? Bleak stuff, but Welsh creates the conditions where one would certainly flirt with these ideas.
Welsh even dips into Kafkaesque territory with these investigations, and the story The Granton Star Cause is like a modern booze-soaked The Metamorphosis. Almost to secure the idea that the world is out to get you, Welsh throws God into the mix pissed at a bar and ready to change a character into a fly just because he can.
It’s easily one of the best stories in the bunch and the humorous experimental aspect of it is right at home with the story Acid House in which a young punk and a baby about to be born switch minds when struck by lightning. Welsh also does some cool stuff on the paper in several stories, feeling very much like 90s experimental writing that is mostly successful.
Overall, this is a fun collection though a bit aimless and sometimes feeling more like a collection of drafts than necessarily short stories. He fits well into a literary realm I think of with people who like Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk and definitely have at some point briefly adopted Jack Kerouac as their personality (subtweet 19yr old me). Welsh might be the best at writing dialogue in this group. Definitely bleak, but strangely beautiful (and often quite funny) at the same time. Perhaps I'm deflating the rating a bit—the people in my book club all seemed to really love this—but I spent much of it thinking that edgy lit might not age that well and books like this don't charm me as much as they did when I was 19. And, sure, there is definitely a lot of misogyny going on here, but it also feels weirdly progressive for it’s time in a lot of ways, particularly never feeling judgemental. These are people just getting by, and Welsh loves them all the same. A worthwhile collection.
3.5/5
Irvine Welsh certainly knows where to find the pulse on the underbelly of society and all those who scurry there. The author and playwright best known for Trainspotting has a rhythm of life lived on the edge and in the gutter flowing marvelously through the short stories and novella collected in Acid House, a collection of barfly fiction (or gutter lit, as a friend termed it) that is dark and grimy but also honest and without judgement. These are simply ‘just people trying to get by,’ and Welsh brings their stories, as uncomfortable they may be, into lovingly crafted fiction. His skills as a playwright are certainly evinced in these dialogue heavy stories that often amazingly recreate the Scottish brogue and create characters that feel very present and very real. While bleak, baudy and full of violence, Acid House is a playfully experimental collection that may feel a bit one-note, but it is a note played quite well as he shows people struggling to keep their lives together while everything around them gleefully tears them apart.
‘This is what being alive's all about, all those fucked up feelings. You've got to have them; when you stop, watch out.’
The characters in these stories are usually teetering on the edge of destruction--usually self-inflicted--and living dark and violent lives. Yet, despite these grim outlooks, Welsh doesn’t moralize or preach but simply show these lives as they are. These are people for whom fornication and fisticuffs register interchangeably on a deep emotional level, and are looking for anything to make them feel alive to escape crushing despair. A man watches every movie in a guide until he can’t take life anymore, rival philosophers grow so angry with each other they brawl in the streets (and find out they are gratified), a man books a cruise for one last fling before flinging himself in the ocean still torn up over his wife’s death a decade ago...this isn’t exactly an uplifting collection but Welsh handles the situations with grace and near-humor.
The people here seem unable to get out of the grooves in their lives, and a fairly existential look at nature-vs-nurture slow-boils in these stories. Particularly in the novella, A Smart Cunt, which feels very akin to Trainspotting (almost like a draft, honestly, as the characters could very well be the same just with different names). ‘It seemed that drug-taking over the years had reduced me to the sum total of the negative and positive strokes I received from people,’ the narrator, Brian asserts, ‘a big blank canvas others completed.’ Like many in this book, Brian isn’t a bad dude and is fairly bright but at every turn is a friend ready to shoot-up or offer another wild night. The world around these characters, it seems, is always ready to bring them down. But there are those in the same situation, like Brian’s brother, who was able to clean up, get educated and get a good job. Brian wonders if the fault is on him, or the world around him.
Which is an easy line of thinking to become trapped in, particularly in Thatcher-era Scotland where these characters feel unwanted, with nobody looking out for them on a political realm either. There is a sense of powerlessness resonating everywhere and characters can’t help but become adrift. As a counterpoint is Brian’s Scottish boss in London who chastises Brian saying his anti-establishment of raves, drugs and giving up is taking the easy way out. ‘Thats what the people that control things want,’ he warns, ‘people opting out, taking the easy way out.’ He advises a more productive manner of anti-establishment, organizing on a political level, fighting back through social programs. But to many in Scotland, this seems helpless and futile.
