10 Films BETTER Than The Book They Were Based On

10. Trainspotting

This problem stems from Irvine Welsh’s quirky writing style; Welsh transcribes all of his characters Scottish dialects to the page phonetically. It’s a divisive decision, and it certainly infuses characters with additional personality with each one having subtle differences in the way their accent appears on the page. Some accents being thicker and more difficult to parse, other accents being softer.

On the other hand, this constant shift in POV characters between chapters can wear out the reader’s patience quickly (the language of the utterly terrifying character, "Franco" Begbie, is particularly inscrutable to the reader).

Welsh is an experimental author and it really depends if you’re along for the ride; your mileage will vary. So, it’s fortunate that Welshman's best-known work, Trainspotting, has such a fantastic film adaptation.

The film is darkly comedic and follows the lives of a group of heroin addicts living in Edinburgh, particularly Renton (Ewan McGregor) who is determined to finally kick his drug habit. The movie is funny, disgusting, and tragic in equal measure.