Porno

Title: Porno
Author: Irvine Welsh
Published: 2003 by Vintage
Genre: Fiction with porn, scams and drugs
Pages: 484


Sequels don't always work, but this, the sequel to Welsh's successful book (made into movie in 1996) Trainspotting certainly does not disappoint. Longer, but with less characters running around, Porno brings out the people most familiar through the movie.

Some ten years have passed since the end of Trainspotting, and Simon 'Sick Boy' Williamson is back in Edinburgh with a head full of scams. His old home may have changed, but some things, like Spud and Begbie, really haven't. Still, Simon is determined not to fall back too hard on old habits, and starts several scams to make a lot of money off fools, as soon as possible and with as little effort as possible. The big scheme is to direct and produce a porn movie. Running into Mark Renton, the one who fucked his old friends over in London all those years ago, is definitely a plus.

Porno is told in first person point of view by several characters: Sick Boy, Renton, Begbie, Spud and Nikki, with Sick Boy getting a bit more airtime than the others. Like with Filth, Welsh manages to make his lead man quite the arse, someone you'd (well, I can only speak for myself, but...) like to see fall. I'm glad to report that, like with Filth again, Welsh does not disappoint.


"The hangover's pure kickin in n ah'm takin a walk intae toon tae clear the nut. Up past St Andrew's, whir thir buildin a new bus station. The auld one wis a dump, n the last time ah wis in it wis ages ago. In fact, it wis whin me, Rents, Sick Boy, Franco n Second Prize wir gaun doon tae London, wi aw that smack oan us. Pure paranoia, man, pure paranoia. Healthy stretch fir that yin if collared, too right!"