‘I’m thinking, what can I do, really do for the emancipation of working people in this country, shat on by the rich, ties into political inaction by servile reliance on a reactionary, moribund and yet still unelectable Labour Party? The answer is a resounding fuck all.’
What is the point of fighting back, going clean, if it seems everyone ends in the same forgotten mass grave of humanity. Any depiction of wealthy people in the book are just as ugly as those puking in the gutter, such as in the sci-fi-esque Vat ‘96 were a wealthy woman is more concerned over the loss of her car than her husband in a wreck. So why not chase a high if nothing seems to matter and nobody seems any better than anyone else, Welsh asks? Bleak stuff, but Welsh creates the conditions where one would certainly flirt with these ideas.
Welsh even dips into Kafkaesque territory with these investigations, and the story The Granton Star Cause is like a modern booze-soaked The Metamorphosis. Almost to secure the idea that the world is out to get you, Welsh throws God into the mix pissed at a bar and ready to change a character into a fly just because he can.
’Ah made yous cunts in ma ain image. Yous git oan wi it; yous fuckin well sort it oot. That cunt Nietzsche wis wide ay the mark when he sais ah wis deid. Ah'm no deid; ah jist dinnae gie a fuck. It's no fir me tae sort every cunt's problems oot. Nae other cunt gies a fuck so how should ah? Eh?’
It’s easily one of the best stories in the bunch and the humorous experimental aspect of it is right at home with the story Acid House in which a young punk and a baby about to be born switch minds when struck by lightning. Welsh also does some cool stuff on the paper in several stories, feeling very much like 90s experimental writing that is mostly successful.
Overall, this is a fun collection though a bit aimless and sometimes feeling more like a collection of drafts than necessarily short stories. He fits well into a literary realm I think of with people who like Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk and definitely have at some point briefly adopted Jack Kerouac as their personality (subtweet 19yr old me). Welsh might be the best at writing dialogue in this group. Definitely bleak, but strangely beautiful (and often quite funny) at the same time. Perhaps I'm deflating the rating a bit—the people in my book club all seemed to really love this—but I spent much of it thinking that edgy lit might not age that well and books like this don't charm me as much as they did when I was 19. And, sure, there is definitely a lot of misogyny going on here, but it also feels weirdly progressive for it’s time in a lot of ways, particularly never feeling judgemental. These are people just getting by, and Welsh loves them all the same. A worthwhile collection.
3.5/5
March 26, 2009
Holy shit, how could I have forgotten to add this to my list already, this collection of breakneck vileness, this wretchedness you wrench your head away from in shame that it happens to be so gripping and so funny. In the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind they have invented a method for erasing specified memories from your mind - I hope they invent just such a thing in real life so I can get them to erase all memory of my five star books so that I can read them all for the first time again. Irvine Welsh became something of a parody of himself later on, wee Scots druggy mouthy baldie that he is, but let that not take anything away from his magnificent trilogy of Trainspotting, Acid House and Maribou Stork Nightmares. Hey Irvine, if I see you floating down the gutter I'll bring you a bottle of wine.
December 4, 2007
I'm pretty sure the novella "A Smart Cunt" was in here. Though I have zero recollection of it now, at the time I read that I thought it was brilliant, and because I was bored on vacation in London with nothing better to do, I wrote what I believe was the only fan letter to an author I've ever sent, telling him this. And he wrote me back! In my letter, I'd asked him if he actually listened to techno music, since all his characters did and it was inconceivable to me at the time (I was 18) that anyone -- especially a writer who'd written something I liked -- would do this (later on in that trip I realized that nearly everyone on that side of the Atlantic listened to techno music, and that in fact they PLAYED IT on the RADIO). Welsh replied, in a letter postmarked from Hawaii, that he did indeed listen to techno music. He also answered whatever other stupid questions I asked him, which I don't remember now. Somewhat disappointingly, his letter was not written in an incomprehensible Scottish dialect, and in fact was easy to read.
Anyway, I remember really being crazy about "A Smart Cunt," and the rest of this not being much to write home about, but having its moments. I think it's at the beginning of the first story where the guy goes to some other country or something and another guy from that other place is flipping him shit about being an imperialist, and the guy's like, "I'M from SCOTLAND, we're STILL COLONIZED, leave me ALONE, jerkface!" For some reason, that always kind of stuck with me.
