Customer Reviews

Young Adam

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...that I purchased this book because a movie adaptation starring Ewan Mcgregor is currently in the works... I had never even heard of Alexander Trocchi before reading this (his first novel, originally published in 1954). The story is relatively simple; it is told from the viewpoint of Joe, the hired hand on a barge that traverses the Clyde river between Glasgow and Edinburgh. One morning (on page 2), he pulls the body of a woman out of the river, and that event sets the story in motion. This is really a character driven narrative and I found it very easy to relate to Joe and his environment, even though I am 50 years and about 6000 miles removed from it. As the story progresses, and more and more about Joe's past is gradually revealed, the book becomes quite engrossing. Trocchi has a way of taking incredibly mundane experiences and describing them using the most beautiful, flowing prose...I can't understand why more people aren't familiar with this author's work as he's easily in the same league as Bukowski and Burroughs... Overall, I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read more of Trocchi's work!

The Pete Best of the Beat generation, Trocchi ran with Ginsberg, Burroughs, et al, but never achieved their lasting fame. He paid the bills by writing pornographic works, but this brief novel--while certainly sexual--is cut of a different cloth, and is invariably compared to the Camus masterpiece "The Stranger". Written fifty years ago, the simple story is told by Joe, an itinerant worker who works on a barge that hauls coal and other loads between Glasgow and Edinburgh. He lives on board with the meaty ex-sailor, his solid wife Ella, and their child. The book opens with their discovery of a woman's corpse floating in the water, a woman who is somehow linked to Joe. After reporting it to the police, they continue on their way, and over the next several days Joe discovers that he is attracted to Ella. However, after the initial excitement of their affair it doesn't take long for him to become bored with her. Indeed, that's Joe's problem in general, as he states two-thirds of the way into the book: "It has always been that way with me as far as I can remember. I am a rootless kind of man. Often I find myself anxious to become involved with other people, but I am no sooner involved than I wish to be free again."

Of course, what that means is that he is unable or unwilling to form emotional attachments with people, and ends up hurting them in one way or another. As his and Ella's story wends to its obvious conclusion, a man is arrested for the murder of the floating woman. The tension mounts as Joe worries whether or not his relationship to her will come to light. In the end he is presented with a very difficult ethical choice and makes the same decision most of us would in his shoes. Indeed, for all his self-professed status as an outsider, he still works when he has to, and manages to act quite in line with the established patriarchal sexual modes. In perhaps the books most memorable scene, Joe recounts how an argument with a girlfriend led to his sexual assault of her using household food products ("I didn't know whether she was laughing or crying"), only to end with "I felt her arms close about me and she kissed me on the lips." By the end, it's a little hard to know what to make of the story, and it's not at all clear that Joe is a particularly reliable narrator. Of potential interest to those interested in expanding their knowledge of the beat writers or of modern Scottish literature, but unlikely to move others. Recently made into a film starring Ewan MacGregor that is reputed to be quite faithful to the book.

"Young Adam" was a suggested read by my reading partner. How he discovered Alexander Trocchi is beyond me. But I found his writing style, as well as his own outlook of the the world incredibly interesting.

Trocchi's works were said to have been exiled out of Scottish literature, along with Trocchi physically. His writings stretched to the outer limits of moral acceptability. Holding anti-establishment attitudes, a lack of "work ethics", and sexual promiscuity, Trocchi simply tells it as it is through his own philosophy, which allows the reader to concentrate on the story and examine the characters as they unfold. A strong narrative voice guides you through the events of this simple, yet thought provoking storyline.

The story is told by Joe, a barge worker, who shares quarters with Leslie, his wife Ella, and their son, which Joe often refers to as "the kid". The body of a dead woman is found floating in the river, and taken aboard the barge. As the story unfolds, the connection between the dead woman, the circumstances of her death, and two innocent men, caught between a rock and a hard place, nervously emerge and come together. Lingering in the back of your mind, the question of fate or freedom for either of these men.

The question this story evoked in my mind was simply, "What would I do if I were in this man's position?" You will "walk a mile" in Joe's shoes in "Young Adam" But it still leaves this question unanswered.

Read "Young Adam" and see if you can discover a solution to this moral dilemma. I tip my hat to you Alexander Trocchi, ya done good!!!

If you are thinking of purchasing the One World Classics reprint of this book, whatever you do DO NOT read the terrible introduction by Stewart Home. In addition to being pretentious tripe, it needlessly spoils the plot by revealing a key surprise that is not supposed to be revealed until the second half. I was not so lucky and so did not get to experience the story the way Trocchi intended. That is a real shame because it means that I am unable to say whether or not this key device worked, surely fundamental to passing judgement on the book.
Having said that, Alex Trocchi is one of the underrated geniuses of post-existentialist literature. Actually he defies categorization, being a kind of hub connecting several important movements in writing, from the aforementioned existentialists to the beats, perhaps having most in common with the Situationnistes. Personally I think "Cain's Book" is better than "Young Adam", though that may be because One World Classics ruined the plot of YA. Either way, Trocchi is right up there with Genet, Beckett, Burroughs, Kerouac, and in many ways exceeds them, especially the last mentioned, while not usually being included as a star in the same exalted firmament.
I highly recommend this book, but most importantly either don't buy the One World Classics imprint (with a movie actor on the cover), or if you do then at least RIP OUT THE PAGES 7-13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BURN THEM! NOT EVEN WORTH READING AFTERWARDS!

Guilty of seeing the movie before reading the book, I made sure to buy the rest of the Trocchi collection immediately after finally reading the book. Wonderfully dark and existential. It's time to catch up on Mr. Trocchi for this reader.

This book is written from the first person, and the effect is perfect for the nature of the story presented. In short, the book is about a drifter, Joe Taylor (or at least that was what he told Cathie his name was...) in 1950's Scotland. He is working temporarily on a barge in clausterophibic conditions with a Les, Ella and their kid. Joe and Les discover a corpse floating in the River Clyde. They fish it out and on the same day Joe becomes infatuated with Les's wife and wants to start and affair. Slowly through the rich and vivid depictions of life in working class post WWII Scotland, details unfold about the circumstances of the corpse, about the nature of Joe's desire for Ella, and ultimately the book makes for a searing commentary on the narrow minded puritanical society in which Joe perceives he is trapped. The world described is completely filtered through Joe's perspective, which makes for interesting reading if you stand back and try to imagine how a more 'normal' person would react. Or how you think they should react. I suppose that is the most compelling thing about this relatively short story, Joe acts true to his character, without regard for decorum, decency or anything else. You almost feel like a voyeur reading the intimate text. I highly recommend this book. (I read the Rebels Inc edition)

While Trocchi's take on alienation has more than a few parallels to Camus' "The Stranger", the landscape and characters provoke a more visceral reaction. Amazing that most people only know Trocchi's pornographic material - this version has been edited to reflect his original story.