Crime

Product Details

Author : Irvine Welsh
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9780224080538
Number of Pages : 352
Product Group : Book
Publication Date : 2008-07-03
Publisher : Jonathan Cape

ASIN : 0224080539

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Customer Reviews

Has Irvine been reading Will Self? (2008-09-05)

I was quite enjoying this latest offering from Welsh, although it is by no means as well-written, or as "clever" as his previous novels. However, I soon began to have this feeling of deja vu...bloke on holiday with significant other and "his" children (in this case not in the physical sense, although the children, including the main character's own childhood self, are very much present and with us throughout)...bloke inadvertently gets into bother because of a bad habit...plot thickens..main character leaves other half and goes on long journey and discovers dodgy paedo network.Of course! This is the plot of Will Self's latest novel, The Butt. I cannot believe the audacity!this aside, "Crime" is in any case a disappointing departure from Welsh's usual style; it is also, in places, really shabbily written, with syntax errors, and out and out grammatical mistakes all the way through. It's almost as if he has thought "Baws tae this, I hae tae dae anither book cause o me contract, but it disnae hae tae be any good because folks'll buy this yin anyway".In fact this is what I, and it seems many other Welsh fans have done, buying it simply because it is the eagerly-awaited new novel by the famous Irvine Welsh (and our memories jogged perhaps by the showing of TRainspotting on Film4..oh the joys of the Capitalist Machine!) It's my own fault; I normally take the time to read the first couple of pages at least, and also passages throughout a book before deciding whether it is worth buying, but in this case, the reputation of the author has ensured that the sale is made, even if you don't so much as read the back cover or the opening page.In Welsh's defence, the subject of "nonces" cannot be avoided in this current climate, with certain cases in our faces all summer, however, the similarities in actual storyline are far too many to be coincidence.SHAME ON YOU.

Dull and overwritten. (2008-09-02)

I've always believed the thriller/crime novel was beyond the British. This one by Welsh confirms my belief.Dull! Overwritten! I got up to about page 90 or 100 and tossed it. Why can't the Brits leave it to the Americans and concentrate on TV Soaps and reality shows?

Surprised at the negativity, to be honest..... (2008-08-30)

I have to say that I was rather surprised to see the less than complementary reviews about this book. Yes, perhaps it is a departure from his normal writings, but this novel retains enough of Mr Welsh's innovative style and dark humour to leave fans satisfied. I thought it was an excellent novel that shows maturity and hope for more, and quickly. Actually, what I would really like to read is a prequel to "Filth", so if you don't mind....

Straight Up and Down (2008-08-13)

I doubt this review will give away much more than you can infer from the others, least I hope it won't.As a review above says, it's a book I found difficult to put down - at first for the promising start: picking up the story of a previous Welsh acquaintance, and one whose previous description was from a mouth tainted by madness. The setting held much intrigue, also.But by the end I couldn't put it down for another, far worse reason. Where were the twists? Even mild ones? Get to the end quick to reveal what's been building up then: a Massive twist... Nope. Nothing.It's pretty well put - I enjoy Welsh's way of telling a story - unfortunately there really wasn't one. He's Good. They're Bad. He Wins. The characters he meets are as they first appear, the situation escalates but doesn't deviate. The three (or so) chapters of subplot were the most intricate, believable part of the book - certainly compared to Ray's 'emotional journey'.I hope, as mentioned above, Welsh was aiming for pulp-fiction. Cos this is it.

his best work in years! (2008-08-04)

I loved this book. Having read all of Welsh's books he seems to scatter some truly exceptional works (Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares, Porno & Glue) amongst some fairly-good-but-not-quite-as-good works. Welsh to me sounds the most credible when he's speaking to us through the voice of the Scottish retrobate, I enjoyed every word and thought that came out of Ray's head because of the colourful and honest narratives that Welsh has always impressed us with. I think if he abandoned that premise and Ray Lennox ended up being an American instead of a Scot then we'd be comparing him left-right-and-centre to every thriller writer living and dead. With his Scottish 'voice' Welsh finds his muse, and this is what propels his work forward and gets us hooked. 'Crime' a clever and insightful work which handles the rather dark subject of a pedophile ring without dragging us too far below our comfort zones. The tension doesn't quite build to the point where I was biting my nails, but the story is structured very well and we are slowly given Lennox's story in small pieces so by the end of the book we know what situation has brought him to where he is. We shouldn't keep judging Welsh on Trainspotting or looking for his 'return to form', as to tell the truth a lot of you don't seem to want to believe it, even if he does give you something exceptional like 'Glue'. He can't keep on speaking to us in the voice of Renton his whole career, yes that was him at his most honest but to keep harking back to that will mean that you are missing the point and the probably not appreciating what you've got right here - a extremely enjoyable book that gives us a deeper understanding of human nature and how incidents shape our future actions not just by themselves but by our attitudes and reactions to them.

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