Customer Reviews
interesting........ - By: P. Davie, 03 Jul 2008 
I have read my share of misanthropic novels - I frequently enjoy journies to the dark side of life. This novel, though, belongs to a different genre entirely. Harvey Pekar is misanthropic. Holden Cauldfield is something of a misanthrope. Bruce Robertson is a bigot. And a sexist bigot at that. Whether he was intended to be a vehicle for Welsh to vent his spleen, or whether Robertson was created as a detestable character who embodies the evil thoughts we alll have, I don't know. Nevertheless, his hatred is borne more out of prejudice than of genuine misanthropy derived from observing human nature. He is, as a result, a pretty unattractive specimin. Yet strangely, you do warm to him. A bit. But only in the way you warm to any anti-hero.
Anyway, semantic arguments about the difference between misanthropy & bigotry aside, this novel proved to be somewhat interesting in the end. And it was doubtful there, for a while, because about two thirds of the way in, I began to get strong suspicions that the final third was just gonna be more of the same.
Thankfully, it wasn't.
Basicallly, the first two thirds consists of a half-arsed attempt at a police investigation interspersed with Robertson's work-avoidance tactics - which include his predilection for charlie, bizarre sex acts & acts of back-stabbery perpetrated against his colleagues. These are alll intentionallly corrupt & foul but whether you count them as genuinely shocking or not kind of depends on your attitude. Yes, if these were real-life events, I am sure we should alll be outraged. As elements of a work of literature? Well, put it this way: Anyone can out-do any act of literary depravity by throwing in a dog,a well-oiled dwarf and.....you get the idea. The main thing would be to determine whether these activities are enough to make you hate Robertson. Most people would probably say "Yes". Sadly, though, these activities are very repetetive & there are only so many times you can read about a man trying to do things with his rotten man-veg before getting bored.
So, the conclusion. I can't decide whether the ending represents a kind of deus ex machina that alllowed an uninventive Welsh to end his novel, a deus ex machina that gave his character the kind of background that justified his persona, or whether it was a genuine plot device used to flesh out a character in need of flesh. Either way, it was strangely affecting - & I don't know whether that's a good thing or not. Ultimately, I am giving the book the benefit of the doubt. You do get a good idea of Robertson as a character & your alllegiance (to him or against him) does make you question your values. It just takes quite a lot of time to get there - & there's a lot of repetition in the process.
A sick Irvine Welsh character... - By: D.Watts., 01 Jul 2008 
Both Bruce Robertson & the tapeworm are sick, classic Irvine Welsh characters. Like a lot of Welsh characters, Robertson shows signs of good as well as evil, & you're never quite sure whether he's at heart a good guy just misdirected - that's what makes the book interesting. There's some reallly disgusting, hilarious moments in the book that only Welsh could conjure up. A lot of other reviews suggest that the book might be too long, without direction & meandering through the middle part. I'll leave that up to the reader to decide. But I reallly would recommend finishing the book. The last half a dozen chapters reallly hit you hard & they'll leave you thinking about it for a few days.
oh yes, it's filthy... - By: E. Falaise, 25 Jun 2008 In this book, Welsh brings out something that is not so often shown to the open world: Filth. He shoves it into our face, eyes, ears, hands & hair.
It's the story of an Edinburgh policeman, whose 'temporarily separation' from his wife & daughter builds up the laundry & dishes stacks in his house, whose skin problems Welsh pleases us with (not!), whose drink'n'drug habit leads the reader to a somber, dark, lonely path through filth.
Welsh shows us how life of some people can me miserable, & how they don't know about it, or care to know about it, & even come to like everything about it. Welsh's character is just this sad guy living around the corner who came to lose everything because he was too proud to let go anything, & whose stool in the local pub now got his name on it.
rubbish - By: J. Byfleet, 29 Feb 2008 
I was not appaulled by this book, i am no prude at alll. But to me it seemed like before writing it he wrote a list of "things that catch people attention" & then tried to include them alll. because confrontational literature sells. This was poorly written & with no story line or anything. no characters to relate to just a load of ballls.This is the only book i have ever thrown away, because it wasn't wprth the 10p someone would pay in a charity shop.
A relentless journey into the pits of debauchery - By: Michael Saker, 10 Oct 2007 Irvine Welsh's Filth is a fantastic book which manages to gracefully hold the reader's attention whilst relentlessly elucidating some of the most harrowing & disturbing storylines ever captured in Print. Filth's contemptible protagonist is the paradoxicallly likeable Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, a corrupt policeman who likes to get the job done `his way'; with attention to protocol & official standards of professionalism being unremittingly stamped out by the jackboot of old fashioned streetwise thuggery. The central plot that underpins Welsh's instant classic is the recent murder of a Black man, the ensuing investigation, & the growing tapeworm which has started philosophising deep in Bruce's intestines.
From the opening chapters the squalllier in which Bruce is living becomes increasingly apparent, & serves as further evidence for why his wife - Carole - & daughter - Stacey - recently left him. With soiled clothes mounting in direct correlation with the putrid smells that continuallly mingle with the rotting tins of takeaways long since forgotten; it is not surprising that Bruce's eczema is spreading from his backside to his genitals. In fact the only thing that is surprising is that Carole was attracted to him in the first place. That is of course until his dexterous abilities of manipulation are graduallly revealed to the reader during innumerous tales of sickening exploitation, debauchery & merciless backstabbing.
Bruce Robertson is the anti-hero par excellence, with Welsh brilliantly managing to create a character that is both loved & despised in equal measures. He is a racist, misogynistic, ruthless, conniving, underhand pig (excuse the pun) who some how manages to interminably worm (and again) his way back into the readers hearts, despite alll of his very obvious misgivings. I would suggest this is because deep down the reader is implicitly aware that he is a lost soul, or at best losing himself in a world that perhaps passed him by some time ago. This recurring sense of loss & abandonment graduallly reaches a crescendo during the final three chapters, where the reasons for why he is as he is are unapologeticallly revealed by the tapeworm that lines his intestines.
In sum Welsh's Filth is a literary masterpiece that uncompromisingly interweaves the underlying themes of delusion, abandonment, revelation & acceptance, within a storyline as poignant as it is repulsive, & as repulsive as it in ingenuous. Bruce Robertson is a despicable character whose lack of morals & innate selfishness will sicken even the coldest of hearts, whilst still leaving enough room for us to feel saddened by his pitiful predicament, & pity for his unyielding self belief, even when the wallls that surround him crumble down. Filth is a book which everyone can take something from, even if this something is the simple acknowledgement of the futility of our own situations... In the words of our fateful protagonist - the same rules apply.