Anyway, I remember really being crazy about "A Smart Cunt," and the rest of this not being much to write home about, but having its moments. I think it's at the beginning of the first story where the guy goes to some other country or something and another guy from that other place is flipping him shit about being an imperialist, and the guy's like, "I'M from SCOTLAND, we're STILL COLONIZED, leave me ALONE, jerkface!" For some reason, that always kind of stuck with me.
August 2, 2025
3.5 stars. Well, I made it through Eurotrash, The Granton Star Cause, and the novella-length A Smart C**t, but only just. The relentless vulgarity and disjointed, haphazard storytelling quickly wore thin. While the stories do convey a raw sense of destitution and disaffection, they lack the wit or deeper substance needed to truly engage or leave a lasting impression.
August 1, 2023
Irvine Welsh is a fantastic writer. This is only the second book I've read from him (the first one being Filth), and I think I'm in love. There's this depressing underground feeling, a sense of no escape that he captures perfectly. We are all caught up in our bullshit, moving from day to day without any remorse.
"The Acid House" is a collection of stories that captures a remarkable variety of styles. Irvine doesn't just write about druggies (even though they appear in most stories), but he also writes about possessed babies and a pissed-off God changing a poor sod into a fly.
I think the most standout stories were:
"Eurotrash" - A wild ride of a story about a bunch of people with problems and attitudes. Until one of them takes her own life, the main character starts to discover that he has not as much insight into other people as he thought.
"The Last Resort of Adriatic" - A surprisingly melancholic story about one last fling. But, as usual, this suicide feels very egoistic (almost like most of them).
"Sexual Disaster Quartet" - What the fuck?
"The Two Philosophers" - Sometimes you can only solve philosophical problems with violence.
"The Granton Star Cause" - A very comedic take on "The Fly." I think I liked this one the most. What if you're so messed up and pathetic that even God himself is fed up with you?
"The Acid House" - An interesting take on soul-switching.
The other half of the book is the novella - "A Smart Cunt," in which Irvine Welsh is in his old coat - writing about a smart person trying to go through life with enormous emotional baggage - drugs help a lot.
Overall, it is a very nice collection worth your time, and I will definitely look out for his other works.
"The Acid House" is a collection of stories that captures a remarkable variety of styles. Irvine doesn't just write about druggies (even though they appear in most stories), but he also writes about possessed babies and a pissed-off God changing a poor sod into a fly.
I think the most standout stories were:
"Eurotrash" - A wild ride of a story about a bunch of people with problems and attitudes. Until one of them takes her own life, the main character starts to discover that he has not as much insight into other people as he thought.
"The Last Resort of Adriatic" - A surprisingly melancholic story about one last fling. But, as usual, this suicide feels very egoistic (almost like most of them).
"Sexual Disaster Quartet" - What the fuck?
"The Two Philosophers" - Sometimes you can only solve philosophical problems with violence.
"The Granton Star Cause" - A very comedic take on "The Fly." I think I liked this one the most. What if you're so messed up and pathetic that even God himself is fed up with you?
"The Acid House" - An interesting take on soul-switching.
The other half of the book is the novella - "A Smart Cunt," in which Irvine Welsh is in his old coat - writing about a smart person trying to go through life with enormous emotional baggage - drugs help a lot.
Overall, it is a very nice collection worth your time, and I will definitely look out for his other works.
August 2, 2023
Popular writers write the same novel over and over again. They cater to their own obsessions and the fantasies of their fans. Whenever Welsh tries to write about America, it all falls apart completely. But he is awesome when he stays local and writes about Scottish dysfunction.
Eurotrash is one of Welsh's best short stories. I love it. Two men fighting over a man who has undergone a sex change. Life in Amsterdam. It contains a graphic description of a sex change operation.
A Smart Cunt has a security guard who reads biographies of Kirk Douglas and other Hollywood legends. He commits dastardly acts of violence too. Another great Welsh short story. I love this one.
Eurotrash is one of Welsh's best short stories. I love it. Two men fighting over a man who has undergone a sex change. Life in Amsterdam. It contains a graphic description of a sex change operation.
A Smart Cunt has a security guard who reads biographies of Kirk Douglas and other Hollywood legends. He commits dastardly acts of violence too. Another great Welsh short story. I love this one.
March 22, 2021
Im very very impressed with this collection of stories. I came into it expecting raunchy, gritty, and bleak tales of drug abusing Scottish malcontents. I was not disappointed in this regard. But there was so much more here that I hadn’t seen coming: some incredibly inventive premises, some of which spill out into the otherworldly and insane; beautifully human characters; big twists; and delightfully playful use of language and form. Welsh proves possession of an unbridled creativity, managing to mix off-the-rails storytelling with an almost poetic reverence for the meek and mundane.
