Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration [Paperback]

Irvine Welsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 2009

Never-collected tales, including outrageous early stories from the Trainspotting years, plus a raucous new novella.

Reheated Cabbage gathers stories showcasing Irvine Welsh’s trademark skills: vaulting imagination, brilliant vernacular ear, scabrous humor, and the ability to create some of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction. You can enjoy Christmas dinner with Begbie at his Ma’s and see how he greets his sister’s boyfriend and news of their engagement. You’ll discover in “The Rosewell Incident” why aliens speak hardcore Scots English and plan to put Midlothian roughs in charge of the planet. And you’ll be delighted to welcome back “Juice” Terry Lawson and now internationally famous DJ Carl Ewart, and watch them as they meet an old nemesis, retired schoolmaster Albert Black, under the strobe lights of a Miami Beach nightclub. These stories, most first published in small magazines and out-of-print anthologies, are all wildly offbeat and will delight both fans of and newcomers to Welsh’s world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Welsh returns to the world of drug-ingesting, lager-swigging and fitba-loving Scotsmen in this hilarious collection from his Trainspotting years. The material may be old, but the slang still sings in these stories of scrappers attempting to become lords of whatever tiny domain they can conquer. There's Trainspotting's volatile Begbie, at his mom's house for Christmas and trying to endure his sister's new beau in Elpseth's Boyfriend. In A Fault on the Line, Malky doesn't want to let anything—not even a horrific accident—stop him from missing the kickoff of a footie match. These stories of blustering, emotionally befuddled men and the luckless women who love them also includes less traditional (for Welsh) fare, like The Rosewell Incident, in which an alien race learns about Earth culture from a Scottish hood, and I Am Miami, about a retired Scottish school teacher who runs into a pair of disgruntled former pupils in Miami. Welsh shines most brilliantly when portraying his solipsistic Scots head-butting the rock-hard ceiling in hopes of escaping, be it through booze, drugs, soccer or sex, from a violent world that offers little peace but plenty of humor. (Sept.)
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Review

“A hilarious collection…Welsh shines most brilliantly when portraying his solipsistic Scots head-butting the rock-hard ceiling in hopes of escaping, be it through booze, drugs, soccer or sex, from a violent world that offers little peace but plenty of humor.” (Publishers Weekly )

“The lilting Scottish dialect, appalling scenarios, and high humor make for a totally entertaining collection.” (Joanne Wilkinson - Booklist )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393338029
• ISBN-13: 978-0393338027
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Irvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Ecstasy, Glue, Porno, Filth, Marabou Stork Nightmares, The Acid House, If You Liked School, You'll Love Work, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs and Reheated Cabbage. He divides his time between Florida, Ireland, and Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS ROCKS, October 15, 2010

By 

Donald Cronin (Astoria, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration (Paperback)

I am not going to elaborate about the five star review, if you are a Welsh fan you must read this. I truly believe that Welsh writes some of the best dialouge, it rings so true and with such humor. Great entertainment from a great writer.

4.0 out of 5 stars They All Get Lots of Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll, June 24, 2010

By 

Stephanie DePue (Carolina Beach, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration (Paperback)

"Reheated Cabbage" gives us seven previously uncollected short stories and one never published novella by Irvine Welsh, international best selling author known as the master of "Scotsploitation." Welsh, author of ten previous works of fiction, including Porno, Crime: A Novel, Glue, Filth, and the classic Trainspotting that was adapted into the 1996 international art house hit of the same name (Trainspotting), has culled the stories from out-of-print magazines. They are all set in Edinburgh, Scotland, but it sure isn't the tourists' Edinburgh: most of Welsh's characters appear to be out-of-work layabouts from the working class port area of Leith: one of them makes a crack about the working class origin bona fides of Edinburgh's current patron saint, Sir Sean Connery, who hails from the now-gentrifying area of the city known as Fountainbridge.

Could Welsh be considered also a practitioner of the current Scottish school of tartan noir writing? I would say so: most of these stories are violent, bloody, grisly, and laced with profanity: yet they are scathingly funny, with the darkest of Scots humor. His characters, none of whom seem to be burdened with jobs, are still, somehow, getting lots and lots of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The stories are largely written in dialect, for which the author has a pitch perfect ear: they are somewhat more difficult to read through than I, for one, would have liked, but, believe me, I haven't a drop of Scots blood, and I didn't find them that difficult. The author's imagination doesn't flag; stories rise to the heights of absurdity, and fall to the depths of depravity. The author's command of the ambiance of his home city is, of course, absolute.

Fans of the author's previous work will find some familiar faces in this collection. The novella, "I Am Miami," which does seem to present an unexpected softer side of the author, reacquaints us with "Juice" Terry Lawson and now internationally famous DJ Carl Ewart, the main characters from the 2001 "Glue," as they meet up with, in Miami, their old enemy and schoolteacher Albert Black, now retired. The volatile drunk Francis Begbie, of "Trainspotting," is back, angry as ever, as star and narrator of "Elspeth's Boyfriend." In "State of the Party," two friends high on LSD drag the corpse of a recently overdosed young friend across town, and get into a fight with some heat-seeking soccer hooligans. In "Victor Spoils," Gavin and Victor fight over a young woman getting her teeth pulled, as the dentist is sexually aroused by her mouth. In "A Fault on the Line," a young husband whose wife is emergency-room bound after losing her legs to a train station accident, wants only to be dropped off at home so he can catch the day's big game, Hibs versus Herts. In "The Rosewell Incident," a venture into science fiction, we learn why the inter-galactic aliens think in and speak the Scots inflected English of these young men, and plan to put them in charge of the planet.

Welsh's world isn't for everyone, what with one thing and another, but for those seeking the offbeat and the unexpected, here it is, and welcome to it. I don't think I'd personally want to meet any of these young men, but they sure are fun within the pages of a book.

4.0 out of 5 stars If you care about Juice Terry, Begbie, Carl Ewart, and Blackie-- Then buy this book. Period!, February 20, 2010

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Peter Litvin - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration (Paperback)

Killer couple of stories here. There's only 1 or 2 that are kind of abstract little tales with no solid conclusion-- but even those are good. If you're thinking about this as a first read-- i would suggest something different.

Irvine Welsh is the greatest writer who ever lived. If you're interested in finding out why--- i suggest this order::: glue, trainspotting, porno, filth, crime, bedroom secrets----- and then check out the story collections.

If you're familiar with Juice Terry & friends-- then just get this. you'll like it.