Glue: From the bestselling author of Trainspotting and Crime - Softcover

9780099285922: Glue: From the bestselling author of Trainspotting and Crime
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Glue is the story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences and the secrets that hold them together into their thirties.

As we follow their lives from the 70's into the new century - from punk to techno, from speed to Es - we can see each of them trying to struggle out from under the weight of the conditioning of class and culture, peer pressure and their parents' hopes that maybe their sons will do better than they did. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality: back up your mates, don't hit women and, most importantly, never grass - on anyone.

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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.

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

Review:
"Wild, brave and funny" (Sunday Times)

"Welsh is brilliant at what he does... This is his most readable and memorable novel since Trainspotting" (Independent on Sunday)

"His most ambitious, but also his most complete and engaging work to date... arguably, his best book" (Times Literary Supplement)

"Full of incident, mad, crackling dialogue, attractively appalling characters and some of the funniest and rudest sex scenes I have read since Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint" (Sunday Times)

"With razor-sharp dialogue, a powerful odour of ordinary desperation and an incisive understanding of what makes these men's friendship tick, Welsh is at the top of his game" (The Face)

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  • PublisherVintage
  • Publication date2002
  • ISBN 10 0099285924
  • ISBN 13 9780099285922
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages576
  • Rating

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780393322156: Glue

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ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780393322156
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001
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    Jonath..., 2001
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  • 9780224061261: Glue

    Jonath..., 2001
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  • 9780099436928: Glue

    Vintage, 2002
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  • 9780224067294: Glue

    Jonath..., 2001
    Hardcover

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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Glue has all Irvine Welsh's usual pace and vigour, crackling dialogue, scabrous set-pieces and black, black humour, 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.'Welsh is brilliant at what he does. This is his most readable and memorable novel since Trainspotting' Independent on SundayGlue is the story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences and the secrets that hold them together into their thirties.As we follow their lives from the 70s into the new century - from punk to techno, from speed to Es - we can see each of them trying to struggle out from under the weight of the conditioning of class and culture, peer pressure and their parents' hopes that maybe their sons will do better than they did. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality- back up your mates, don't hit women and, most importantly, never grass - on anyone.'His most ambitious, but also his most complete and engaging work to date. arguably, his best book' TLS A story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences - and the secrets - that hold them together into their thirties. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780099285922

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Book Description Condition: New. A story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences - and the secrets - that hold them together into their thirties. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality. Num Pages: 576 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 30. Weight in Grams: 420. . 2002. 01st Edition. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780099285922

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