November 12, 2023
Tha cunt Irvine Welsh - ehs the dog's fuckin bollocks, ahm tellin ye.
September 27, 2015
I really enjoyed these stories. Like a lot of Welsh's work, the language and the settings capture something really special which is why I've decided to bump it up from 3 stars to 4 stars as 3 would be unjustifiable. I felt waves of nostalgia when reading certain reference points which I've only come to appreciate when penning this review (it's got a very late '80s feel). And the Scots dialect in written form is what makes it for me; I could read it all day. Some people may see this as a bit of a pain because it takes some getting used to (for example got is spelled "goat" so it can throw you a little bit). But it's just like visiting Glasgow; at first you can't understand a fucking word being said all around you and then you force yourself to lock horns with it. And before you know it, you're fluent in Glaswegian...
My only gripe here is that the territory is a bit narrow. If there was just a bit of variety in perspectives, I would've given it five stars. I appreciate that Welsh is at home when writing about junkies and dropouts, but the occasional surprise would have done this collection some favours.
That negative I've pointed is not that significant. It was enjoyable and I need to reread his other work and tick off those books which I'm yet to wade through.
My only gripe here is that the territory is a bit narrow. If there was just a bit of variety in perspectives, I would've given it five stars. I appreciate that Welsh is at home when writing about junkies and dropouts, but the occasional surprise would have done this collection some favours.
That negative I've pointed is not that significant. It was enjoyable and I need to reread his other work and tick off those books which I'm yet to wade through.
May 19, 2016
The Acid House is a collection of short stories, with each story featuring a new set of characters and scenarios.
I am a fan of Irvine Welsh's works so I really enjoyed this one.
Welsh's characters are edgy; society's dregs, hard-luck losers pinned to seediness by their own low expectations. The short stories are full of the characthers' nihilism and self-absortion, violence and twisted/black humour. Reading these stories will also give you a vintage, '80s feeling. It kinda resembles Trainspotting, but a lil bit darker and more comic. It also involves lots of drugs, I mean, hey... it's an Irvine Welsh book!
Here's one passage I really enjoyed; There's a story in which in only one day, Boab is kicked out of the football team, his parents' house, his job and his girlfriend's life. After he's arrested and beaten up, he meets God in a pub, who turns him into a bluebottle.
Here goes God's line, written of course in the characteristic scottish dialect: 'That cunt Nietzsche wis wide ay the mark whin he said I wis deid,' God tells him. 'Ah'm no deid; ah jist dinnae gie a fuck.'
I am a fan of Irvine Welsh's works so I really enjoyed this one.
Welsh's characters are edgy; society's dregs, hard-luck losers pinned to seediness by their own low expectations. The short stories are full of the characthers' nihilism and self-absortion, violence and twisted/black humour. Reading these stories will also give you a vintage, '80s feeling. It kinda resembles Trainspotting, but a lil bit darker and more comic. It also involves lots of drugs, I mean, hey... it's an Irvine Welsh book!
Here's one passage I really enjoyed; There's a story in which in only one day, Boab is kicked out of the football team, his parents' house, his job and his girlfriend's life. After he's arrested and beaten up, he meets God in a pub, who turns him into a bluebottle.
Here goes God's line, written of course in the characteristic scottish dialect: 'That cunt Nietzsche wis wide ay the mark whin he said I wis deid,' God tells him. 'Ah'm no deid; ah jist dinnae gie a fuck.'
November 19, 2008
This book made me laugh so much. It's a bunch of short stories and there are two that really stuck out for me. In one a guy drops acid and ends up switching bodies with a baby (or thinking he did, I can't remember). The baby with his adult brain gets off on breast feeding and watching his parents have sex. The Adult with the baby brain ends up in the hospital drooling all over himself. His girlfriends visits him and everyone thinks he is messed up from the acid.
The second story that really stuck out for me was about a guy who turned into a fly. He had to watch all his friends and family as "a fly on the wall". Among other things he ended up watching his mom ram his dad up the ass with a big dildo. I won't tell you how it ends.
So yeah it was a funny book. Probably my favorite by Irvine Welsh other than Trainspotting.
This is also a movie for you lazies. The guy who plays spud in Trainspotting plays the guy in this who trades bodies with the baby.
