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A review by digitaltempest
Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh
3.0
This book contains three stories that revolve around romance and Ecstasy among other things.
Lorraine Goes to Livingston is the first story. It was titled a "Rave and Regency" romance. Famed regency romance novel writer Rebecca Navarro (who writes stories such as Lucy Goes to Liverpool and Yasmin Goes to Yeovil) has a stroke, which jolts her out of her dreamworld. When she actually takes a look at reality, she realizes that her husband is a prick who's using her for her money, and he uses her money for all forms of debauchery. She, along with the help of a nurse -- Lorraine, plan revenge on her dear husband.
This was my favorite story in the whole book. The next two stories are powerful, especially the one following this one, but this one held the most value to me. When you first meet Rebecca, you don't really like her much, but you feel empathy for her. And Lorraine is one of those characters that you can relate to. She's a single woman who has questions about her sexuality and wishes that everyone would stop trying to force love down her throat. Then, of course with this being your typical Irvine story, you have drug abuse, raves, and some bizarre sex practices (bestiality and necrophilia for this particular story).
Fortune's Always Hiding is the second story and is subtitled "A Corporate Drug Romance". The story revolves around a woman, who was the unfortunate victim of a drug marketed in the 60's, and a man, who's obsessed with soccer (or fitba, as they commonly say ;Þ). The woman is hell-bent on revenge and the man is in love and would do anything for her.
Another powerful story revolving around revenge, but this time it's against a big corporation who refuses to take responsibility for destroying people's lives. They've given money, but they aren't truly remorseful about their actions. I loved how Welsh jumped back and forth giving us tiny portions of what happened to the woman, Samantha. This one is my second favorite story in the book as well.
The Undefeated, an Acid House Romance, is about a jobless, drug dealer-slash-raver named Lloyd, and a unhappy, sexually frustrated housewife named Heather.
There's not a lot that I can say for this story. Most of the story is spent following their everyday struggles and few pages are actually dedicated to their meeting up. Lloyd's side of things didn't interest me all that much. It was interesting at times, but most times, I found his commentary lacking. Heather's side of things was quite fascinating though. It was just something about reading about her going from "good" Heather to "bad" Heather that really kept me reading her chapters.
It seems like I liked the stories in the order they were written. I loved the first and was only partially impressed by the last, even though, I did really love the hopeful ending we get at the end of the last story. Yeah, I'll admit the characters aren't all that drawn out, but this is only a 275 page book. What do you expect? Shrek's analysis? A wonderful addition for people who collect Welsh's off-beat works.
Lorraine Goes to Livingston is the first story. It was titled a "Rave and Regency" romance. Famed regency romance novel writer Rebecca Navarro (who writes stories such as Lucy Goes to Liverpool and Yasmin Goes to Yeovil) has a stroke, which jolts her out of her dreamworld. When she actually takes a look at reality, she realizes that her husband is a prick who's using her for her money, and he uses her money for all forms of debauchery. She, along with the help of a nurse -- Lorraine, plan revenge on her dear husband.
This was my favorite story in the whole book. The next two stories are powerful, especially the one following this one, but this one held the most value to me. When you first meet Rebecca, you don't really like her much, but you feel empathy for her. And Lorraine is one of those characters that you can relate to. She's a single woman who has questions about her sexuality and wishes that everyone would stop trying to force love down her throat. Then, of course with this being your typical Irvine story, you have drug abuse, raves, and some bizarre sex practices (bestiality and necrophilia for this particular story).
Fortune's Always Hiding is the second story and is subtitled "A Corporate Drug Romance". The story revolves around a woman, who was the unfortunate victim of a drug marketed in the 60's, and a man, who's obsessed with soccer (or fitba, as they commonly say ;Þ). The woman is hell-bent on revenge and the man is in love and would do anything for her.
Another powerful story revolving around revenge, but this time it's against a big corporation who refuses to take responsibility for destroying people's lives. They've given money, but they aren't truly remorseful about their actions. I loved how Welsh jumped back and forth giving us tiny portions of what happened to the woman, Samantha. This one is my second favorite story in the book as well.
The Undefeated, an Acid House Romance, is about a jobless, drug dealer-slash-raver named Lloyd, and a unhappy, sexually frustrated housewife named Heather.
There's not a lot that I can say for this story. Most of the story is spent following their everyday struggles and few pages are actually dedicated to their meeting up. Lloyd's side of things didn't interest me all that much. It was interesting at times, but most times, I found his commentary lacking. Heather's side of things was quite fascinating though. It was just something about reading about her going from "good" Heather to "bad" Heather that really kept me reading her chapters.
It seems like I liked the stories in the order they were written. I loved the first and was only partially impressed by the last, even though, I did really love the hopeful ending we get at the end of the last story. Yeah, I'll admit the characters aren't all that drawn out, but this is only a 275 page book. What do you expect? Shrek's analysis? A wonderful addition for people who collect Welsh's off-beat works.