The Irvine Welsh Omnibus: Trainspotting / The Acid House / Marabou Stork Nightmares

by Irvine Welsh

Genres: Fiction, Drugs, Scotland

900 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 1997

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

[Nathan Aracena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irvine Welsh, you’re a genius. Your mind works in cruel and twisted ways and the stories throughout this fantastic omnibus are disgusting indictments on the lowest of the low, yet they are absorbing, horrible and beautiful. Where most authors create magical kingdoms and alternate realities through their work and collections, you carved out a cesspool in Scotland (represent ✌🏽); used the most fowl, derogatory language; wrote about truly disgusting events, from rape and violence to drug use and the Oedipus complex. Nothing was left untarnished and I thank you for that. You showed the worst of humanity and you need anti-authors like you who don’t sugar coat shit, they don’t have to have a happy ending, sometime shit is shit and you just gotta accept it.
Side note - if you can’t read Scottish dialect, prepare yourself for a bumpy ride.
Trainspotting ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Acid House ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Marabou Stork Nightmares ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 awesome books in one! The Scottish accent/slang was a bit of a challenge in the beginning but definitely worth reading. Might just pick this up again soon for an overdue reread :)

[Richard Seith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic scottish writing, studying some truly abhorrent characters and the set and settings they created them. Trainspotting is the novel following a group of heroin addicts through inner city Edinburgh, told primarily through the voice of Mark Renton (later portrayed by Ewan McGregor in the hit movie).
The acid house is a collection of wonderful short stories, told with a variety of voices and capturing a unique blend of comedy and horror.
Marobou stork nightmares is one of Welsh's sharpest novels, 3 worlds collide through a comatose protagonist as the story builds in intensity and psychotic scenes to an unforgettably twisted yet humourous ending. Not for the faint of heart, tread carefully with Welsh.

[Ags · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed well away from ant Welsh for a while but decided to pick it up again as lockdown hit,mainly because it is a tome and I had no money for new books.
After the initial struggle of reading in Scottish,I started to get really immersed.
While Trainspotting is obviously a classic,I liked Marabou Stork nightmare the most.
I never realised how well Welsh constructs his stories,and I particularly enjoyed how he wove the three parts together to connect them to one bigger story.

[Jessica Sturdivant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Marabou Stork Nightmares (not listed on its own on goodreads) is one of my favorite books. This is why I give five stars.

(Trainspotting and the Acid House get four stars, but you have to love Irvine Welsh to bother with them.)

[Jennifer Utley]

Thrilling but, this could be since I own(Ed) the film, too?!

[Paul Chetcuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ripping good yarn. But too much smegma. Oh, those Brits!

[Caroline Nadel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ended up thinking in Scottish for a week afterwards, with the way the books were written. I think that in itself was an interesting method of really allowing a reader to get into the head of the protagonist (or antagonist, in the case of Maribou). Trainspotting was done brilliantly by the film, and I feel it's a shame I didn't read it first. Acid House was a beautiful book, I really enjoyed the interlocking stories and the depictions of the obsessive film watcher - I do that with books, so was able to relate. Maribou let the book down. It was not so well written, I found the plot to be far more graphic than necessary, and I've never really been much of a coma-fiction reader.

[Stephen Rauscher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despairingly funny? Hilariously depressing? Awesomely Scottish? Something like that.

[Esben Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertained above and beyond - I really enjoyed reading this book.