Rave

by Irvine Welsh

Selected from Irvine Welsh's novel Ecstasy . VINTAGE GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Literary Fiction

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published July 24, 2018

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

[Ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

''Sexuality's a weird cunt.''



Fucking Scottish... dude honestly i refuse to believe that it's a real language. why do they talk like that, i'm suffering.
I think this is the 3rd story from Ecstasy, ''The Undefeated''. apparently they turned it into a movie that i may someday watch. it was fine... i don't fucking know how the material the cover is made of called but i like touching it.
Side note, fucking My Chemical Romance was named after Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. how the fuck did i not know that? fake emo i guess *said while writing a review & listening to Panic!At The Disco in almost fucking 2020*.

[Nat K · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ah am fuckin well fed up because there's nothing happening and ah've probably done a paracetamol but fuck it you need positive vibes..."

When all else fails, a good old paracetamol should come to the rescue. Welcome to the world of Irvine Welsh. If it's poppable, wash it down. No time to waste.

The garish pink cover called to the magpie in me. Lurid. Like the lifestyle of our protagonist, Lloyd Buist. Thirty one years old, and his life is defined by the weekend. It's what he lives for. Monday to Friday is just a filler.

We're in Lloyd's head for 115 pages.

"Ye cannae gie other cunts enjoyment if you cannae enjoy iy yourself."

Class A drugs, music, raves, bedding lassies half his age, fitba*. Repeat.This is what Lloyd does. But is the gloss slowly losing its shine? How long can you continue to be a party boy before it begins to pall?

Lloyd decides he wants to fall in love. Without the aid of chemicals.

He cooks a big batch of soup weekly, for his elderly neighbour auld Mrs McKenzie. Just another bizarre event in Lloyd's life.

For some reason I thought the title was Rage (a music show which plays here in the wee small hours), rather than Rave. Both are apt. This little whipper snipper of a story is fuelled by music, and the illegal substances that make it sound so much better.

"...women whae go tae discos and dance around their handbags."

We've all done that at some time, haven't we ladies. It conjures up such a funny picture. And also reminds me that John King (of The Football Factory) made a similar observation in one of his books.

There are some ridiculously crazy scenes in this snippet of a story. Very funny. It has more humour and less aggro than his other books. The full play of this story is the novel Ecstasy.

Written in the Scots dialect (how could it not be), this book takes you back to the mid 1990s.

This wee book is part of the Vintage Minis series. To ad lib the old Clayton's ads on telly "the book you read when you're not reading a book". A bit of a breather, when you're having a little break from your current book, or can't settle on what to tackle next. A nice little book snack.

Trigger warnings!
Swearing, drugging and shagging aplenty. Also some tasteless thoughts and scenes. It is an Irvine Welsh after all.

It amused me to read in his bio at the end that his debut novel Transpotting was rejected from the Man Booker shortlist for offending the judges.

*fitba = the round ball game, the beautiful game (soccer or football, depending on which hemisphere you live in).

[Jayakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny druggy story from Welsh about ageing and falling in love under the influence of Ecstasy. Nice characterizations - there is a great evil female character called Poisonous Cunt. The novella is filled with entertaining subplots. There are some hilarious situations as usual that only Welsh could conjure up, all told from a working class point of view. The ending was strange and unexpected. I thought I had not read this one before. Then I realized it was part of The Acid House. I do not understand the purpose of this book. Some dialogs have been highlighted and blown up, maybe to attract readers with attention deficit. I guess books are really losing out to other forms of entertainment if publishers have to resort to this kind of gimmickry. Says the guy who has struggled to read 18 books this year.

[Gordon Fingland · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s just something about the carefree, truthful way Irvine Welsh writes that has me enthralled from start to finish and this little gem encapsulates what he does best. Sex, drugs and living for the weekend. Although i had read this before as part of the book Ecstasy (definitely recommend) it was most enjoyable revisiting for another run through.

[Kristian Gunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaahh, that was an intense little flashback...

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggled with some of the language (even though I have lived in Scotland for almost 7 years - shame on me!) but it is truly a great introduction to Welsh.

[amsel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe ah need a wee bit ae E or somethin tae make sense ae this Scottish pish, ken?

[Klára · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
The language wasn't as much of a struggle as I expected it to be. (Not sure if it is the Old English, phonetics or exposure to a Scottish speaker) This little book made so much more sense than the Freedom one as it is just a short story. And a nice story at that, I was expecting a heartbreak at the end and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of it. Overall a pleasant read that will probably stay at the back of my head (or at least the strawberries episode will).

[Chesney1587 · Rating 3 out of 5]

"when ah got oot intae the street, ah saw this boy and bird gaun doon the road thegither, obviously really intae each other, no oan drugs or nowt. ah thought, when wis the last time ah wis ever like that wi a lassie, withoot bein aw eckied up?" (p78)
"it's not a question ay believin some cunt's reality as they see it, it's a question ay respectin some cunt's reality as they see it" (p93)

[Jack Blackman · Rating 2 out of 5]

5

[Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good wee book to carry about in public transport. Good descriptions of raving etc but the story didn’t have a huge amount of substance and finished kinda abruptly/awkwardly.

