Glue by Irvine Welsh Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Glue
Book Review: Couldn't put it down
Summary: 5 Stars
"Glue" was my first Welsh experience. I have seen the film "Trainspotting," but have yet to read the text."Glue" is a wonderful story for those who appreciate the struggles and the work involved in solidifying good friendships. The book hit a personal note within myself and should do with those who know what it's like to grow up with two or more very close friends.
I would rather not dive into any descriptive detail about the book, as I would recommend going into it blindly the same way I did. Just know that it has all the elements: the comedy, the tragedy, the drama, the humour, the violence, the sex, etc. It's quite a wild ride, like many of us have had ourselves.
Book Review: Fantastic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is brilliant from beginning to end. If you've liked Welsh's other works than this will delight. It's great to have him back.Book Review: Gave up halfway after tirin of the Scottich brogue
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading this book for me is like reading a novel written in French. It's possible to do, but reading something not written in my maternal tounge makes one weary. This novel is written in the council house patois of Edinburgh Scotland. It's "dae" for do. "Snoggin" for kissin. And so forth. The story is a good one but you don't need to read "The Arabian Knights" in Arabic so why not write this riveting read in the Queen's English. I plan to finish this novel in the coming weeks but it takes entirely too long to hash through it's foreign phrases.
This book, like so many other books I read recently and films I've seen, follows a bunch of young men--in this case a rowdy crowd of soccer hooligans--as they engage in their never ending pursuit of the fairer sex. Their infactuation to get laid--to get "the hole" as Carl says--is a totally consuming vocation as it is with most young men (and alot of older ones too).
Terry, the man who gets the most women is--like some character in a James Dean or Brad Pitt movie--a n'er do well whose job is a lowly one: driving a fruit truck. But he manages to have sex with two different girls in the same house on the same day much to the envy of his friends. Maybe Irvine Welsh is saying that women are drawn to the trouble makers and the rebels among us.
This novel need not have been written in the lingua franca of Scotland. Philip Roth has shown us that you can write a great novel where all the characters use the same voice and speak in the same style. You can pepper your narrative with Yiddish, Scottish or whatever, but don't write the whole bloody book in a foreign tongue.
Book Review: Get some therapy, Welsh, you sick ****
Summary: 1 Stars
If you're determined to enjoy Glue I suggest you skip pages 59-67, exactly the point at which I abandoned Welsh forever. I'm stunned that none of the previous reviews mention the graphic and gratuitous torture of two dogs covered in these pages, let alone object strongly to it.Welsh: you're quite welcome to sit at home and conjure up images of breaking a dog's legs with bolt cutters, kicking it in the face, stamping on its ribs, hanging it from a tree, hitting it with a bat and dousing it in paraffin before setting fire to it - although I strongly suggest you get on medication because the inside of your head must be a joyless place- but don't share it with me.
Jonathan Cape/Random: how dare you let me unwittingly buy this ugly piece of misery. That scene crossed a boundary and totally sickened me. Glue is a 469-page, anti-life, pointless waste of trees.
Book Review: Glue Is "Fasten"ating
Summary: 5 Stars
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.