Scottish deadheads grow up the hard way

books:

	• Glue Irvine Welsh W. W. Norton & Company, 2001 - 470 pages average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Glue Is "Fasten"ating

This is my first Welsh novel. Written in a Scottish dialect, it takes time to understand what he has written. After the first 50 pages or so, you become accustomed to the style of writing. At times you feel you are reading another language. The dialect actually helps you become one of the onlookers and puts you right there with them, their "5th friend" in this group of 4. Others here have reviewed the "dog cruelety" scene. Bewarned, it is extermely graphic. But the scene is there for a reason showing the cruel and sadistic nature of one group outside of our bunch. This is one of the best books I've read and will definitely read Welsh again.

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Scottish deadheads grow up the hard way

Irvine Welsh is certainly a unique writer. His prose is written in a language spoken by Scottish youth, which makes it barely understandable for most everyone else (at least in the beginning). And his knowledge of the Scottish youths lost to drugs is scarily in-depth. Unfortunately 'Glue' doesn't break new ground for the author. All the drugged out characters have already been hashed through in his earlier works. And 'Glue' doesn't have the sort of extra madness found in 'Filth'. But 'Glue' is an interesting story of four Scottish youths who fight drugs, alcohol, and each other until they reach their middle years. There is also a rather good, moving ending (no spoilers). So 'Glue' isn't special by any means. Just a fine read.

Bottom line: best left to those who've read better works by the author. Yet recommended nonetheless.

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underrated

This story may not be as big a hit as Trainspotting, however the stories of the development of a group of friends from the schemie are worth reading. Featuring plenty of laugh out loud moments, and accurately protraying the work-shy and/or alcoholic lifestyles of the characters this is an entertaining and worthwhile read

glue

A good read well written, but could do with shortening. And kind of clichéd; haven't we got passed the idea that the only way onwards and upwards for your urban poor is music and boxing? Stuck in the past.

a good read, but not his best

as i am what i consider a "dedicated" fan of Irvine Welsh's writing, i was eagerly anticipating my copy of "Glue" in the mail, and while i would not go as far as say i was unsatisfied with this book, i was definitely unimpressed.

set in the familiar surrounding of the Scottish "schemes," Glue follows three decades in the lives of four friends who have an intimate attachment and loyalty to each other that supercedes even time. although they are different in many ways, they share a unique bond that begins at where most bonds begin, their societal position. all of the same working class neighborhood, the boys [Terry, Carl, Billy, and Andrew] are actually linked up through their parents, if not their elementary school. needless to say, the similarities end there.

Carl is a budding DJ, Billy a budding boxer, Terry is a budding sex fiend, and Andrew is a budding loser. all of them are nice lads, and Welsh is an expert at describing the psychology of each character so that the reader can see the inherant differences in each ones modus operandi. they each approach each situation, weather it be girls, thugs, drugs or death, with their own seperate ideas and methods, but their unflappable bond remains unsevered throughout it all.

Welsh's prose, written largely in Scottish dialect, is not as tight as expected, and sometimes the plot gets a little tangental, but each chapter, as told from the first person perspective of one of the characters [usually one of the four main guys, but sometimes from an ancillary character] has ceratin gems of insight and developement that carries the reader on to the next. hardly is the language as strong and gritty as "Trainspotting" or "The Acid House", which had some truly inspiring prose, but the fluidity and effortless dialog is still in tact.

still, even though it is stressed repeatedly, the reader never gains the same bond with the characters, nor sees the strength of the bond between them. it just never becomes clear just WHY these guys are so loyal to eachother. i personally didnt see the charm. unlike the characters in Trainspotting, which not only are these lads most similar too, but who also make a welcome and sometimes hilarious appearance at different times in the book, i never understood why the antics of certain guys in this book were tolerated. there was no sense of desperation that kept them together [like in Trainspotting] nor were some of them that 'lovable,' regardless of their charisma. in the end, i didnt see much redemption in any of the characters, and didnt care what happened to them.

but as i said, its not like i wasnt satisfied, and the growth of the characters, while sometimes tedious, was well done. when you get towards the end of the story it makes sense that they would be where they are, and the writing, while not as stunning as some of his past efforts, is better than a lot of writing you'll find. its a good read for fans of Welsh's, but not essential overall.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

An epic novel about the bonds of friendship from the author of Trainspotting. The story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh projects, Glue is about the loyalties, the experiences, and the secrets that hold friends together through three decades. The boys become men: Juice Terry, the work-shy fanny-merchant, with corkscrew curls and sticky fingers; Billy the boxer, driven, controlled, playing to his strengths; Carl, the Milky Bar Kid, drifting along to his own soundtrack; and the doomed Gally, exceedingly thin-skinned and vulnerable to catastrophe at every turn. We follow their lives from the seventies into the new century?from punk to techno, from speed to E. Their mutual loyalty is fused in street morality: Back up your mates, don't hit women, and, most important, never snitch?on anyone. Glue has the Irvine Welsh trademarks?crackling dialogue, scabrous set pieces, and black, black humor?but it is also a grown-up book about growing up?about the way we live our lives, and what happens to us when things become unstuck.

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