[Ayşegül · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly selected pieces from a beautiful work.

[✨ Gigi ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk just a massive mess, but I guess that's the point?

[Tim Spalding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book and realised I’ve read it before, it’s one of the short stories from Welsh’s collection ‘Ecstacy’

Returning to this one was nice, it was definitely the highlight of Ecstacy. It’s funny, often relateable, silly and overall a good time if you’re interested in partying, DJing, absurd drug tales and a bitta love.

It follows Lloyd, a borderline drug addict partygoer who is a bit of a mess, until he finds love. Which is a tale as old as time itself lmao.

It’s short, sweet and scratched an itch for me since I haven’t had a dose of Irvine Welsh this year.

[Puja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why do men have to show their disgusting self in the form of books? Maybe keep that filth in your mind?

Maybe i was also a little biased because intoxication and drugs make me uncomfortable. But the moment he referred to women as holes, i lost it.

[Izzy Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welsh’s phonetic way of writing Scottish dialect is a joy to read. Love the acid trip depictions, especially the thoughts about the dolphins. The ending was just bizarre and felt so rushed :(

[R.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κριτική στα Ελληνικά πιο κάτω...

This little book consists of excerpts from the author's book Ecstasy and offers a glimpse on the rave music scene and the -mostly- psychedelic drugs' taking sub-culture in '90s Scotland. This is the first time I read anything written by Irvine Welsh and I can't claim I formed a decent opinion about his works, but I found Rave quite interesting. Not great but not bad at all. The language needs some getting used to and I guess isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I found this a quick and easy read.


Ένα μικρό δείγμα της υπο-κουλτούρας των ψυχεδελικών -κυρίως- ναρκωτικών και της rave σκηνής στη Σκωτία του '90. Το βιβλιαράκι αυτό είναι απόσπασμα ενός μεγαλύτερου βιβλίου και το πρώτο δείγμα γραφής του Irvine Welsh για εμένα, οπότε δεν μπορώ να βγάλω συμπεράσματα για τον συγγραφέα, πάντως το βρήκα ενδιαφέρον αν και όχι κάτι το εξαιρετικό. Σίγουρα όχι για συντηρητικούς αναγνώστες, λόγω και του θέματος κι ακόμα περισσότερο ίσως της γλώσσας που χρησιμοποιεί...

[Executionereniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Acid, man, fuck that, never again, never until the next time at any rate."

"Ah remember once when ah was eckied ah got an erection when ah saw her unshaved armpits visible in a white, sleeveless cotton top. Ah once had a wank about fucking her armpits, ah don't know why this should be, but sexuality's a weird cunt tae try and fathom oot."

"Ah always liked Newcastle. Geordies are just Scots who can't blame the English for them being fucked up, the poor cunts."

There's just so much wisdom in this short little book.

[Chris Orme · Rating 4 out of 5]

105/115 (Revised 2018 Reading Challenge)

It’s a great story & kinda feel bad giving it 4* but it is an abridged version. Bought this being a massive IW fan just as a collectors thing. The story reads fine abridged until the end. Then you start to feel the missing parts. But for the low price , if you’ve never read IW before & you want to give his writing a wee try it would not be bad. Though you should really just go for Trainspotting.

[Avery Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

need to read ecstasy and trainspotting, but man the bit about strawberries blew my head off...... also every scene with The Poisonous Cunt and her sidekick The Victim...... not exactly sure what the point of this particular book is since its all excerpted from ecstasy anyways but cest la vie.... the scottish thing is difficult & this meager eighty pages took me four sittings to get through but its worth it for the way welsh blows up--> explodes every drugged out second into profundity

[illiterate.bookworm alice humphreys · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story of a crazy unbothered lad… « it’s like at a rave we create a kind ay environment, and it isnae just the E - although it’s maistly the E - that encourages that kind ay feeling. it’s the whole vibe. but it doesnae transfer that week tae the ootside world. oot thair, these cunts have created a different environment and that kind ay environment lend itself mair tae the swedge rush »

[Pria · Rating 3 out of 5]

rough read - welsh writes with a scottish accent that had me googling about every other word on urban dictionary. that being said, it was a quick and decent read. i like his style, straigtforward and vulgar and pulsing. pretty damn funny, too. glad i picked this up

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, messy and full-on.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always weird to read a book and unexpectedly find your neighborhood mentioned in it 😳😄

Hopefully it’s gotten a tiny bit better since the era featured in the story. 😉

[Gareth Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t waste your time . Truly awful

[Kariss Ainsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK but dosn't make total sense, i guess because its cut down from a larger book which i didn't realise until i started reading it

[Adelina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book ever, don’t waste your time

[Nettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

gracias escocia

[Nejra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Što je Huxley započeo, Welsh završava. Osjećaj tripa ne popušta ni kada protagonist pravi čorbu za ručak.
Moram napomenuti da je i škotski dijalekt sam po sebi trippy.