---
product_id: 154885142
title: "Skagboys"
brand: "irvine welshtam dean burnaudible studios"
price: "HK$465"
currency: HKD
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/154885142-skagboys
store_origin: HK
region: Hong Kong
---

# Skagboys

**Brand:** irvine welshtam dean burnaudible studios
**Price:** HK$465
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Skagboys by irvine welshtam dean burnaudible studios
- **How much does it cost?** HK$465 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/154885142-skagboys)

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## Description

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## Images

![Skagboys - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/814jRYHrs2L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐ 







  
  
    No hooks
  

*by J***N on Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2019*

This book is the prequel to Trainspotting, that Scottish debut novel which took the literary world by storm in the early ‘90s. Trainspotting’s subsequent ‘96 on-screen dramatization quickly had the same effect on the world of film, securing the international superstardom of director Danny Boyle and actors Ewan Macgregor and Robert Carlyle.At the time Trainspotting resonated extremely well with the grunge generation since its subject matter was unapologetically and unforgettably raw and edgy and it also provided readers with a wholly original setting. I suppose that every work of art is to some extent a remix of something that came before it, yet Welsh’s first story about heroin junkie Mark Renton and his motley crew of drug addicts (and a particular clean albeit sociopathic mate) remains peerless in its shameless irreverence and grittiness, revealing a tragicomic subculture in Leith which is at all times both desperate and depraved, yet never boring.To my mind it remains the greatest fictional work of genius which I’ve ever stumbled across. It’s told through the point of view (POV) of five main characters, and Welsh’s ability is so mesmerising that after a few pages into the book a discerning reader can recognise the POV character after reading the first few lines in each chapter. Which is pretty amazing when one thinks that the much lauded GRR Martin still needs to write the names of his POV characters (Eddard, Cersei etc) at the start of each of his chapters in the instalments which make up his Song Of Ice & Fire series.I also found the sequels Porno and The Blade Artist to be really good reading, books that could make you both cry with laughter or feel greatly distressed. Welsh never takes a didactic approach to his storytelling, which is so uncontrived and fresh that there are few tropes for him to break, if any.Given all of the above, I was very excited to finally pick up Skagboys, the sole prequel to Trainspotting. It started brightly enough with a description of a miners' strike during Thatcher years, followed by a funny chapter about Mark Renton and his work colleagues. Yet although it was very well-written (earning it its first star), this lengthy tome quickly deteriorated into a meaningless ramble so that it soon became hell to get through it all. I think that there were a few reasons for this:(1) The book is choked full of secondary characters like Keezbo, Matty, Alison and Nicksy who are both bland and largely irrelevant, yet often POV characters or the focus of chapters told in the third person. But if I cared little for these characters when Skagboys first introduces them, I give less than a stuff about them after finishing the novel.(2) Trainspotting, Porno and The Blade Artist all work because they’re each possessed of a tangible hook (how will Rents flee his dropout peers and heroin addiction? What will happen when Begbie finds Mark? Who killed Begbie’s son?) or an unconventional overarching theme (heroin addiction, the trials and tribulations of trying to film a porno flick or a murder mystery / whodunnit). Yet Skagboys contains none of these things. The theme of heroin addiction is nothing new and the various sub-plots are largely disconnected and all over the place. Welsh attempts to insert an overarching theme (based on a conspiracy theory) about the unpopular Tory government seeking to manipulate an underprivileged Scottish electorate. Yet although the idea is in essence not a bad one, its realisation is at best a pathetic attempt unworthy of the talent of Welsh.(3) As if it’s not bad enough that this novel doesn’t contain anything new that’s of interest, it also inexplicably fails to delve meaningfully into the characters of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie, whose combined experiences made Trainspotting such a hit. The main focus is on Renton and Sick Boy’s largely vacuous misdaventures while they’re both sinking into heroin addiction for no apparent reason. As for Spud and Begbie?  They barely get two POV chapters each (the one involving Begbie and old Dicky made me laugh so hard that it earned this book its second star – it was almost worth reading this tripe for that single chapter alone). All of which is a missed opportunity. As for Tommy, the character whose end lends so much poignancy to Trainspotting? Not a single POV chapter. And he’s just about the focus of a single chapter told in the 3rd person.Otherwise there really is not much more for me to add about this novel, except that (as with Welsh’s other books) readers should not bother seeking any egalitarianism or any overt morality or higher meaning in it. Put more plainly, here’s an excerpt from Skagboys that will melt all snowflakes, which closely follows a scene in which Frank Begbie beats up the brother of a girl he (falsely) denies impregnating:We’re worried aboot the polis, no that they c**** would grass anybody up, and ah doubt they’d bother interruptin a tea brek at Drylaw Station for rubbish like that, but some auld c*** might have put the call in. Franco’s buzzin like f*** though, sittin wi a big grin oan his coupon.— An awfay loat ay fuss aboot some f***** slag gittin up the duff. Next time ah ride her it’ll be up her e***, so thit thaire’s nae f***** room fir accusations.— Romance isnae deid, eh, Franco? Nelly grins fae the front, taking the van ootay the scheme, oantae the West Granton Road.This uncensored, confronting style is largely the reason why we were all so intrigued by Irvine Welsh in the first place. But it’s not enough to save what is all round a very piss-weak tale in terms of plot.I’m left absolutely gutted by this unexpected disappointment, but somehow I know that - like your typical Irvine Welsh junkie - I will inevitably be drawn to reading ’Dead Men’s Trousers’, Welsh’s last instalment in what is now being loosely referred to as the Mark Renton series.In potentially seeking to avoid the pitfalls present in Trainspotting’s prequel, Dead Men’s Trousers openly declares on its back cover blurb that one of Trainspotting’s famous foursome won’t survive the last instalment, instantly serving readers with that sort of curiosity-inducing hook that is at all times regrettably and wholly absent in Skagboys.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Kudos!
  

*by B***S on Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2022*

Super quick delivery and book is in as great shape as advertised. Can't wait to read.

### ⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Gave up unfinished
  

*by T***A on Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2022*

Trainspotting is probably my favorite fiction book, and I'd enjoyed several of Welsh's other titles as well. But this revisit of the Trainspotting characters was more than twice the length, with half as much to say about them. Trainspotting was retelling incidents that were like the level of stories these guys would be telling at parties for the rest of their lives; this one is more like pointless everyday stuff. Did you really want to know all the bands Renton enjoys listening to? Well now you will know. Near the end of the book everyone ends up in rehab together, which seemed like some of the better material -- but it was nowhere near the tension and nightmare and humor of Renton's "cleanup" at his parents' house in Trainspotting. I finally found I had over 100 pages to go and just didn't care what was going to happen to these guys (I mean, it's kind of a prequel to Trainspotting, so in effect we know where they end up...)It felt like if Welsh had been moved to cut down the length of the text, there were some good ideas that could have shined through a bit more. But it was too dull a read for me, overall.

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*Store origin: HK*
*Last updated: 2026-03-14*