Glue Kindle Download + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Glue Kindle Download

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 Read More

from£7.19 | RRP: £
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £2.95
  • Amazon

    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.

  • Play

    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. Four boys becoming 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 - who has one less skin than everyone else and seems to find catastrophe at every corner. As we follow their lives from the seventies 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.Despite its scale and ambition "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.

  • Foyles

    '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

  • BookDepository

    Glue : Paperback : Vintage Publishing : 9780099285922 : : 28 Jun 2002 : 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.

  • ASDA

    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.

  • 0099285924
  • 9780099285922
  • Irvine Welsh
  • 16 December 2008
  • Vintage Digital
  • Kindle Edition (Kindle Download)
  • 480
  • New Ed
  • Kindle eBook
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.