Men in Love by Irvine Welsh

I recently found myself in Birmingham airport, suffering a hangover and trying to pass a couple of hours before my flight. Turning on my kindle I looked for something that to read that would suit my mood. As soon as I came across the new novel by Irvine Welsh, I knew I’d be in good hands.

I have a habit of downloading Welsh books but not reading them until I know I’ll be up for it. Brain all buzzy, tired, looking a pacy distraction for a few hours - Welsh is your only man. I’ve read a fair few of his books during a few early morning awakenings, and those grimy, wired hours between three and five are the perfect time for me to enjoy his books.

I tend to enjoy the pace to his books, and he’s one of those authors who’ll give me a few laughs, sometimes whilst grimacing at the same time. If you’re easily offended it won’t be for you, and there’s always the chance of a couple of scenes that will sear themselves into your brain for the wrong reasons.

I’ve a friend who’s refused to read him since ‘Maribou Stork nightmares’ and I can get that - that book read like a fever dream. But I’ve kept coming back to him over the years, as I know at the very least I’ll be entertained. Don’t think he’s ever let me down on that score.

So I went into ‘Men in Love’ hoping it would be more of the same.

Trainspotting Sequel

Though he has returned to the crew in recent years, most notably in ‘Porno’, this takes place in the immediate aftermath of the book so it’s a proper trainspotting sequel. It starts with Renton doing a runner with the money to Amsterdam, with Begbie and Spud returning to Edinburgh, whilst Simon ‘Sick boy’ Williamson has his own plans in London.

The book largely moves between each of the characters per chapter, with a couple of other narrators making an appearance.

Where are the trainspotting characters now?

Mark Renton

Mark Renton is in Amsterdam, coming off the skag and then establishing a life for himself. He establishes a new group of friends, is involved with the dance scene, whilst he’s with a dutch girl who refuses to confine herself to one lover.

All the time though, he’s looking over his shoulder. He’s betrayed his friends, and he wonders can he ever truly escape the past he’s left behind.

Francis Begbie

I found Franco’s sections the hardest to read, written as they are in the trademark Welsh style Leith vernacular. After a few pages, it becomes easier to tune into but there was a bit of deciphering to be done, and at times you wish you hadn’t understood him.

We catch up with Franco in a couple of differing situations - in HMP Saughton, in local leith hostelries, with various unfortunate women and in the middle of a street brawl. He remains truly terrifying and you can almost feel the other characters flinch when he’s in their company.

His anger reaches another level when the subject of Renton comes up. This betrayal runs deep to the loyal Begbie, and he’s constantly on the prowl for the wee ginger F*cker.

In many ways, Franco is the most pitiable of the characters. Whilst the others are trying to move on in some way, Francis is forever stuck in a vortex, always ready to lash out with extreme violence for little reason, go to prison, rinse and repeat.

God forbid you get on the wrong side of him.

Spud Murphy

Poor spud. We find him in love at the beginning of the book, and you feel that maybe things are changing for the better for him. But alas, he hasn’t quite escaped the skag habit and still does the odd bit of ‘choryin’.

But he is trying, and even enrols in higher education for a bit. He does want to improve his lot, but he remains plagued by self doubt and still has a tendency to return to old habits. Angry at Renton, but maybe a bit more understanding than the rest of this crew.

I found his sections easier to read than Begbies - still in the Leith vernacular, but with a more soothing patter. Apart from when he’s referring to a certain….

Simon ‘Sick boy’ Williamson

As despicable and as readable as ever, Sick Boy has remained in London, determined to climb the social ladder with all the deviousness of a Becky Sharp and a lot more wickedness. He’s involved in porn industry, consorting with some thoroughly unsavoury characters, giving the book some of it’s more explicit scenes, if that’s the right phrase.

But he’s got his eyes on loftier heights than the backrooms of Soho sex shops. Hanging around Narcotics anonymous, using them as hunting grounds, looking for easy prey - he has previous form as a pimp, remember - he makes the acquaintance of Amanda Coningsby, a recovering addict.

Amanda is also from the upper class, the home place a ‘Tasteful Thameside mansion’ and her father is old money elite. A relationship ensues - and offers Sick boy the chance to escape the shackles of his social class, his Bannanay flats background, once and for all.

But can he truly escape his past? And more importantly - can he escape his self, his old ways? Class tension, the loyalty of his old mates - this is where his past and identity are on a collision course. There’s a desperation to his ambition, and a sense of disbelief when he visits the Coningsby mansion - ‘Could I have a life like this?’ he wonders,

Sickboy gets the bulk of the chapters, and even though he’s as degenerate as ever, I couldn’t help but look forward to returning to his story. He still seethes with anger for his old friend Renton, but the possibility of genuine change is within his grasp. He can see the future he’s dreamt of - can he take it?

Writing

The worst scene for me involved Sick boy and a porn shoot, and genuinely turned my stomach. Obviously there are sex scenes as well, described in varying degrees of details, but listen, if you’ve read and enjoyed Welsh before you won’t be that surprised.

I got the sense that Welsh enjoyed being with these characters, and you can sense the relish with which he describes some scenes. There’s a real energy to the book, and once I got stuck in I found it hard to put it down again. Just one more chapter I’d say to myself at 4:43 in the morning.

There’s sex, drugs, violence and the expected Leith Mayhem but there’s much more to the book than that. It’s very much about betrayal and loyalty, something especially personified by Begbie.

Sickboy surprises Coningbsy with his familiarity of Kant’s ‘critique of reason’, showing his class snobbery. Each of the characters is seeking change in some way, though Franco remains stuck in his doomed cycles.

Men in love?

Well, Franco is still in love with violence, especially those that ‘deserve’ it, and a good ‘peeve’. He also loves Rod Stewart (the music, mind) and his maw, even though she does get on his nerves.

Spud feels his heart is too weak for love, and it makes him too soft. As he says himeself, ‘it’s the easiest drug to kick, because it gives you up, whether you’re done with it or not. If only skag was like love.’

Sickboy loves himself most of all, obviously. He tells us that when he starts to feel these emotions for for someone else, he distrusts them immensely. He’ll never compromise on his ambitions, and that his time will come.

Renton is the one who has the most mature approach to love. He has loved deeply and lost deeply, and knows he will go through it all again. He believes the ‘one’ is out there.

Summary

Thoroughly enjoyed this trainspotting sequel, and a reminder to self to always keep an Irvine Welsh book on the kindle. It’s irreverent and offensive at times, and some scenes I wish I hadn’t read.

But it’s got a propulsive narrative, mostly driven by the narcissistic Sickboy but ably supported by the other Leith lads. And there’s an emotional depth that perhaps hasn’t been there before.

528 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2025

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