Trainspotting

The second part of the book starts with Tommy’s perspective. He has a girlfriend, Lizzy, who he describes admiringly as a “pure steel woman,” saying, “Even Sick Boy’s jealous ay me. Being Lizzy’s boyfriend does confer status, but fame costs, as they say” (72).

Tommy bought tickets to see Iggy Pop with his friend Mitch (Mitchell), and Lizzy picks a fight about it. On the night of the show, she says she wants to go see a movie, The Accused, with Al Pacino, but Tommy is set to go to the Iggy Pop gig. She explodes in anger: “She calls me all the fuck-ups under the sun” (72).

Unlike most of his friends, Tommy is not addicted to heroin yet. He prefers speed because it goes well with drinking. Before the Iggy Pop concert, he borrows money from his parents for booze and drugs. He and his pal Mitch get drunk and start fighting. The chapter ends with Tommy deliriously taking in the Iggy Pop concert: “Iggy Pop looks right at me as he sings the line: ‘America takes drugs in psychic defence’; only he changes American’ for ‘Scatlin’” (75).