UEFA Champions League
Buy used
£5.01
FREE delivery 3 - 4 April. Details
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by betterworldbooksltd
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Over 100 million books sold! 100% Money-Back Guarantee. Free & Fast Shipping!
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Alison Irvine
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

This Road is Red Paperback – 1 Mar. 2011

by Alison Irvine (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 61 ratings

It is 1964. Red Road is rising out of the fields. To the families who move in, it is a dream and a shining future.

It is 2010. The Red Road Flats are scheduled for demolition. Inhabited only by intrepid asylum seekers and a few stubborn locals, the once vibrant scheme is tired and out of time.

Between these dates are the people who filled the flats with laughter, life and drama. Their stories are linked by the buildings; the sway and buffet of the tower blocks in the wind, the creaky lifts, the views and the vertigo.

This Road is Red is a compelling and subtle novel of Glasgow.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Luath Press Ltd
  4. Publication date
    1 Mar. 2011
  5. Dimensions
    12.7 x 2.54 x 19.05 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1906817812
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1906817817
Next slide of product details

Product description

Review

In 'This Road Is Red', Alison Irvine does for Glasgow what Irvine Welsh has done for Edinburgh - imagining a city through its fringes, fearlessly and without frills. In fact, 'This Road Is Red' goes one better than 'Trainspotting' by bringing to life a whole scheme in the sky, not through the interconnected tales of a handful of individuals, but by opening a hundred windows onto a whole community across two generations, so that the reader can hear a town talking on every page. --Willy Maley

[This Road is Red] weaves back and forth in time to tell the lives of not only the inhabitants, but how they have been shaped by the blocks. It is highly effective and although a page turner, conveys a powerful understanding of Churchill's dictum, 'We make the buildings and then they make us.' --Property Week

Her book is publicised as a novel but plays with the conventions of non-fiction, including what appear to be direct testimonials of people who first lived in the flats when they were erected in 1964, to those at the end. It s a combination that works well... THE HERALD

It sounds odd to talk of a book providing an obituary for a housing scheme, but in many ways that is exactly what This Road is Red is doing: and in the process helping record a way of life that is about to disappear. UNDISCOVERED SCOTLAND

This is a beautifully written tale of life in a high-rise housing scheme . . . Alison Irvine's first book is a fine tribute to the people of the Red Road and a great account of how human solidarity can prevail in even the bleakest circumstances. THE SOCIALIST REVIEW

Irvine's stories are by turns sad, frightening, moving, dark, occasionally wickedly funny and always compelling. THE MORNING STAR --The Herald

About the Author

Alison Irvine was born in London to antipodean parents. She was brought up in London and Essex and moved to Glasgow in 2005 to study an MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University. She graduated with distinction in 2006 and since then her writing has been published in The Celtic View and in an anthology of Glasgow writing, Outside of a Dog. In 2007 she was awarded a Scottish Arts Council New Writer's Bursary to support the writing of her novel about emigration from Glasgow to the Antipodes. Alison works as an actress and drama workshop facilitator. She lives in Glasgow.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Luath Press Ltd (1 Mar. 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1906817812
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1906817817
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 2.54 x 19.05 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 61 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Alison Irvine

Alison Irvine

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
61 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate its historical context and personal stories. The humor is described as funny, playful, and honest. The characters are well-developed and realistic. The ending is poignant and moving for customers.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

ReadabilityHistoryHumorCharacter developmentHeartbreaking storyVisual quality
12 customers mention ‘Readability’12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the spare language and authentic dialogue that describe the characters' stories. The book offers an insightful look into life in Glasgow's Red Road area.

"As a proud glaswegian I was both humbled and inspired by this beautifully written book about Glasgow's Red Road...." Read more

"...Its language is spare and its dialogue true and the characters' stories so engaging precisely because they're not always about the big dramas but..." Read more

"...It was well written ,I'm sure the information was accurate but it was a bit clinical...." Read more

"i enjoyed the book. It was an easy read. Brought back a lot of good memories of living in the red road." Read more

11 customers mention ‘History’11 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's history. They find it a social history with poignant aspects of everyday life in the Red Road. The subtle incorporation of historical detail brings back good memories. Readers appreciate the personal stories that provide an insight into life in the area.

