The Acid House
The characters in this extraordinary book are often - on the surface - depraved, vicious, cowardly and manipulative, but their essential humanity is never undermined. Two professors of philosophy turn pugilists; Leith removal men become the objects of desire for Hollywood goddesses; God turns Boab Coyle into a house-fly; and in the novella, 'A Smart Cunt', the drug-addled young hero spins off on a collision course with his past. The Acid House is a bizarre, disturbing and hilarious collection from one of the most uncompromising and original writers around.Extract
His father was clad in a black nylon body-stocking with a hole at the crotch. His arms were outstretched with his hands on the mantelpiece and his legs spread. Boab senior's flab rippled in his clinging costume. Boab's mother was naked, apart from a belt that was fastened so tightly around her bodyit cut sharply into her wobbling flesh, making her look like a pillow tied in the middle with a piece of string. Attached to the beltwas a massive latex dildo, most of which was in Boab senior's anus. Most, but still not enough for Boab senior.
Irvine's Comment
"After I finished Trainspotting, I just kept on writing. I was enjoying it, it had become a hobby, so I saw no reason to stop. I wrote most of the stories when I should have been employed at Edinburgh Council. I liked the freedom to be more surreal, hypereal and fantastical. It came out just six months after Trainspotting and it initially sold more copies. The Trainspotting play, then the film, took that book to a new level. Paul McGuigan did the Acid House film, which was produced by Alex Usbourne and David Muir. I liked the film very much. I did the screenplay, which I didn't enoy - it was an uninspired hack job on old material. I vowed never to adapt my own stuff again."