The second story that really stuck out for me was about a guy who turned into a fly. He had to watch all his friends and family as "a fly on the wall". Among other things he ended up watching his mom ram his dad up the ass with a big dildo. I won't tell you how it ends.
So yeah it was a funny book. Probably my favorite by Irvine Welsh other than Trainspotting.
This is also a movie for you lazies. The guy who plays spud in Trainspotting plays the guy in this who trades bodies with the baby.
June 15, 2021
A mixed bag, though some of these stories have terrific characters and endings and are definitely worth reading (if I had to pick my faves, I'd go with "Eurotrash" and "A Soft Touch").
Welsh is more of a novelist than a writer of short fiction, but even his minor work doesn't fail to strike a chord in the reader - sometimes in a good way, other times not, as one is bound to expect given the subject matter.
I'd suggest all those who may be interested in discovering Welsh to get acquainted with his major achievements first, namely "Trainspotting" or one of his stand-alone novels ("Filth", "Glue" or "Marabou Stork Nightmares") and recommend this one to long-time fans and completists only.
Welsh is more of a novelist than a writer of short fiction, but even his minor work doesn't fail to strike a chord in the reader - sometimes in a good way, other times not, as one is bound to expect given the subject matter.
I'd suggest all those who may be interested in discovering Welsh to get acquainted with his major achievements first, namely "Trainspotting" or one of his stand-alone novels ("Filth", "Glue" or "Marabou Stork Nightmares") and recommend this one to long-time fans and completists only.
August 20, 2025
Tikriausiai tos blogiukų knygos jau man praeity. Fainai parašyta, malonus humaniškas ir neteisiantis žvilgsnis į apsakymų personažus, smagu skaityt škotiško dialekto transkripciją, nors knyga tokia eskiziška. bet kadangi trainspottingas įsiėdęs filmo pavidalu, tai ėmiau šitą, vis tiek norėjos pamatyt tą Škotijos papilvę.
July 22, 2015
Another wee collection of short stories! I'm really getting through these this year. I realised two stories into this that I had already read it as a teenager, but I'd forgotten almost everything that happened in the stories, so it wasn't a great loss.
In true Irvine Welsh fashion, everything about this collection is vile, dark, disturbing and vomit-inducing. It really is spit your dinner out material, but it grips you unbelievably hard.
Welsh explores a lot of different themes and styles here, it's a good expression of his various literary abilities. There were some particularly insane sections that did make me wonder for a while what actually goes on in that baldy head of his, but his style is intriguing more than anything else.
His characters are, as always, flawed and vicious, but mostly wonderful. I do love it when characters from Welsh's other novels make an appearance, this time Spud from Trainspotting cropping up in the novella A Smart Cunt.
Twisted as he may be, Welsh remains one of my favourite authors, and going back to some of his older works helps to remind me of this. I'd recommend this to anyone who can handle something that's on the wrong side of macabre.
In true Irvine Welsh fashion, everything about this collection is vile, dark, disturbing and vomit-inducing. It really is spit your dinner out material, but it grips you unbelievably hard.
Welsh explores a lot of different themes and styles here, it's a good expression of his various literary abilities. There were some particularly insane sections that did make me wonder for a while what actually goes on in that baldy head of his, but his style is intriguing more than anything else.
His characters are, as always, flawed and vicious, but mostly wonderful. I do love it when characters from Welsh's other novels make an appearance, this time Spud from Trainspotting cropping up in the novella A Smart Cunt.
Twisted as he may be, Welsh remains one of my favourite authors, and going back to some of his older works helps to remind me of this. I'd recommend this to anyone who can handle something that's on the wrong side of macabre.
October 9, 2016
A number of dank and torrid tales of wrongdoing. Irvine Welsh says, if you don't get to the bottom of things, are you really alive? I mean society being what it is, isn't the sensible man's response to go insane? Well, I don't know, Welsh - your philosophy is debatable but your prose is stunning. My favorites here are a "The Granton Star Cause," an even more acrid retelling of The Metamorphosis, "Eurotrash," which remains to be savored like a putrid aftertaste of something that goes down delectable but is poisonous at the core. And a Smart something. The latter one is a retelling, I think of a minor character's viewpoint from Trainspotting, but it completely stands on its own - and is at base a devastating chronicle of ineptitude and depravity and loneliness that makes you feel for the character, not just go along for the dark and vicarious thrills. I'm hooked (or maybe that is what Welsh intended). As others have said on here, the stories get a little repetitive because all the characters are fairly of a kind... and there is not much empathy or redemption. But that's all right - nothing wrong with a specific vision as long as it's this amusing and relentless.