"...manages to portrey the happy, sad, symbolic, funny and poignant aspects of everyday life in the red road from their pioneering build in the sixties..." Read more

"...in the excellent 1960s and 1970s sections for its subtle incorporation of historical detail...." Read more

"...There are sad stories, happy stories, playful stories, smutty stories...." Read more

"i enjoyed the book. It was an easy read. Brought back a lot of good memories of living in the red road." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Humor’7 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it funny, poignant, and entertaining. The stories are described as playful, interesting, and heartwarming.

"...The author manages to portrey the happy, sad, symbolic, funny and poignant aspects of everyday life in the red road from their pioneering build in..." Read more

"...There are sad stories, happy stories, playful stories, smutty stories...." Read more

"...- with various twists and turns, it goes from funny stories about childhood pranks and mischief yet without apology, turns sudden corners and..." Read more

"...rise living in urban Britain is at turns shocking, sugary, disturbing, funny and profound. It made me laugh and cry...." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Character development’5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the well-developed characters.

"...The characters are well developed, emotive and real...." Read more

"...Its language is spare and its dialogue true and the characters' stories so engaging precisely because they're not always about the big dramas but..." Read more

"...This is a social history par excellence. The characters are engaging, the reader is drawn into the ebbs and floes of the towers’ fortunes and the..." Read more

"Very good describes the characters very well and offers an insight on what it was like to live there through the years...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Heartbreaking story’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the story heartbreaking and emotional. They say the characters are well-developed and the ending is teary.

"...The author manages to portrey the happy, sad, symbolic, funny and poignant aspects of everyday life in the red road from their pioneering build in..." Read more

"...into the ebbs and floes of the towers’ fortunes and the ending is really quite teary as the great monoliths return to the sand of the opening pages...." Read more

"...happy people, sad people, a town within a city, it gave people fresh hope great read thank u." Read more

"Super book, well written, historically significant, endearing, heartbreaking and I couldn't put it down but didn't want it to end." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Visual quality’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's visual quality. They find the views amazing, and the drawings brilliant. The book portrays a balanced view of both good and bad aspects.

"...people and races all to have graced the red road and manages to portrey a balanced view of of the good and bad that is the red road." Read more

"...Mitch Miller's brilliant drawings add another dimension, as if they were fragments retrieved from the walls...." Read more

"...sweat and tears into making them home – and they did have some pretty amazing views...." Read more

"...Also the views must be amazing!! Once gone they will never return." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • bookies
    5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2011
    Verified Purchase
    As a proud glaswegian I was both humbled and inspired by this beautifully written book about Glasgow's Red Road. The author manages to portrey the happy, sad, symbolic, funny and poignant aspects of everyday life in the red road from their pioneering build in the sixties to the decline and deconstruction at present. The characters are well developed, emotive and real. The book takes you on a journey through the generations, people and races all to have graced the red road and manages to portrey a balanced view of of the good and bad that is the red road.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • MM
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Epitaph
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This book deftly weaves the inhabitants' recollections with fictional scenes based in truth. Its language is spare and its dialogue true and the characters' stories so engaging precisely because they're not always about the big dramas but the little things - navigating the lifts, re-papering the walls - that act as markers in our own lives. Mitch Miller's brilliant drawings add another dimension, as if they were fragments retrieved from the walls.
    I particularly enjoyed the writing in the excellent 1960s and 1970s sections for its subtle incorporation of historical detail. There is humour here but, underneath it all, is a kind of sadness that the promise of the Red Road Flats was ultimately untenable. Its context might be Glasgow but its experiences were echoed elsewhere in the UK (as dramatised by tv drama Our Friends in the North and as seen in London's Trellick Tower before its reinvention). This is the best epitaph the Flats could have had.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Emi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Throughly enjoyable read for anyone.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 April 2024
    Verified Purchase
    It is what it says on the book…it’s a time line of the red road flats in Glasgow.
    I lived there briefly in 89/90. This for me was very accurate for the time I was there or around that area.
    This is well written but more importantly it is a throughly good read. I actually passed the book on to a family member who also thought it was brilliant.
    This will give you an insight into not only the red road flats but the area of Glasgow. If you like reading about Glasgow or Scottish culture through the years then this is a great choice.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • MisterHobgoblin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dust to dust
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Last year, ahead of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Organising Committee announced that the launch ceremony would feature the detonation of the remaining 30-storey Red Road tower blocks as the spectacular centrepiece. There was an outcry from past residents of the blocks who felt this would not be a dignified end to the homes they had lived in, often for many years. The Red Road blocks had become so unloved that this backlash surprised many people.

