Cheap Young Adam (Book) (Alexander Trocchi) Price

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Customer Reviews of Young Adam

A hidden treasure
I cant remember what made me pick Young Adam off the shelf and what made me by it, certainly I had not heard of Alexander Trocchi and had no idea what to expect. From the first page it was clear to me that I had stumbled accross a unique and highly talented author. Told from the perspective of a drifter working the canals and waterways of 1950's Scotland, the story begins with the body of a young woman being retrieved from the water, and the bleakness and realism of the writing style, married with a coldness of the protaganist was at once engaging and highly readable. The story is full of moments of sexual intimacy which are powerful in their realism and the whole book is an unsentimental glimpse into the mind of a man who see's himself as an outsider. The story unwinds simply and effectively asking more questions than it ever answers and is beautifuly sparse and uncomplicated. I have since learned of Trocchi's own alienation from the Scottish literary canon and this explains his obsucrity but i would recommend anyone to read young Adam it stands the test of time and is engaging throughout.

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Young Stranger
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.

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A Much Overlooked Author
"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!!!