| Trainspotting opens with two men racing down the street; in the background, we hear a male voice making a persuasive speech that exhorts listeners to "choose life" and all the best it has to offer. We are also introduced to some of the main characters, including Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. Later, in an apartment, Renton and his friends do drugs and make out with each other. Renton's voice explains that he and his friends are not completely stupid. He describes how he thinks the sensation of doing drugs, particularly shooting heroin, easily tops even the best possible orgasm. If he isn'tstoned, Renton explains, then he also has to worry about unpleasant downers, like bills and relationships. As the group members take turns shooting up, they talk about movies and wait around for their next turn. The group of drug-using friends includes a young single mother named Allison, whose baby also lives in the apartment.
At the bar where they celebrate, a man accidentally runs into Begbie as he is going to get more drinks. After yelling at the man, Begbie beats him up and almost kills him. Renton hands Begbie a share of the drug deal money and they smoke a cigarette together. Later that night, everyone crashes at Renton's place, but Renton is unable to sleep. He gets a drink of water and watches himself in the mirror, then makes a decision to take all the money from the drug sale. As he is leaving with the money, he sees that Spud is awake and has noticed what he is doing. Spud says nothing and does not alert the others, but shakes his head no at Renton; Renton steals the money anyway. Renton realizes that he has treated his friends poorly, but he only feels bad about hurting Spud, who is a decent person. The next morning, Begbie discovers the missing money and angrily breaks everything in the room. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Time/era of story - 1980's-1999 Internal struggle/realization? Yes Crime & Police story Yes Story of Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Drinking/Drugs problems? - drugs Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - society Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 6 () Europe Yes European country: - England/UK Writing Style Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing - actual description of hetero sex - Boob talk! - Vagia talk! - two guys doing it Lot of foul language? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |
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