December 12, 2020
5/5
"Acid House", ca și "Varza reîncălzită", reprezintă o antologie de povestiri care ating subiecte de toată mâna: droguri, obsesii, relații, pasiuni, mizeriii ale vieții etc.
La cât de excentric e Welsh și penița sa, ambele lucrări sunt perfecta formă de salut, un: Ei, fraiere, lasă căcaturile tale și ia bag-un ochi în ale mele. Ele sunt și o bună călire a cititorului îndrăzneț, pregătit pentru un alt fel de scriere și pentru lucrările mai ample a lui Welsh.
E un autor pe gustul meu, numai bun pentru a-ți rupe obișnuitul, frumosul și la care vei Ah!-ooo-iii mai mereu.
Cineva zicea că lucrarea Tatianei Țîbuleac, "Vara în care mama a avut ochii verzi", e urâtă, dezgustătoarea și bla-bla. Fraților, atunci să stați departe de Welsh. Și de Burroughs. Și de mii de alți autori. Welsh e nemilos în ale slovelor și nu vă va obloji elevatul gust livresc cu tincturi de "așa trebuie" și "așa e corect". Din contră, vă veți trezi cu un pumn în coaste, un scuipat și un ordin de a da visurile cu unicorni la pubelă.
"Acid House", ca și "Varza reîncălzită", reprezintă o antologie de povestiri care ating subiecte de toată mâna: droguri, obsesii, relații, pasiuni, mizeriii ale vieții etc.
La cât de excentric e Welsh și penița sa, ambele lucrări sunt perfecta formă de salut, un: Ei, fraiere, lasă căcaturile tale și ia bag-un ochi în ale mele. Ele sunt și o bună călire a cititorului îndrăzneț, pregătit pentru un alt fel de scriere și pentru lucrările mai ample a lui Welsh.
E un autor pe gustul meu, numai bun pentru a-ți rupe obișnuitul, frumosul și la care vei Ah!-ooo-iii mai mereu.
Cineva zicea că lucrarea Tatianei Țîbuleac, "Vara în care mama a avut ochii verzi", e urâtă, dezgustătoarea și bla-bla. Fraților, atunci să stați departe de Welsh. Și de Burroughs. Și de mii de alți autori. Welsh e nemilos în ale slovelor și nu vă va obloji elevatul gust livresc cu tincturi de "așa trebuie" și "așa e corect". Din contră, vă veți trezi cu un pumn în coaste, un scuipat și un ordin de a da visurile cu unicorni la pubelă.
November 13, 2014
I like when Welsh has people speaking in his Leith dialect who shouldn't be. The short stories using this trick feature a newborn baby, God, Madonna and her supermodel friends all speaking. The novella, called A Smart Cunt, that concludes the book goes a long way to redeeming it. It's another story of a guy bumming around Edinburgh, using drugs and hanging with friends, but those are Welsh's strong points and I don't think I'll ever get tired of those sorts of stories.
May 29, 2016
Belting banter from the master of the smack house jive. Short stories, in my shallow experience, are all inept foreplay and frustrating fizzle. However, Mr Welsh' are based on the heroin binary code which has a pronounced craven start, an abrupt finish and a delicious intermezzo. The novella included here, 'A Smart Cunt', is worth the entry price alone.
May 10, 2019
«There’s always more, always more of this fuckin shite to get through. It never ends. They say it gets easier to handle the older you get. I hope so. I hope tae fuck. »
September 5, 2020
Дебютният сборник с разкази на Уелш излиза само година след дебютния му роман "Трейнспотинг". В "Есид Хаус" са поместени една дозина разкази, както и новелата "Отворено копеле".
Ако сте запознати с безкомпром��сния стил на Уелш, то бихте се изненадали единствено от умелостта, с която изгражда кратки разкази (2-10 стр.), като успява да съчетае прямостта, бруталността и майсторския си стил в толкова кратък обем.
В някои от произведенията ще срещнете познати герои от други творби на Уелш, което създава впечатлението, че всичко се развива в една и съща вселена (това впечатление е съвсем вярно).
Без да впускам в по-нататъшно дълги и ненужно монолози, ще обобщя просто: Уелш е страхотен автор, който директно те удря с юмрук в стомаха - изкарва ти въздуха и те оставя зашеметен, под въздействието на реалността.
