Glue cover art

Glue

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Glue

By: Irvine Welsh
Narrated by: Tam Dean Burn
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About this listen

 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 30s. 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 '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.

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.

©2001 Irvine Welsh (P)2001 Random House Audiobooks Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Comedy

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Critic reviews

"Full of incident, mad, crackling dialogue, attractively appalling characters, and some of the funniest and rudest sex scenes." ( Sunday Times)
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I love this book, but a shame it's a shortened version, it still has the same story but a bit more concise

My favourite book. a few bits missed out tho

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I love the story Irvine Welsh creates. Same characters through the books with each having their own personality’s. Sad this is a short version of the book though. It would be great if the full one was released. Think the full story had some fun parts included.
Good reading from Tam Dean Burn.

Great story but to short!

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Believable characters in crazy situations, as you'd expect from Welsh.
Well performed, slightly off-putting if you're a listener to Athletico Mince at first because it really sounds like a 'Scottish Tale!', but Tam Dean Burn brings the Scots dialect to life

Dark, funny and filthy in every respect

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Always enjoy Irvine Welsh's stuff, but was a bit put off by the fact this has been considerably chopped down from the actual length of the book, and therefore some parts that we're vital to the plot we're cut out and non necessary one's weren't.

Good but not full book length

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very good after you settle in to it. it also goes very fast. I had already enjoyed the book some time ago but equally enjoyed this too.

first time audible.

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I loved the way the seemingly random scenes and people slowly came together and also that’s you got some back story to character who appear in later books and of course the random lines that make you laugh out loud

Another banger from mr Welsh

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he's written better books, marabou stork nightmare,best book in my opinion,i couldn't put it down in the ninties

decent read

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Love Irvine Welshes books loves Tam Dean Burn reading them. But the audio quality and editing of this poor and there are chapters missing.

Good Story chapters missing

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The title speaks for itself. Out of the two books Porno is the better. 3 stars is a bit harsh but I am giving Porno 4, and its not as good. One thing I like is the way the books interlace ever so slightly.

I think Porno is bettter!

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again an excellent book. the story and how all the stories and books combine in a way that encapsulates a time era and indeed the lives of so many.
So glad I've found these books. although in the wrong order however still excellent.

again excellent.

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