Product Description

Rebecca Navarro, best-selling authoress of Regency romances, suffers a paralysing stroke. Assisted by her nurse, Rebecca plans her revenge on her unfaithful husband. But will Freddy Royle, hospital trustee, celebrity and necrophiliac, thwart those plans? Dave Thornton, soccer thug, has lost his heart to flawed beauty Samantha Worthington. Together they go in search of the man who marketed the drug that crippled her - in order to cripple him. Lloyd from Leith has a transfiguring passion for the unhappily married Heather. Together they explore the true nature of house music and chemical romance. Will their ardour fizzle and die in the grim backstreets of Edinburgh, or will it ignite and blaze like a thousand suns?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24885 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From the Back Cover
'Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing to have happened to British writing for decades' Sunday Times

Rebecca Navarro, best-selling authoress of Regency romances, suffers a paralysing stroke. Assisted by her nurse, Rebecca plans her revenge on her unfaithful husband. But will Freddy Royle, hospital trustee, celebrity and necrophiliac, thwart those plans? Dave Thornton, soccer thug, has lost his heart to flawed beauty Samantha Worthington. Together they go in search of the man who marketed the drug that crippled her - in order to cripple him. Lloyd from Leith has a transfiguring passion for the unhappily married Heather. Together they explore the true nature of house music and chemical romance. Will their ardour fizzle and die in the grim backstreets of Edinburgh, or will it ignite and blaze like a thousand suns?

'Urgent, violent, bleakly funny prose' Nick Hornby, Times literary Supplement


'Welsh's world is spiky, trashy and brutal. It is also brilliant, hilarious and infused with a kind of punkish morality' Sunday Express

About the Author
Irvine Welsh is the author of six previous works of fiction, most recently Porno. He lives in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

Mind Blower
Oh, my god. I just have to say that these stories (Specially "The Undefeated") are so great. I'm not a critic, so I won't write anything revolutionary, but this book got into my heart almost as deep as Trainspotting. I read it in spanish (which is not an easy feat) but it didn't loose any sense to me. It's so much fun, and great writing that I almost wish I had never touched it: I felt so bad when it was ending. YOU MUST READ IT, YOB! LAS! See ya in Edina!

a roller coaster ride of hideously daring subjects
I would strongly have to disagree with the slatings which this novel has received. I would undoubtedly class this as one of Irvine Welsh's best. The book focuses on subjects so hideously disturbing and original that you just can't help admiring welsh for his creative originality. Unlike Trainspotting,this book often tends to steer away from the grim reality of drug abuse and focuses on love, true friendship and the positive effects of ecstasy. Although much of the book at times seems to be unecessarily violent, Welsh is meerly using this as a decoy to bring to light the angst ridden characters which dominate the story. This book is a definate must for those who can handle reading about reality, it certainly isn't for the faint hearted that's for sure and if it's a bit of pleasant escapism your after, forget it. This is a book for the e generation who will certainly be able to relate to this superb piece of modern day wtiting.

Extremely Accurate
I picked up Ecstasy while wandering around Europe and honestly only bought it for the title...I used to be into the whole lifestyle and I wanted to see how another author would try and fail at accurately describing the experience of a good pill...after reading it I can say that while the storylines werent the greatest, the descriptions were wonderful...especially the last story...it not only describes how your stream of thought runs while on a pill but gives you an insight into the mentality of someone who uses not only for the first time but also someone for whom the newness has wornoff...and also does something i once thought impossible...it also gets you into the head of someone whos tripping......absolutely wonderful dialog of consciousness and well written....welsh could have put more thought into the stories but overall i would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about ecstasy or acid or to anyone who has every tried them