Ако сте запознати с безкомпром��сния стил на Уелш, то бихте се изненадали единствено от умелостта, с която изгражда кратки разкази (2-10 стр.), като успява да съчетае прямостта, бруталността и майсторския си стил в толкова кратък обем.
В някои от произведенията ще срещнете познати герои от други творби на Уелш, което създава впечатлението, че всичко се развива в една и съща вселена (това впечатление е съвсем вярно).
Без да впускам в по-нататъшно дълги и ненужно монолози, ще обобщя просто: Уелш е страхотен автор, който директно те удря с юмрук в стомаха - изкарва ти въздуха и те оставя зашеметен, под въздействието на реалността.
March 31, 2021
Някои автори просто е много лесно да ги адаптираш за екран. Те така си пишат. Кратки действия, описания на усещания вместо обяснения, цветущо изразяване и диалози, обхващане на едно цяло настроение и обстановка, придружени от много додефинираща ги музика. Не е случаен фактът, че има толкова екранизации по Ървин Уелш, това се опитвам да кажа. А щом това е налице, субективните качества след това опират само на личен вкус и натрупвания.
November 23, 2024
Aunque es muy desigual (lo que por otra parte es normal al ser una recopilación de relatos) el libro es divertidísimo.
April 4, 2024
think I read enough of these to give it a review. Best one was where he met God in a pub who turned him into a fly
October 3, 2024
Worin liegt der Sinn in dieser Welt zu sein und wie ertrage ich es, nicht zu wissen?
Mochte vor allem die politische Komponente hier.
Mochte vor allem die politische Komponente hier.
March 9, 2021
My first Irvine Welsh book was Trainspotting which I read inside a couple of days while on holiday in Amsterdam and I read The Acid House, which is a collection of 21 short stories and a novella, on it's release shortly afterwards.
At the time I originally read it, I loved it but looking back, I assumed that to be because (despite working in an office, never having been unemployed and never having tried hard drugs!) it kind of represented a lot of what I wanted to identify with in the early 1990s, or maybe a reflection of my fascination for the seedier side of life -the drinking, the drugs, live music, trips to Amsterdam and so on.
So how does it stand up all these years later? Quite simply I loved it. As a collection, it has such a wealth of colourful characters, outrageous situations, dour observations of life. They are grim, funny, sad, farcical, scary but always very readable. The dialogue is hard hitting but realistic, the characters are so believable and the plots too. Even the shortest of the stories is a joy. This book has made me think that although I enjoyed Irvine Welsh's books all those years ago, perhaps I didn't really credit him for being the excellent writer that he is.
At the time I originally read it, I loved it but looking back, I assumed that to be because (despite working in an office, never having been unemployed and never having tried hard drugs!) it kind of represented a lot of what I wanted to identify with in the early 1990s, or maybe a reflection of my fascination for the seedier side of life -the drinking, the drugs, live music, trips to Amsterdam and so on.
So how does it stand up all these years later? Quite simply I loved it. As a collection, it has such a wealth of colourful characters, outrageous situations, dour observations of life. They are grim, funny, sad, farcical, scary but always very readable. The dialogue is hard hitting but realistic, the characters are so believable and the plots too. Even the shortest of the stories is a joy. This book has made me think that although I enjoyed Irvine Welsh's books all those years ago, perhaps I didn't really credit him for being the excellent writer that he is.
May 16, 2025
I first read this when I was 16 and every single story was completely perfect to me. Def lost some of its glimmer after a reread as so many teenage favourites do. The last two stories are so strong though esp the novella which takes up a good third of the book. Almost wish there was a publication of just those two stories. I would recommend that to friends instead bc I don’t want them to judge me when they read the corny stories esp that one that gets really weirdly transphobic towards the end. Also noticed there’s at least two stories where someone shits on someone else - I would have kept it to one tops?
On a positive note: it was so much fun to read this actually being able to relate to the characters and their experiences. When I first read the Acid House, I was a total nerd and had never done drugs or had sex or partied etcetera etcetera. I still haven’t done heroin or lived in Scotland but Irvine Welsh is so good at writing intensely relatable young ppl. Also the charm of it being set largely in London was not lost on me. In Stoke Newington Blues, the main character describes street corners that I recognise and gets on bus lines that I catch :-) this never happened when I lived in Auckland.