    This Road Is Read is the story of those blocks.

    Beginning in 1964, we find nothing more than a pile of sand. From the sand rose girders, and from the girders rose the highest residential blocks in Europe. We see the first residents draw keys in a lucky dip – some wanted to be high, some wanted to be low. They could swap keys with others until happy compromises were reached. We saw the establishment of vertical villages, residents using rotas to see who would clean the landings outside their “houses”.

    It was a brave concept, and the idealism, the excitement at the novelty of high rise living, was touching.

    Then, section by section we see the problems start to emerge. There are gangs; there’s vandalism; there are families moving out to be replaced by students; there are students moving out to be replaced by asylum seekers. But the start of the problems, the pin that burst the bubble of hope, seemed to be the slow and faulty lifts. Too often, people were inconvenienced by the lifts, causing a loss of pride, causing a loss of standards, causing terrible social problems.

    This Road Is Red features stories told in snippets of some of the residents. Most are told contemporaneously, a few are told in italicised reminiscences. There are sad stories, happy stories, playful stories, smutty stories. There are suicides, there are illegally painted tennis courts, there are kestrels and pigeons and dogs. There are fires, thefts and third parties. There’s even a birth. Whilst the stories seldom join up and there’s no obvious fictional thread, there is a common story of Glasgow and its working class. We see societal changes reflected through the occupants of the building. We see the world changing at the foot of the giant towers.

    This is a social history par excellence. The characters are engaging, the reader is drawn into the ebbs and floes of the towers’ fortunes and the ending is really quite teary as the great monoliths return to the sand of the opening pages. Those of us who did not understand the reaction to the Commonwealth Games plan would do well to read this book; it will bring us to the same space as the former residents. The towers may not have been perfect but the residents had invested their blood, sweat and tears into making them home – and they did have some pretty amazing views.

    Glasgow is a wonderful city that sometimes hides its inner beauty under a rather challenging exterior. This novel is a key to unlock that beauty.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Sylvia Edwards
    3.0 out of 5 stars High Living in Glasgow
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 March 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I heard this writer at the Edinburgh Book Festival and I had the impression that
    it was written as part of her research into living in high-rise flats in Glasgow.

    It was well written ,I'm sure the information was accurate but it was a bit clinical.
    I wouldn't recommend it unless to someone who needed to know about the
    subject.
    Helpful
     Report
  • CarolH
    4.0 out of 5 stars nostalgic
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 September 2013
    Verified Purchase
    i enjoyed the book. It was an easy read. Brought back a lot of good memories of living in the red road.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • M. Bhardwaj
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in France on 27 December 2012
    Verified Purchase
    A great story of the Red Road flats with good attention to historical detail and captivating characters which were developed with the help of interviews with real residents giving a superb account of their lives on this housing estate through the decades.

    Having bought the kindle edition, my only criticism is that some of the artwork is not so viewable on my kindle. However, you are provided with links to check it out it online. Best done with your pc or laptop.

    In addition, before reading this book I spent a lot of time on this website: [...]. This is a great way to get familiar with the history of the flats and other aspects of its existence. Also worth a look are the Red Road Stories – Volumes 1 to 3 which are available on the website just mentioned. These accounts were submitted directly via the website and make an interesting read before or after having read Irvine's book.
    Report