Glue
By Irvine Welsh
W.W. Norton & Co./$14.95
Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, Ecstasy, Acid House and Filth, again shocks his cult following with his most recent release, Glue. In this novel, Welsh seems to have matured as a writer in that he doesn't solely rely on shock value through the "drugs-leading-to-disaster" motif common in most of his other books (although this motif does make an appearance, just not as a central figure). In Glue, Welsh tells the story of a group of Scottish youths, all childhood friends, and how their lives begin to head in separate directions as they age (not necessarily mature). It's a coming-of-age story for some characters and a story of failure for others. Glue's main characters reflect that, despite constant misfortune and jaded outlooks for the future, they are still bound by the glue of friendship, addiction and loss. Though at times members of the group try to remove themselves from their stagnant social circle, the proverbial glue eventually pulls them back.
Welsh is not known to give many of his books a happy ending. Rather, he seems to be something of a realist. The roughened attitudes of his characters, due to their tough lower-middle class upbringing, yield little melodrama. Welsh manifests reality through each character's life in Glue, and this approach enables any reader to sympathize with a particular character, if not all of them. Like his other books, this one is written phonetically in a Scottish brogue that's difficult to understand at first. However, if you fight through the first few chapters, patience will render its due and leave you feeling touched by Welsh's sensitivity and sincerity in his depiction of a hard reality.
—Ian M. Ross
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2001.