On a positive note: it was so much fun to read this actually being able to relate to the characters and their experiences. When I first read the Acid House, I was a total nerd and had never done drugs or had sex or partied etcetera etcetera. I still haven’t done heroin or lived in Scotland but Irvine Welsh is so good at writing intensely relatable young ppl. Also the charm of it being set largely in London was not lost on me. In Stoke Newington Blues, the main character describes street corners that I recognise and gets on bus lines that I catch :-) this never happened when I lived in Auckland.
January 31, 2023
"Theres always more of this fucking shite tae go through."
Bleak, heart-rending and incredibly funny, Welsh's follow up to "Trainspotting" is a worthy successor to an incredibly tough act to follow.
His abilty to create sympathetic rogues is second to none. Characters constantly blame the consequences of their actions on other powers such as Thatcher, the Polis or the Doyle brothers. These gripings are intersped with characters monolgoing the moments when they got in over their heads or when things have went sour for them.
Not all the stories follow this pattern like the surreal piece l "Snowman Building Parts for Rico the Squirrell". But it is in stories like " A Smart Cunt", "Soft Touch" and "Snuff" Where we see Welsh shine at his brightest.
Not an easy read but a highly enjoyable one. Some of the short stories that stand out are; "Eurotrash", "Vat96" and "The Last Resort on the Adriatic". Also the Novella "A Smart Cunt" incl at the end is extremely good although it treads the same water as trainspotting without saying much else. Although Welsh's hilarious command of the scotish dialect, frenetic pace and demented humour carry the reader along to a gutwrenching conclusion.
Bleak, heart-rending and incredibly funny, Welsh's follow up to "Trainspotting" is a worthy successor to an incredibly tough act to follow.
His abilty to create sympathetic rogues is second to none. Characters constantly blame the consequences of their actions on other powers such as Thatcher, the Polis or the Doyle brothers. These gripings are intersped with characters monolgoing the moments when they got in over their heads or when things have went sour for them.
Not all the stories follow this pattern like the surreal piece l "Snowman Building Parts for Rico the Squirrell". But it is in stories like " A Smart Cunt", "Soft Touch" and "Snuff" Where we see Welsh shine at his brightest.
Not an easy read but a highly enjoyable one. Some of the short stories that stand out are; "Eurotrash", "Vat96" and "The Last Resort on the Adriatic". Also the Novella "A Smart Cunt" incl at the end is extremely good although it treads the same water as trainspotting without saying much else. Although Welsh's hilarious command of the scotish dialect, frenetic pace and demented humour carry the reader along to a gutwrenching conclusion.
September 18, 2016
I'm becoming more and more convinced that Welsh created himself out of the ashes of some weird, drug-driven orgy between the guys from "A Clockwork Orange" and the great satirist tradition that begins somewhere in post-Ice Age Europe with recent high points being Monty Python and Tobias Funke and whose end, despite the best efforts of many, is hopefully in the far-flung future.
All these stories collected in this collection are good, but the few that really stand out make it worth reading all of them. The title story is just outstanding: a lightning strike switches the soul of acid-tripping Coco Bryce with a newborn baby. "A Smart Cunt", a logical extension of "Trainspotting" and whose narrator is largely indistinguishable from Mark Renton, is supreme as well, with it's look at crime, death, and shitting on other people's faces. "The Granton Star Cause" is the other genius standout: Boab Coyle meets a drunken, angry God in a pub and gets turned into a housefly as punishment, but also to act as God's instrument against shitty people.
Wonderful!
All these stories collected in this collection are good, but the few that really stand out make it worth reading all of them. The title story is just outstanding: a lightning strike switches the soul of acid-tripping Coco Bryce with a newborn baby. "A Smart Cunt", a logical extension of "Trainspotting" and whose narrator is largely indistinguishable from Mark Renton, is supreme as well, with it's look at crime, death, and shitting on other people's faces. "The Granton Star Cause" is the other genius standout: Boab Coyle meets a drunken, angry God in a pub and gets turned into a housefly as punishment, but also to act as God's instrument against shitty people.
Wonderful!
April 21, 2023
I have never read “Trainspotting,” but after reading “The Acid House” by Irvine Welsh I have added it to my list. Another reviewer, S. Penkevich, describes this collection of short stories as “a bit aimless and sometimes feeling more like a collection of drafts” which I could not agree with more! I feel as though the previous description perfectly encapsulates the essence of the characters Welsh writes about. They are all rough-around-the-edges, where-the-wind blows, apathetic types. I found some of the stories to be dark and others to be hilarious. It made me think of acquaintances I made at house parties in my younger years. Overall, a well rounded collection of slice of life stories.
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