7/30
The Book: Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh
ISBN: 0-393-31581-9
Suggested By: Unnamed Grad-Student
Where: STC Library
When: 10-10:30P
Music: Kanye West
Company: Sissy
Pages: 224-276 (55)
The Lead In: Big road trip tonight, helping Monty drive to El Paso. I’m such a saint, I know... Anyway, so getting the reading done early was an absolute necessity. Having a gun to your head makes things important. Funny.
The 411 on the 55: Ok, so Lloyd’s life is spinning out of control. More and more drugs get tossed into his life, but he can’t seem to get things together. He even moves on to Crystal Meth and yet, still, he feels empty and unhappy.
Heather is sick of her straight-laced husband,Hugh, and her life. She goes out with her friend one weekend and takes e, opening her view on life. She decides she has had enough of Senor Hugh and pushes out of the marriage and her old life.
They meet in a club and all is golden for both of them, granted they are high as kites, but you get the drift. Eventually Heather throws a fit because Lloyd is always high when he is with her. Then several weeks later they meet in a club and Lloyd tries to talk to her and she blows him off. Later she learns that he is off of drugs and she falls in love again. Blech.
The 20/20: The best way to do an accurate 20/20 would be to subdivide it. #1 was a good story, complicated and laughable. I enjoyed the method of storytelling and the characters were amusing. #2 was the best of the bunch, a little creepy and full of revenge. I enjoyed it very much. #3 was my least favorite of all the collection. It was too predictable. You knew they would end up together. Both stories 1 and 2 shocked me with their endings. He could have done better. OVERALL: A good collection of short stories, the second such book read for this exercise (Breece DJ Pancake). I must confess I find drug culture off-putting, but the method to the writing was well-executed.
Line of the Day: “So ye have tae watch oot before ye call it love. It’s just another form ay entertainment. See if the feelings transfer tae yer everyday life, then call it love. Love’s no jist for weekenders.” pg 261
Fact on the Fiction: “Basically, particularly in Britain, it's a hegemonic thing that people who write tend to come from the leisure classes. They can afford the time and the books. They tend to be public schooled, Oxford types: writers. Consequently, you have exactly the same narrative voice. It's alright to do the vernacular in dialogue, but the narrative voice is always kept in standard English. It's a basic question, really: how do people think, in standard English or in colloquialisms?” Irvine Welsh
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