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71st out of 319 books
—
443 voters
Marabou Stork Nightmares
by
Irvine Welsh
The acclaimed author of the cult classics Trainspotting and The Acid House, Irvine Welsh has been hailed as "the best thing that has happened to British writing in a decade" (London Sunday Times). This audacious novel is a brilliant (and literal) head trip of a book that brings us into the wildly active, albeit coma-beset, mind of Roy Strang, whose hallucinatory quest to e...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
January 17th 1997
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 1995)
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I realize I haven't read Trainspotting, or even a great deal of Irvine Welsh's work, but let me go out on a limb here and say that this is my favorite.
The characters, especially the main character, are all deliciously real. Characteristic of Welsh, in my experience, is the atmosphere of darkness and desperation interjected with some even blacker humor. His ability to get me to sympathize with the main character, even after I'd read the end, was pretty remarkable. And not in the way you like Alex...more
The characters, especially the main character, are all deliciously real. Characteristic of Welsh, in my experience, is the atmosphere of darkness and desperation interjected with some even blacker humor. His ability to get me to sympathize with the main character, even after I'd read the end, was pretty remarkable. And not in the way you like Alex...more
In many ways, this book was brilliant: the structure of flitting between his coma state, memories of his childhood, and an African hunting fantasy. Also, the way he physically structures words on the page really conveys the polyphonic stream of consciousness of a person in a coma. And the Scottish phonetic spellings are just plain fun. That said, this book disturbed me as no other book has done--and not in a good way. I genuinely feel traumatized by it. It is not so much the fact that violent th...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Its a difficult book to explain without giving the game away too much or making it sound a bit more superficial than I think it actually is.
So, we have an instantly dislikeable narrator who is telling his story from a hospital bed whilst in a coma. He's flitting between levels of consciousness, seemingly at will, to avoid what's going on around him but also to avoid the depths of his psyche which takes the form of an African adventure in search of the Marabou Stork. Yep. Not what I was expecting...more
So, we have an instantly dislikeable narrator who is telling his story from a hospital bed whilst in a coma. He's flitting between levels of consciousness, seemingly at will, to avoid what's going on around him but also to avoid the depths of his psyche which takes the form of an African adventure in search of the Marabou Stork. Yep. Not what I was expecting...more
Mind. Blown.
The angle of this story is incredible to begin with; a coma patient tell his story.
Sometimes, he (Roy) slipps close to the surface and hears conversations or music around him, a level below that he recounts actual memories from his life, and even deeper, he hunts the metaphorical stork with his friend and companion, footballer Sandy Jameison. He feels that he will be ready to resurface and wake up when he finally kills the stork, which he believes encompasses everything negative and...more
The angle of this story is incredible to begin with; a coma patient tell his story.
Sometimes, he (Roy) slipps close to the surface and hears conversations or music around him, a level below that he recounts actual memories from his life, and even deeper, he hunts the metaphorical stork with his friend and companion, footballer Sandy Jameison. He feels that he will be ready to resurface and wake up when he finally kills the stork, which he believes encompasses everything negative and...more
My first time through this book I thought Irvine Welsh had completely reinvented himself. The beginning of the novel left me thinking that the entirety was going to be some deranged acid trip of whirring images and slurred sounds. It doesn't take long for Welsh to slip into his familiar role of Edinburgh scheme documentarian, a role of which he is the master.
The reader travels between Roy Strang's African dreamland and his memory of growing up in the toughest part of Edinburgh. Gradually, you re...more
The reader travels between Roy Strang's African dreamland and his memory of growing up in the toughest part of Edinburgh. Gradually, you re...more
This book left me freaked out for weeks. It's told from the perspective of someone in a coma, drifting in and out of three levels of awareness: nearly aware of his real surroundings; remembering the events of his life that led him to be in this coma; and in a surreal fantasy African safari. Very well written, easy to follow despite the narrative tricks, and with a narrator that will draw you in somewhat against your will.
Il cielo sopra Edinburgo
Nella lettura di (quasi) tutte le opere di Welsh mi era rimasto indietro, non so perchè (forse inconsciamente respinto dall'immagine poco accattivante del marabù in copertina) questo Tolleranza Zero. Grave lacuna! mi hanno ammonito gli amici anobiiani welshiani. E avevano ragione...
Si tratta infatti di uno dei migliori esempi di quell'inimitabile stile, cinico, crudele e violento, che negli anni 90 l'autore sapeva utilizzare con maestria direi molto superiore a quanto ci...more
Nella lettura di (quasi) tutte le opere di Welsh mi era rimasto indietro, non so perchè (forse inconsciamente respinto dall'immagine poco accattivante del marabù in copertina) questo Tolleranza Zero. Grave lacuna! mi hanno ammonito gli amici anobiiani welshiani. E avevano ragione...
