Glue

Starred review from May 14, 2001
Spanning four decades, Welsh's first full-length novel since 1998's Filth chronicles the friendship of four boys from the Edinburgh projects who cling together through football brawls, "shagging" ordeals, encounters with the law, drug experimentation and loss. The POV of this brutally dark tale shifts smoothly among the friends, showcasing Welsh's finely tuned ear for dialect as well as his ability to craft rich, memorable characters. Although the lads differ in many ways Juice Terry Lawson is a bawdy ladies' man with an eye for resalable goods; Billy "Business" Birrell is a rational-minded, all-around athlete with an iron fist; NSIGN Carl Ewart is a philosopher king and a talented disc jockey; "wee" Andrew Galloway (aka Gally) is a warmhearted but luckless drug addict they are bound by the same set of principles: never hit a woman, always back up your mates and never snitch on anyone. Welsh's prose is sometimes coarse and sometimes surprisingly introspective as he describes the introduction of new technologies into factories and contemplates changing mores in Scotland. These general observations give depth to the foreground adventures of Terry, Billy, Carl and Gally, who, despite changing circumstances, strive to stay mates as they approach middle age and the new millennium. A character from Trainspotting makes a cameo appearance during a bungled heist, and readers will note other correspondences with Welsh's cult classic. Stocked with his usual quirky, sympathetic characters, this rollicking new tale sparkles with the writer's trademark satiric wit. Its heft and narrative breadth should convince any remaining skeptics that Welsh now effectively the grand old man of in-your-face Scottish fiction is a writer to be taken seriously. (May) Forecast: Considerably longer than any of Welsh's previous efforts, this brick of a book will sit well on display tables. Loyal readers will likely pack readings on a nine-city author tour; if critics pay homage, too, this could be Welsh's biggest seller since Trainspotting.

April 1, 2001
Ye dinnae know abot us without you hav read a book by the name of Trainspotting, but that's brilliant. In Glue, Welsh continues his tale of the rollicking lads of Edinburgh (this time four boys growing up in the projects), and I haf to sey he gives us our due. O' course, the thing is, thir's nought all tae dae at nights roond our way; ye need a bit ay excitement. No question but that we can supply that, what with havin some fun at the expense of the wankers and tryin tae shag everything in sight when it doesnae interfere with our fitba. On a slow night we might even be inventive enough to set fire to the security dugs. O' course, it's all barry to beat the band. About two-thirds of the way through (at which point the persistent reader is awarded a Certificate in Scots Dialect), Welsh's novel settles into Standard English, and the lads' similarities to slackers from Long Island to Fresno is even more apparent. Welsh continues to demonstrate a keen ear for the Scottish dialect and a black humor appropriate to the bleak settings. Along with James Kelman, Welsh is proof that Scotland has not only its own Parliament but its own literature as well. For all larger public libraries. Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2001
In his big new novel, Welsh has each of four working-class Edinburgh friends-- Terry, Carl, Billy, and Gally--report on his condition, if he can, at 10-year intervals. In 1970, they are school-starting age; in 1980, teenage football hooligans champing at the bit to leave school; in 1990, well launched on their life paths; and in 2000, incipient midlifers licking the wounds they've accumulated. Unfortunately, by 2000, only three check in, and Gally's suicide before their eyes is the others' primary wound. The readers Welsh won with " Trainspotting," book and movie, will here reencounter his staples: relentless profanity, plenty of fighting between gangs a guy never seems to get old enough to leave, and, of course, lots of drinking, drugging, and graphic "shagging"--all set to an ambient dance-rock soundtrack and told in phonetically rendered low Scots. Newcomers will probably find the language the biggest challenge in what is, finally, a pretty standard, naturalistic generational saga that could very easily be the basis of another popular film.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)