Porno - Irvine Welsh

~ ~ The title for this opinion came to me as I was sitting in my ‘joe maxi’ at a red light, and the song “The Boys Are Back In Town” by the old Belfast band Thin Lizzie came on the radio. I’ve been planning a review of the Irvine Welsh novel “Porno”, where for the first time Welsh re-unites all of the seedy characters from his first (and only) blockbuster novel “Trainspotting” (1993) and brings them all together again in their old stomping ground of Leith in Edinburgh. And the title seemed very apt, considering the liking of the Thin Lizzie lead singer, the late, great Phil Lynott, for illicit pharmaceuticals of ...  Read the complete review

This is from my review on the ciao site Porno is the sequel to trainspotting [one of the best drugs books ever written [right up there with junkie and fear & loathing in las vegas],most of the characters from trainspotting make an appearance and some from glue [juice terry,lawson] are also present although this book can be read without reading trainspotting and glue,but to get the best from the book you should read them both. characters ========== renton - the thinking articulate junkie waster who betrays his pals and runs off to holland in trainspotting. sick boy - pretentious entrepeneur but a hit with the ladies - still ...  Read the complete review

Irvine Welsh?s Trainspotting was a publishing sensation in 1994, and one of my all-time favourite novels. Eight years later, when Welsh reunited the Trainspotting characters in Porno, I had mixed feelings. I was absolutely dying to read it, but afraid that it wouldn?t be as good and that it would be a contrived piece of moneymaking. Could the characters stand the test of time, and would they have anything to say to each other or to us, the readers? For those who didn?t read Trainspotting, it concerned a group of mates from the poor areas of Edinburgh and their drinking, violence and, mainly, drug-taking. On the whole they were a thoroughly nasty bunch ? ...  Read the complete review

He's a liar liar pants on fire is that Irvine Welsh blokey. He said he wouldn't write a sequel to 'Trainspotting', ever. He said it was played out, deid. I mean, if he was a woman it would be acceptable, expected even, for him to change his mind, but he's a bloke, so he shouldn't have done it. Actually that's not the only reason that he shouldn't have done it, the book was really a bit rubbish too. You can't really blame him for writing it though, can ya? I'm sure he was offered a rather hefty old wedge, ooohhh, not forgetting the inevitable film rights weigh-in to follow. Who needs integrity eh? The great thing ...  Read the complete review

“Porno” is a great fictional novel revolving around the making of pornography, as produced by the original characters from “Trainspotting” ten years on. It is absolutely disgusting, witty, clever, funny and weird and is a typically entertaining Irvine Welsh novel. Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson returns to Edinburgh having failed to make it in London and finds himself the recipient of his relative’s pub, a crappy venue that is going nowhere fast. Simon decides to turn it around, but finds out about “Juice” Terry’s stag filmmaking and decides to run the show by creating his very own pornographic film. Meanwhile, Frank Begbie gets out of jail and is let loose on ...  Read the complete review