Si tratta infatti di uno dei migliori esempi di quell'inimitabile stile, cinico, crudele e violento, che negli anni 90 l'autore sapeva utilizzare con maestria direi molto superiore a quanto ci...more
So, this book is not for everybody. It's not for the faint of heart. It's not for anyone who has a low tolerance for reading "Scottish". (Ay dinnae think ay cuh do it, bit wasnae so bad.) It's not for anyone who normally reads Nicholas Sparks. It's about horrible people doing horrible things, the domino effect of those acts and the ultimate disgusting revenge the acts elicit. But it's also surprisingly about redemption.
I did enjoy the setup. The story is told in three ways: The narrator, lying i...more
I did enjoy the setup. The story is told in three ways: The narrator, lying i...more
Trainspotting. You’ve read the book, or more probably seen the movie. And if you appreciated either one, you’ll probably enjoy this Irvine Welsh offering. It’s a strange piece of work.
Welsh is an interesting writer for this reason: he’s not f**king boring. Um, duh? He’s not predictable. His stories aren’t linear, and they don’t stay in one plane. They veer, chaotically, from one element to the next. But he knows when to slow down, let the reader catch their breath. And just when you think you’ve...more
Welsh is an interesting writer for this reason: he’s not f**king boring. Um, duh? He’s not predictable. His stories aren’t linear, and they don’t stay in one plane. They veer, chaotically, from one element to the next. But he knows when to slow down, let the reader catch their breath. And just when you think you’ve...more
My personal favorite Irvine Welsh novel, 'Marabou Stork Nightmares' is a dark and disturbing tale that works as a coming-of-age story taking place between Scottish youths over the course of several years. For fans of Welsh, this might seem like well-worn territory except for the sinister vibe that underscores the story itself. Not that Welsh's tales are EVER without a dark side, but stylistically there is just something "off" at work here. For example, Welsh's use of a coma patient for an axis a...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This time through, I think Irvine Welsh missed the target. Marabou Stork Nightmares is as well written as anything Mr. Welsh has yet done, but I truly failed to care about anything happening in this book. Welsh is a master craftsman with his words, but I think he was simply trying too hard for something distinct here.
His power with language is Welsh's strongest talent, and he uses it to the fullest in this book, but it fails to amaze. It is kinda cool, when he switches from fantasy to reality,...more
His power with language is Welsh's strongest talent, and he uses it to the fullest in this book, but it fails to amaze. It is kinda cool, when he switches from fantasy to reality,...more
More disturbing than "Crime" (never thought I'd be able to say that) and (by the end) more contemptible than "Filth". Roy Strang's in a coma and he doesn't want to come out of it which begs the question "what's the cunt hiding from?" It's hard getting a straight answer out of the soccer hooligan/system analyst/sociopath but he tells a good story. I'll be honest, the continuing image of the marabou stork eating the flamingo's head leads to a disgusting last two pages but I don't have any more dif...more
Apr 17, 2012
Alina Ioana
added it
I recommend this book to everyone who likes a well told story about the real life of Scottish people struggling against drugs, racism and violence against women and underprivileged society layers. The straightforwardness of the author, the Scottish pronunciation of English, the slightly non-orthodox vocabulary render the book a fantastically realistic and unique air, it takes you into a world of fighting against social atrocities. The characters are so complex that you can not avoid becoming one...more
Roy Strang si ritrova immobilizzato fisicamente da un coma. Riesce a sentire le voci che animano la stanza d'ospedale in cui giace, ma da esse prova ad allontanarsi per perdersi tra i ricordi della sua vita. Ripercorre l'infanzia vissuta nella corea dell'Irlanda, la violenza del quartiere, il periodo spensierato e felice in Sud Africa, gli abusi taciuti, la lotta per emergere, lo stupro di cui fu testimone e complice...
La narrazione si articola in tre differenti piani: Roy in ospedale e le voci...more
La narrazione si articola in tre differenti piani: Roy in ospedale e le voci...more
I've dabbled in the world of "strange fiction" before, but this was my first taste of Welsh's work. (I've neither seen nor read Trainspotting, though I admit I'm now curious.)
