Product Description

In his first short-story collection since "The Acid House", Irvine Welsh sets us five tricky questions. In 'Rattlesnakes' how do three young Americans find themselves lost in the desert, and why does one find himself performing fellatio on another while being watched by the bare-breasted Madeline and two armed Mexicans? Who is the mysterious Korean chef who has moved upstairs to Chicago socialite Kendra Cross, in 'The D.O.G.S. of Lincoln Park', and what does he have to do with the disappearance of her faithful pooch Toto? In the title story, can Mickey Baker - an expat English bar-owner ducking and diving on the Costa Brava - manage to keep all his balls in the air: maintaining his barmaid Cynthia's body weight at the sexual maximum while attending to the youthful Persephone and dodging his persistent ex-wife and a pair of Spanish gangsters? By what train of events does Raymond Wilson Butler, writing a biography of a legendary US film director in "Miss Arizona" come to end up as a piece of movie memorabilia? And how, in the novella "The Kingdom of Fife" will Jason King - diminutive ex-trainee jockey and Subbuteo star of Cowdenbeath - fare in the world of middle-class female equestrians, and will he ever enjoy the tender and long-anticipated charms of Jenni Cahill and her remarkable jodhpurs? All of these questions are posed, and answered, in these five extraordinary stories: stories that remind us that Irvine Welsh is a master of the shorter form, a brilliant storyteller, and - unarguably - one of the funniest and filthiest writers in Britain.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103880 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Scottish Review of Books
'I haven't read anything so entertaining fiction wise for a long
time... Irresistibly funny... Irvine Welsh is superbly comic'

Literary Review
'Welsh's narrative control is so expert that he can elevate
anything.'

Scotland on Sunday
'I hold Irvine Welsh in higher regard than any living Scottish
writer...Welsh excels at the short form.'

Customer Reviews

Welsh back with the short story - but does he deliver?
Its been 13 or so years since Welsh last published a collection of short stories. Welsh lacks somewhat(or even a lot) in this genre but at least his last collection "The Acid House" included such gems as "A soft touch", "The House of John Deaf", "Disnae Matter" and others...

..sadly "If you liked School you'll love work" has no such gems. The short stories are all rather flat and dry and without soul.

HOWEVER!...the novella "The Kingdom of Fife" contained within said collection is Welsh at his best - a star burst of comical/whimsical/dark/surreal/ energy...and the purchase of this collection is worth it for that novella alone.

A great Novella...shame about the short stories.

Such a shame
I've read all of Irvine Welsh's books (Filth & Glue being my favourites) but this just didn't hit the mark for me. I think he's maybe run out of ideas. The tales in here aren't bad but they're not what we've copme to expect from a guy that used to so easily have us laughing and hurling at the same time with his twisted humour.

I much more enjoyed Mark Hayhurst's Friday at the Nobody Inn, that reminded me of Welsh at his best and this is him at his worst.

A waste of time
I have read all his work- some excellent, some good, some not so good. However this is his worst work yet- a waste of time.
Unlike most of his work these short stories seem to lack the peak shock/suprise that the others have.
They build up and fizzle out.