I tried this before the film came out and found the Scottish dialect difficult to cope with and gave up. Then I saw the film and was able to return to the book with their voices in my head and found it to be very different and absolutely brilliant; not for the faint-hearted.
Listen to an audio extract by clicking on the orange arrow below.
Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting on a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fucking embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you've produced. Choose life.
Ewan McGregor starred in the cult 1996 adaptation, which was directed by Danny Boyle. To play Renton McGregor gave up alcohol and dairy products for two months, though ironically the faeces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland were made of chocolate.
‘Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades’ - Sunday Times
Author
About Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is the author of eight works of fiction including Trainspotting, Porno, Glue and The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. He lives in Dublin.
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