MovieChat Forums > Trainspotting (1996) Discussion > How similar is this to the book?

How similar is this to the book?

posted 7 years ago by Narcissist00
7 replies | jump to latest

I've never read it. I saw someone on here say that they were evil in the book. If anyone has read it can you please tell me what the main differences are. Thanks

[–] ticope87 7 years ago

It's a little bit similar to comparing Godfather the bok to Godfather the film. Everything in the film happened in the book, but there is loads more in the book that dosent happen in the film. There are characters in the book that dosen't appear in the film. The story is a bit looser as well.

I wuld reccomend the book, a word of warning though. It is all written in Scottish.

[–] Narcissist00 7 years ago

Thanks for the reply. Are the characters similar in the way they act? If I could read then this would be the second book I would read (after S Kings, It) I'm unable to read due to a brain injury but would love to read this.

[–] olly3663 7 years ago

I haven't read the book for some time though I know I enjoyed it as much as the film. One thing I do remember from the book is that Tommy is the biggest smack head out of all of them. I think Renton says something about him having tried every drug going, more than all the others put together. So I guess they changed his character slightly for the film.

[–] Nikulturny 7 years ago

They didn't change him very much. In the novel it's mentioned he's tried just about everything but heroin, and when Mark sells him his first dose he says something along the lines of 'that's you got the full set now, but make this the first and last time you do heroin.' Tommy is no choirboy but he avoided smack until Lizzie dumped him.

"There is no more human race. There is only.. the Master race!"

[–] krypton_son 7 years ago

It's a great book. The characters aren't really that much different in the movie then they are in the book, it's just that there are more characters in the book then the movie. They took some of the things that happen to some characters in the book and made them happen to different characters in the book. They also omitted several storylines (like Renton's brothers, etc.).

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[–] chopsx7 7 years ago

My recollection is that book was almost a collection of short stories rather than a novel. The follow up - "Porno" - was more of a trditional novel. iirc

[–] krypton_son 7 years ago

More or less. It didn't really follow a cohesive plot. It just kind of jumped around in time and spotlighted different characters.

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dies ist meine unterschrift