Title: Marabou Stork Nightmares

Author: Irvine Welsh

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 274

Rating: 9/10

Irvine Welsh – Marabou Stork Nightmares

This book was probably my favourite of all of the Irvine Welsh books that I’ve read so far, although I do still have three or four to work through. And there’s a big twist at the end of it that I’m going to have to try to avoid spoiling, but it knocked me for six and left a lasting memory, so much so that whilst I haven’t re-read it yet, I want to.

It features Welsh’s inimitable writing style, as his work always does, but it also plays with elements like the layout of the book, and spacing, and it just generally qualifies as some of the author’s more experimental work. Considering that he’s already ‘alternative‘, and well away from what most people think of as a mainstream writer, you can see why that means this might be difficult to read, although it’s worth soldiering on and it’s not too different from some of the other experimental stuff that I’ve seen, but then I seek it out.

This is a pretty good book to start out with if you’re new to Welsh’s work, but I wouldn’t say that it’s exactly representative – it’s just different, and that’s what makes it worth recommending. Welsh has written plenty of good books, and all of them are worth reading, but this stands out from them by being different and so it’s definitely earned a place on your bookcase. So what are you waiting for? Go out and grab a copy of it so you can read it.

Irvine Welsh

Click here to buy Marabou Stork Nightmares.