Filth (Irvine Welsh)

• 18 Aug 13:29
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Filth is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. A sequel, Crime, was published in 2008.

The plot centres on Bruce Robertson, a Scottish police officer. He is a sex-obsessed, misanthropic man driven by his intense hatred. He is a cocaine addict with a penchant for "the games" — Bruce's euphemism for the myriad foul plots he hatches directed at workmates — and sexual abuse of the women in his life. The novel begins with a murder, which is the case that Bruce Robertson is investigating; however, the natural evolution of the plot itself has little or nothing at all to do with the crime. The plot traces Bruce throughout his life, told from a first-person perspective. Through narrative devices such as the tapeworm he acquires, we get to explore the facets of Bruce's personality and learn about his past, through the various tedious police routines Bruce absconds from, his sexual endeavours eventually backfiring, and his various short or long-termed schemes and plots against his colleagues in order to raise his chances of gaining the hoped-for promotion to Detective Inspector.

In an example of a rather short-term scheme, at the police station's Christmas party Bruce first waits for a...

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