Young Adam

Guilty of seeing the movie before reading the book, I made sure to buy the rest of the Trocchi collection immediately after finally reading the book. Wonderfully dark and existential. It's time to catch up on Mr. Trocchi for this reader.

This book is written from the first person, and the effect is perfect for the nature of the story presented. In short, the book is about a drifter, Joe Taylor (or at least that was what he told Cathie his name was...) in 1950's Scotland. He is working temporarily on a barge in clausterophibic conditions with a Les, Ella and their kid. Joe and Les discover a corpse floating in the River Clyde. They fish it out and on the same day Joe becomes infatuated with Les's wife and wants to start and affair. Slowly through the rich and vivid depictions of life in working class post WWII Scotland, details unfold about the circumstances of the corpse, about the nature of Joe's desire for Ella, and ultimately the book makes for a searing commentary on the narrow minded puritanical society in which Joe perceives he is trapped. The world described is completely filtered through Joe's perspective, which makes for interesting reading if you stand back and try to imagine how a more 'normal' person would react. Or how you think they should react. I suppose that is the most compelling thing about this relatively short story, Joe acts true to his character, without regard for decorum, decency or anything else. You almost feel like a voyeur reading the intimate text. I highly recommend this book. (I read the Rebels Inc edition)

While Trocchi's take on alienation has more than a few parallels to Camus' "The Stranger", the landscape and characters provoke a more visceral reaction. Amazing that most people only know Trocchi's pornographic material - this version has been edited to reflect his original story.

"Young Adam" was a suggested read by my reading partner. How he discovered Alexander Trocchi is beyond me. But I found his writing style, as well as his own outlook of the the world incredibly interesting.Trocchi's works were said to have been exiled out of Scottish literature, along with Trocchi physically. His writings stretched to the outer limits of moral acceptability. Holding anti-establishment attitudes, a lack of "work ethics", and sexual promiscuity, Trocchi simply tells it as it is through his own philosophy, which allows the reader to concentrate on the story and examine the characters as they unfold. A strong narrative voice guides you through the events of this simple, yet thought provoking storyline.The story is told by Joe, a barge worker, who shares quarters with Leslie, his wife Ella, and their son, which Joe often refers to as "the kid". The body of a dead woman is found floating in the river, and taken aboard the barge. As the story unfolds, the connection between the dead woman, the circumstances of her death, and two innocent men, caught between a rock and a hard place, nervously emerge and come together. Lingering in the back of your mind, the question of fate or freedom for either of these men.The question this story evoked in my mind was simply, "What would I do if I were in this man's position?" You will "walk a mile" in Joe's shoes in "Young Adam" But it still leaves this question unanswered.Read "Young Adam" and see if you can discover a solution to this moral dilemma. I tip my hat to you Alexander Trocchi, ya done good!!!

...that I purchased this book because a movie adaptation starring Ewan Mcgregor is currently in the works... I had never even heard of Alexander Trocchi before reading this (his first novel, originally published in 1954). The story is relatively simple; it is told from the viewpoint of Joe, the hired hand on a barge that traverses the Clyde river between Glasgow and Edinburgh. One morning (on page 2), he pulls the body of a woman out of the river, and that event sets the story in motion. This is really a character driven narrative and I found it very easy to relate to Joe and his environment, even though I am 50 years and about 6000 miles removed from it. As the story progresses, and more and more about Joe's past is gradually revealed, the book becomes quite engrossing. Trocchi has a way of taking incredibly mundane experiences and describing them using the most beautiful, flowing prose...I can't understand why more people aren't familiar with this author's work as he's easily in the same league as Bukowski and Burroughs... Overall, I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read more of Trocchi's work!