The dialect took a bit of getting used to, especially as I was frequently trying to read it in a noisy environment, but I eventually got the hang of it and was able to focus more on the storyline. I enjoyed the parallels of the different stories and was glad I picked up on the Stork-is-Roy theme from the beginning, even th...more
The dialect took a bit of getting used to, especially as I was frequently trying to read it in a noisy environment, but I eventually got the hang of it and was able to focus more on the storyline. I enjoyed the parallels of the different stories and was glad I picked up on the Stork-is-Roy theme from the beginning, even th...more
Entertaining, engaging, and original. It's been a while since I read Trainspotting, but I had forgotten that Welsh is the British Palahniuk who, unlike his American counterpart, hasn't yet rutted out on style and content.
The book flows quickly and Welsh's dirty, twisted mind keeps it entertaining. The narrative is clever (swapping between different levels of consciousness in a coma patient) and doesn't feel too forced. The characters are believable: a pseudo-racist, violent, promiscuous, poor f...more
The book flows quickly and Welsh's dirty, twisted mind keeps it entertaining. The narrative is clever (swapping between different levels of consciousness in a coma patient) and doesn't feel too forced. The characters are believable: a pseudo-racist, violent, promiscuous, poor f...more
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This review originally appeared in the BOULDER CAMERA
Thirteen horrifying reads for Halloween
by Vince Darcangelo
Posted: 10/24/2008 02:34:00 AM MDT
October is the time of year to indulge those horror cravings. As the leaves turn, and a haunting chill fills the evening air, there's nothing better than curling up with a good thriller, be it a psychological mystery or supernatural scare, a genre gore-fest or high-minded literary horror.
We've compiled 13 can't-mi...more
This review originally appeared in the BOULDER CAMERA
Thirteen horrifying reads for Halloween
by Vince Darcangelo
Posted: 10/24/2008 02:34:00 AM MDT
October is the time of year to indulge those horror cravings. As the leaves turn, and a haunting chill fills the evening air, there's nothing better than curling up with a good thriller, be it a psychological mystery or supernatural scare, a genre gore-fest or high-minded literary horror.
We've compiled 13 can't-mi...more
recipe for marabou stork nightmares:
use life on mars as a base (drain most of the mystery out) and add trainspotting: the early years (chopped). also add a table spoon of tarzan, green street hooligans and boy a each. stir everything and wait for it to boil. now add a dash of naked lunch and/or fear and loathing in las vegas, preferably both. stir and cook for two minutes. add fuck and cunt to taste (imagine you have irvine welsh's taste). let sit for a few minutes.
serve with some glee sprinkled...more
use life on mars as a base (drain most of the mystery out) and add trainspotting: the early years (chopped). also add a table spoon of tarzan, green street hooligans and boy a each. stir everything and wait for it to boil. now add a dash of naked lunch and/or fear and loathing in las vegas, preferably both. stir and cook for two minutes. add fuck and cunt to taste (imagine you have irvine welsh's taste). let sit for a few minutes.
serve with some glee sprinkled...more
Really enjoyed this book, as I have all of the Irvine Welsh books so far. It felt like a really dark book and some of the things that take place are f***ed up but totally in keeping in line with the tone of the book so while they are shocking, they also make sense. I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to Welsh's work, try Trainspotting or Glue for that. I would however recommend it as a short but excellent read that once you understand what's going on is very enjoyable, particularly for...more
This was my first taste of Irvine Welsh and I picked one of his more powerful books. Between the Scottish dialect, 3 separate, yet entwined stories and the fact that the print itself was actually part of the story (you will know when you see it). This book was difficult to put down, it is still difficult to put down even after reading it several times.
If you like books that really mess with your head and keep you guessing, then I highly recommend this book!
If you like books that really mess with your head and keep you guessing, then I highly recommend this book!
Jumping back and forth between several levels of consciousness, and Welsh does so in an extremely realistic way much as one would jump back and forth in a dream-conscious state. Some of the scenes were a bit graphic for my taste, but made sense in overall plot and necessity. Interesting study of the mind and human nature, but the female side of me can't help being offended by some of the treatment of women. But then again, that's probably the whole point of the story.
This book is really graphic and sick and twisted and very very sad if it is indeed a portryal of Scottish society. These kinds of books always make me feel sad that humanity does actually sink down to these levels plus it made me keep turning the page to see what would happen and whether it really would be as bad as indicated. This was a recommendation for book club - I have a feeling that many will think it was too much and too harsh but then I guess book club is all about reading books you wou...more
I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. The summary warns you that the novel is going to be disjointed--it's a coma patient telling you his story while also fighting to stay in his coma fantasy world because he doesn't want to remember or rejoin the waking world.
