Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

It was in college that a friend had told me that "Trainspotting" was a good read. I was surprised then to find out that it was a book as well. Danny Boyle's movie was the only thing I had seen, mostly for the music back then. When I picked up "Fight Club" I thought I would also order "Trainspotting", the intent being to compare the movie and the book.

A couple of pages into the book and I was swearing loudly. Welsh had written the book in a Scottish accent! It took me a long time to understand which word had what English equivalent. The complexity of the reading took my mind off the plot and the flow of the story many a times and I had to turn back and forth to establish a connection between what I was reading and what I had read. All this edge of interest in the book. Welsh has written the book as individual chapters being narrated by some character or third person. The characters usually do not identify themselves immediately and at times are randomly introduced. This makes you more interested in what is happening rather than to whom it is happening, which, in my opinion, is the better way to enjoy this book. Welsh has portrayed a gang of junkies and addicts at the center of a vague plot. This is more of an insight into how junkies think and why they behave the way they do. No moral lecturing makes it even better. The social and legal implications of the British punk is highlighted pretty well. Compared to the movie, the book lacks a strong story but more than makes up for it with the strong thought processes and the per chapter protagonist structure.

Rents, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie are mostly at the center of the story, each addicted to heroin, heroin, sex and violence respectively. They live in Leith in Edinburg and are unemployed, resorting to various illegal activities to gather money for survival and drugs. The story moves between their lives and circle of friends touching many briefly. The frivolity and irresponsibility with which they lead their lives is highlighted. Eventually people start dying because of AIDS and the remaining try mending their lives.

"Trainspotting" was a light read once I got over the word mapping exercise. One in which you particularly did not care about the plot and just enjoyed the thoughts of a man. The way he thought in the given situation and how he acted because of it. I will probably not pick up another Welsh anytime soon but perhaps I might consider "Porno" once I am done with my list of pending books.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Bookshops have a strange magnetism to them. I have been a happy customer of flipkart.com for quite a few years now. But it has been mostly due to the ease of discovery and availability of desired books. But make me walk past a bookshop stocked with volumes and my steps divert in the direction of the establishment. It is the same exhilarating sense that led me to a local shop advertising a sale on its gate. I browsed through a lot of books with a certain restraint. The constant awareness of a humongous and increasing pile of books lying on my shelves was dogging me. My eyes fell on a book that displayed the name of 'Oscar Wilde' in big fonts. I picked up the book. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" had an interesting teaser. A story that I remembered having heard. But I could not remember where and I certainly could not remember Oscar Wilde being the author. So I picked it up and brought it home and dumped it with the rest of the books in my shelf. I picked it up at long last to accompany me in my Uttarakhand travel. I intended to finish it over two weeks. I was done in half the time.

Oscar Wilde is a well known name. I think I had first heard of him back in school when I used to read. Or perhaps in college when I had resumed my affair with literature. I had, for some reason, thought of him as a poet. But a man of literature is rarely bound to a single form. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Wilde's only novel. He has written several plays and essays which combine into an interesting bibliography. He is an expert raconteur and the story is extremely witty. Every page of the book contains witticism that makes you smile inwards at its frank realism. You agree with Lord Wotton's view of the existing world and his idea of a new hedonism. You agree with Dorian Gray's loss of morale and his repentance. You agree with everything that Oscar Wilde puts on those pages.

The story is about a certain beautiful young man who, in his age of innocence, befriends a perverted gentleman - Lord Henry Wotton, while sitting for a portrait by an artist friend. This portrait and Lord Wotton's enchanting words produce in the youth a revelation of his own beauty. He cries at the injustice of the portrait retaining all the beauty while he bearing the brunt of age and character. He wishes that things be otherwise. As he grows corrupt under his new friend's influence, he discovers that his wish has miraculously been granted. He hides the portrait and goes about committing one misdeed after another owing to the shield of his undying youth and beauty while the portrait changes to reflect his soul.

Oscar Wilde has pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting the work to be drier for some reason but it was certainly not. My interest piqued, I have been looking at the list of Wilde's works. Perhaps I will order another in near future.

Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Moore is my second love, after Dostoyevsky, in terms of storytelling. I had thought of reading "Watchmen" before giving Moore a break. So I got the novel, a few days later than I was expecting it but in time for me to pick it up. I read it at leisure while travelling back and forth between cities and the book kept me good company.

Moore stands out for his storytelling. Period. His stories are engrossing and bizarrely adorned with stuff that engrosses you further. "Watchmen" is a twelve part series that was published by DC. In the compiled edition, you see a small feature that digresses from the story and elaborates on a certain part of it. It was fictional research and I found myself reading those five pages with as much zeal as I had read the main story with. The story tries to look into the concept of super-heroes in a real world. The theme 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' is, in my opinion, wrongly used but like every other imperfection in the storyline, this one too adds a certain degree of respect for the author. It is a sign that the story evolved during the twelve editions. In order that I might be able to compare, I watched Snyder's 215 minute ultimate cut before I read the book. And guess what, Moore outshone like every single time before. The inconsistencies were smoothed out in the movie but the novel was just too good. Gibbons' art was a true equal to Moore's story.

The story opens with the murder of a 'masked adventurer'. Rorschach, another of the masked adventurers, investigates deeper into the matter and finds that many of his former colleagues from an erstwhile group 'Watchmen' were being targetted. He suspects someone with a vendetta but further investigation leads to astounding revelations. The story is set in a nuclear cold war scenario where a war is expected at hand. The presence of a certain 'superman', Doctor Manhattan, in the United States of America has led to huge technological improvements and a morbid arms race.

Moore still spellbinds. Gibbons was quite an equal. My itch has not been cured yet though. Probably one more Moore before I let him rest for a while. I am eyeing "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".