Author | Irvine Welsh |
---|---|
Country | Scotland |
Language | English |
Published | 2014 (Jonathan Cape) |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 468 |
ISBN | 978-022408788-9 |
The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins is the ninth novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, published in May 2014.
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(September 2022) |
The novel follows Lucy Brennan, a sadistic personal trainer in Miami, Florida. When Lucy leaves a failed romantic evening, she gets caught in a chase between a gunman and two fleeing homeless victims. Lucy knocks the gunman to the ground, allowing the victims to escape.
The incident is recorded by Lena Sorenson, an overweight, self-conscious, successful sculptor. Sorenson’s video turns Lucy into a media sensation. The news competes for airtime with a story about conjoined twins Anabelle and Amy, who debate undergoing a risky separation operation to allow Anabelle to have sex with her boyfriend.
It is revealed that the two men who Lucy saved them from the angry gunman are pedophiles and the gunman a victim intent on revenge. The media turns on Lucy.
Following the incident, Lena tracks Lucy down to schedule a personal training session. In turn, Lena becomes obsessed with Lucy's weight loss. When Lena fails to follow Lucy's diet regime, Lucy drugs her and locks her in an abandoned apartment complex, chaining her to a pillar and forcing her to urinate in a bucket. Lucy's abusive tactics prove successful, and Lena loses weight.
Similarities have been drawn between this book and Welsh's first novel, Trainspotting . Elena Seymenliyska of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "It's a bit like his debut, Trainspotting (1993), only instead of the tenements of Leith, we're in the condos of Miami Beach. And in place of heroin addicts, alcoholics and violent psychos, here we have fitness instructors, poseurs – and violent psychos."
The Guardian published a review of the book on 8 May 2014. In the review Sandra Newman takes issue with the lead character: "The pleasure of the book is spoiled by a radically misjudged narrator." Welsh's novel received a much more positive review from David Pollock, published in The Independent on 24 April 2014.
Irvine Welsh is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel Trainspotting was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.
Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her film debut. Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.
American Psycho is a novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, vain Manhattan investment banker who supposedly lives a double life as a serial killer. Alison Kelly of The Observer notes that while "some countries [deem it] so potentially disturbing that it can only be sold shrink-wrapped", "critics rave about it" and "academics revel in its transgressive and postmodern qualities".
Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, first published in 1993. It takes the form of a collection of short stories, written in either Scots, Scottish English or British English, revolving around various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are effectively addictions. The novel is set in the late 1980s and has been described by The Sunday Times as "the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent".. The title is an ironic reference to the characters’ frequenting of the disused Leith Central railway station.
Porno is a novel published in 2002 by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, the sequel to Trainspotting. The book describes the characters of Trainspotting ten years after the events of the earlier book, as their paths cross again, this time with the pornography business as the backdrop rather than heroin use. A number of characters from Glue make an appearance as well.
Hey Nostradamus! is a novel by Douglas Coupland centred on a fictional 1988 school shooting in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia and its aftermath. It was first published by Random House of Canada in 2003. The novel comprises four first-person narratives, each from the perspective of a character directly or indirectly affected by the shooting. The novel intertwines substantial themes, including adolescent love, sex, religion, prayer and grief.
Marabou Stork Nightmares is an experimental novel by Irvine Welsh, and his second novel, published in the UK in 1995.
Filth is a 1998 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It was adapted into a 2013 film of the same name, directed by Jon S. Baird with James McAvoy in the lead role. A sequel, Crime, was published in 2008.
Mark Renton is a fictional character who appears as the protagonist in the novels Trainspotting (1993) and Porno (2002) written by Irvine Welsh. He also appears in the 1996 film adaptation of Trainspotting and its sequel T2 Trainspotting (2017), in both of which he is portrayed by Ewan McGregor.
You’ll Have Had Your Hole is an in-yer-face stage play by Irvine Welsh. It is Welsh's first original play as his previous theatre pieces had been theatrical versions of his literary works, which had been adapted for the stage by other dramatists.
Skagboys is a 2012 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel Trainspotting, and its 2002 sequel Porno. It follows the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they first descend into heroin addiction.
Reheated Cabbage is a collection of short stories by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It was released in the United Kingdom in July 2009.
Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance is a 1996 collection of three novellas by Irvine Welsh.
Grits is the debut novel by British author Niall Griffiths, published in 2000 by Jonathan Cape. Set in and around Aberystwyth and concerning promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, and petty crime it gained for its author, who lives and works in the town the dubious honorific "the Welsh Irvine Welsh". The novel is largely autobiographical, Griffiths moved to Aberystwyth to research a PhD in post-war British poetry but soon became, as he puts it, an "enthusiastic participator in parties" and dropped out of his studies.
T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 British black comedy drama film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel Trainspotting and its 2002 follow-up Porno. A sequel to Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, T2 stars the original ensemble cast, including leads Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle, with Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo, and Kelly Macdonald. The film features a new character, Veronika, played by Anjela Nedyalkova, and includes clips, music, and archive sound from the first film.
Fishnet is the debut novel of Kirstin Innes, published in 2015 by Freight Books. The story follows a Scottish woman who, after learning her missing sister was working as a sex worker, sets out to examine the sex industry. Fishnet was the winner of the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2015. Innes spoke about the book at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Blade Artist is a 2016 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. The story follows on from Welsh's previous novels, Trainspotting and Porno, catching up with Begbie's past and present.
Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls is a 2019 book by Carrie Goldberg, co-written with Jeannine Amber. It describes incidents of sexual violence experienced by Goldberg's clients and herself, as well as other famous cases. The acts of violence include rape and sexual assault, revenge porn, "doxing", "swatting", "sextortion", and abusive messages. Goldberg categorizes perpetrators as "assholes", "psychos", "pervs" or "trolls" depending on their nature, though "assholes" was omitted in the book's subtitle to avoid profanity.
Dead Men's Trousers is a 2018 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a sequel to his earlier books Trainspotting, Porno and Skagboys. Set in 2015, it follows the characters Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie as they meet up again as middle-aged men.
Crime is a Scottish crime drama television series, an adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name. The 6-episode first series was co-written by Welsh and Dean Cavanagh and broadcast in 2021 on BritBox, later moved in the UK to be available on ITVX. It stars Dougray Scott as the detective Ray Lennox. Scott won an International Emmy Award in November 2022 for his performance. A second series began filming in Scotland in 2022 and premiered on September 21, 2023 on ITVX.