Glue - Hardcover
The story of four boys growing up in Edinburgh in the 1970s.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
With a title like Glue, it would seem reasonable to assume that Irvine Welsh's new novel is a profound reflection upon the pitfalls of solvent abuse. In fact, the glue of Welsh's book deals with the bonds that unite four boys growing up together in "the scheme", the "slum-clearance" flats of Edinburgh, whose optimistic construction in the 1970s give way to the poverty, unemployment and crime of the 1980s and 1990s. It is this despair that defines the lives of Welsh's central protagonists: Terry Lawson, work-shy and sex-mad; Carl Ewart, budding DJ; Billy Birrell, boxer, and Andrew Galloway, a drug addict who tests HIV-positive.
Review:
Glue is a bildungsroman of growing up bad, recounted in Welsh's inimitable style. The novel follows the boys through their early forays into sex, drink, drugs and football violence, written in the author's trademark vernacular. Carl Ewart poses crucial questions such as: "How dae ah chat up a bird?" and "Do I wear a rubber johnny? (If so, nae problem, I've started trying them on so ah ken how tae fir them)". Welsh also attempts occasional political comment on the friends' difficulties: Billy Birrell reflects: "Having money is the only way to get respect. Desperate, but that's the world we live in now." However, Welsh is better at grotesque moments of sex and violence and offhand one-liners, such as: "Guilt and shaggin, they go the gither like fish 'n' chips". Fans of Trainspotting will love Glue, even down to the brief appearance of Begbie and Renton, but others may feel that the novel is just more of the same, and that this performance finds Welsh stuck in a rut. --Jerry Brotton
Welsh firing on all cylinders...the best thing he has done since Trainspotting. "Sunday Times" A masterpiece...in the classic line of classic Scottish writing. "Independent" Praise for Filth: A nakedly ambitious, disturbing book that holds up a visceral mirror to Scotland s tortured relationship with England and with itself. "The Globe and Mail""
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherJonathan Cape Ltd
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 022406729X
- ISBN 13 9780224067294
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
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