However, once I started, the narrative takes hold and moves along at a blistering pace. Roy's story, because it is so disjointed, becomes fascinating despite needing to fumble through various narrative styles and pages of...more
However, once I started, the narrative takes hold and moves along at a blistering pace. Roy's story, because it is so disjointed, becomes fascinating despite needing to fumble through various narrative styles and pages of...more
Brilliance.....just pure brilliance, I enjoyed Welsh's work ever since I read Acid House, but this......
Took me a couple of chapters to understand fully what was happening but once I was engaged it was total immersion, as ever it provides a brutal insight into life in the Scottish inner cities but using such an original vehicle for his narrative.
I would normally urge people to read Welsh anyway, but I'm going to especially thrust this one at you, MUST read.
Took me a couple of chapters to understand fully what was happening but once I was engaged it was total immersion, as ever it provides a brutal insight into life in the Scottish inner cities but using such an original vehicle for his narrative.
I would normally urge people to read Welsh anyway, but I'm going to especially thrust this one at you, MUST read.
Turns out that Irvine Welsh is not a one-trick pony, he's a one and a half trick pony. He wowed us all with his filthy funny tales of Scottish smackheads in Trainspotting, one of the ALL time black comedies, they don't come any blacker or funnier, and then it was kind of - follow that. So this one does involve similar young Scottish druggies, but it has a plot, which emerges in a similar manner to the spring in Monty Python's Spring Surprise from the Crunchy Frog sketch :
Health inspector: What's...more
Health inspector: What's...more
I add this to yet another Irvine Welsh book that I have tried to push onto people with litle or no success. I think the cavalier drug-use, violence and phrases like "daft cunt" coupled with the majority of conversations peppered with the slang of the Scottish schemies may be the turn-offs. But I enjoy all of that in my reading.
His style is reminiscent of William S. Burroughs (whom he claims to have never read until after comparisons between their writings were made). I also enjoy the way he actu...more
His style is reminiscent of William S. Burroughs (whom he claims to have never read until after comparisons between their writings were made). I also enjoy the way he actu...more
By the time I was half way through "Marabou Stork Nightmares" I was loving it. Roy's African fantasy is so interesting, especially the way it keeps slipping out of his control, with the increasing frequency of homoerotic moments that he tries to suppress. I spotted the Famous Five influence immediately, in the outdated slang he & Sandy use and the obsession with picnics and typically English food.
Once I'd finished it, I was even more impressed. Roy's fantasies are an escape from his real lif...more
Once I'd finished it, I was even more impressed. Roy's fantasies are an escape from his real lif...more
it demonstrates the power of the written word possibly more than any other book i've read. intensely disturbing. the moment i finished it i threw the book as far away from me as possible. parts of it still haunt me now and it's years since i read it - long enough to read and forget plenty of other books. i loved trainspotting and enjoyed porno but have to say i wouldn't recommend this to many people.
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Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting, Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry...more
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“It's only now that I realize that behaviour always has a context and precedents, it's what you do rather than what you are, although we often never recognise that context or understand what these precedents are.”
—
13 people liked it
“This is from "Marabou Stork Nightmares".
Bernard's Poem:
Did you see her on the telly the other day
good family entertainment the tabloids say
But when you're backstage
at your new faeces audition
you hear the same old shite of your own selfish volition
She was never a singer
a comic or a dancer
I cant say I was sad
when I found out she had cancer
Great Britain's earthy northern
comedy queen
takes the rand, understand
from the racist Boer regime
So now her cells are fucked
and thats just tough titty
I remember her act
that I caught back in Sun City
She went on and on about
'them from the trees
with different skull shapes
from the likes of you and me'
Her Neo-Nazi spell
it left me fucking numb
the Boers lapped it up with zeal
so did the British ex-pat scum
But what goes round
comes round they say
so welcome to another dose
of chemotherapy
And for my part
it's time to be upfront
so fuck off and die
you carcinogenic cunt.”
—
10 people liked it
More quotes…
Bernard's Poem:
Did you see her on the telly the other day
good family entertainment the tabloids say
But when you're backstage
at your new faeces audition
you hear the same old shite of your own selfish volition
She was never a singer
a comic or a dancer
I cant say I was sad
when I found out she had cancer
Great Britain's earthy northern
comedy queen
takes the rand, understand
from the racist Boer regime
So now her cells are fucked
and thats just tough titty
I remember her act
that I caught back in Sun City
She went on and on about
'them from the trees
with different skull shapes
from the likes of you and me'
Her Neo-Nazi spell
it left me fucking numb
the Boers lapped it up with zeal
so did the British ex-pat scum
But what goes round
comes round they say
so welcome to another dose
of chemotherapy
And for my part
it's time to be upfront
so fuck off and die
you carcinogenic cunt.”
May 06, 2013 06:56pm