Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Skagboys cover art

Skagboys

By: Irvine Welsh
Narrated by: Tam Dean Burn
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

T2 Trainspotting cover art
Glue cover art
The Young Team cover art
Crossing the Whitewash: A UK Gangland Thriller cover art
The Sunshine Cruise Company cover art
Hings cover art
Once Were Warriors cover art
New Spring cover art
Trust Nobody cover art
Debt of Bones cover art
Fighting Dirty cover art
The Cycle of Arawn cover art
The Sun Also Rises cover art
The Hunted cover art
The Blood Miracles cover art
The Glorious Heresies cover art

Summary

Mark Renton has it all: He's good-looking, young, with a pretty girlfriend and a place at university. But there's no room for him in the 1980s.Thatcher's government is destroying working-class communities across Britain, and the post-war certainties of full employment, educational opportunity and a welfare state are gone. When his family starts to fracture, Mark's life swings out of control and he succumbs to the defeatism which has taken hold in Edinburgh's grimmer areas.

The way out is heroin. It's no better for his friends. Spud Murphy is laid off from his job, Tommy Lawrence feels himself being sucked into a life of petty crime and violence - the worlds of the thieving Matty Connell and psychotic Franco Begbie. Only Sick Boy, the supreme manipulator of the opposite sex, seems to ride the current, scamming and hustling his way through it all. Skagboys charts their journey from likely lads to young men addicted to the heroin which has flooded their disintegrating community.

This is the 1980s: a time of drugs, poverty, AIDS, violence, political strife, and hatred - but a lot of laughs, and maybe just a little love; a decade that changed Britain for ever. The prequel to the world-renowned Trainspotting, this is an exhilarating and moving book, full of the scabrous humour, salty vernacular and appalling behaviour that has made Irvine Welsh a household name.

©2012 Irvine Welsh (P)2012 Random House Audiobooks

What listeners say about Skagboys

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    526
  • 4 Stars
    141
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    526
  • 4 Stars
    79
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    467
  • 4 Stars
    121
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

F*#@ing Barry!!

This will almost certainly be the sweariest book that you will have ever read. In fact, it is one swear-word short of sweariness saturation- where the context of the story is lost in a sea of foul potty-mouthiness.

HOWEVER... It is written with a deftness of style, and a sensitivity to the human condition, which can bring you to the point of tears. The characters develop seamlessly into rich, interesting, believable, three-dimensional, but larger, no, LARGER than life people. You love them, you hate them, you feel for them, you hope for them, you cringe with them. The tale (or tales) is (or are) in turns funny and sad and poignant, and funny, and cringeworthy, and did I mention funny. And as for the swearing- it feels so natural to the characters that you barely even notice it.

The book has a feel similar to its companion, Trainspotting. It is more a series of little episodes, which build like a mosaic into the whole of the novel. I think that it's better than Trainspotting- it's just so well written!

The Narration is as good as any I have ever heard. Tam Dean Burn obviously loved his brief, and he nailed it! It is told with a passion and energy, which brings that characters and scenes alive. I'm sure that Irvine Welsh was delighted by the rendition that TDB delivered.

I cannot rate this book highly enough. It really captured me from the very first moment, and I urge you to give it a go!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Stick with it - It grows on you

I started off hating this. The swearing was unreal. Given that I swear a fair old bit this shocked me a bit.
I did stick with it and am so glad i did. Learnt to really get close to the characters and understand them. There was enough humour to keep you sane.
I would read/listen to it again. Just don't let the first hour put you off

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Grew up in a rough area? You'll love this!

Where does Skagboys rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Really enjoyed it...would be in my top five audio books.

What other book might you compare Skagboys to, and why?

Trainspotting, which this is the prequel to.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

There are so many, it's hard to single one out...there is a very funny sex scene and you'll know which one when you get to it.

Any additional comments?

This is definitely not one for the kids. It is proper adult humour and subject matter. If you are easily offended, do not get this book as you will definitely not like it. It is crude, very sweary and politically incorrect in its best places, never mind its worst. If, like me, you grew up on a rough old council estate and did a few dodgy things when you were young, you will absolutely love it and find you can relate to the lifestyle and the characters in the book with a rather perverse nostalgia.I thought it was wonderfully entertaining, totally hilarious in places and thoroughly enjoyable...so much so, I immediately started listening to Trainspotting as my next book.I would say that the reading of the book is without doubt, the best reading I've ever heard. The narrator is truly brilliant and perfectly captures the essence of the characters with the amazing accents and colloquialisms off pat. Genius level narration, in my opinion.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It had me hooked.

Just like the main issues in the book itself, I found myself hooked. Each character bringing me deeper into their own world finding it more and more difficult to break away and ever eager to find out where the story goes. The marvelous voices from Tam Dean Burn padding out the characters that Irvine Welsh put to paper emphasised each unique character traits and quirks.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping, emotional, funny and dirty haha

Would you listen to Skagboys again? Why?

Yes, i already have dipped in to bits. It fills in a lot of gaps as a prequel to trainspotting and Porno. The sheer size also means a second listen will be rewarding.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It would be easy to say the obvious favourites but there flaws are all higlighted many times, i went through stages of loving and hating Renton. Keasbo i wanted and still do want to know more about, he was easily the most likeable and probably the "gadge" you could associate with most despite his failings.

I also wanted to learn a touch more about seeker, i really enjoyed his relathionship with Mark in rehab.

Sick boy for all the wrong reasons is a pleasure to listen too.

Have you listened to any of Tam Dean Burn’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes, he makes the incredible charachters of Irvine Welsh come to life in your head. The voices are all recognisable instantly, Tam Dean Burn should be narrating every audio book as a matter of law.

This was the best to date simply because of the 24 hour duration, it never sounded tired and by the end i didnt want to leave there world regardless of the sordid aspects of their existence.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, the length didnt allow and truthfully it takes a bit of thought and recap.

Any additional comments?

A wonderfully written book, I love a prequel like this where at the start it just seems like a new story and by the final page the jigsaw is so much more complete in your head. The problem is you get greedy for more of the same. I have read this book too, the audio is just a bit special.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very different from the first two books

First lets talk about the narrator, he is awful and almost ruins the book. His accents are terrible and he over acts. The book itself takes work to get into but is very good, just dont expect laughs like trainspotting and porno. This is a grim book that will make you think a lot. Irvine Welsh books are very hit and miss. This is one of his best but quite unusual for him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

My favourite Irvine Welsh book apart from trainspotting . A great listen , do not hesitate .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good welsh

love these characters wish there was more.
Always wanted to return to book as soon as I'd put it down.
Story got a bit lost sometimes but I suppose life is like that as well

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Belter of a start to the journey of Renton

Great,narrator was Scottish which was a bonus,overall a great start to Renton's story, highly recommended for all Trainspotter fans.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Irvine Welsh is a genius

Captures the imagination from the start.

Excellent book with real guts and a naked honesty through out.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful