| The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets | 
 enlarge | Author: Colin Macfarlane
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £6.99
You Save: £3.00 (30%)
New (10) Used (8) from £3.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 4937
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1845962079
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.440856092
EAN: 9781845962074
ASIN: 1845962079
Publication Date: September 6, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL GORBALIANS December 10, 2007
Book Description
What it was really like to live in the old Gorbals. Macfarlane pulls no punches and describes all the characters and goings on in an amazing real-life account of growing up in the 1960s Gorbals. This is a book written by a street boy, by one of its own
Ouline
Colin MacFarlane was born in Crown Street in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of notorious No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still wore headscarves and treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, human waste ran down the tenement stairs, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City. MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption and even the occasional stabbing, slashing and murder. But the Gorbals had another side: one where ordinary hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably once the most notorious area in the world. In this engrossing new book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals. It's a great read and he gives it to the reader... right on the chin.
PURE DEAD BRILLIANT BOOK ABOUT THE GORBALS December 10, 2007
To all of the Gorbals live Fans. The new book by Colin MacFarlane is pure dead brilliant. What a great story teller he is. The Real Gorbals Story is one of the best books I have ever read. The wee twists and turns of the story line pull at your emotions. What is so great about it is the creation of the "feel" of the old Gorbals. There is no book on the subject that can touch it by a million miles. Do yourself a favour and go and buy as many as you can afford. One for yourself to keep-you can dip into it whenever you feel that longing to be in that magical place in your imagination,for a good old therapeutic belly laugh or wee greet for absent friends. Then give one to each of the people you like/love the most. I guarantee it will be the best Xmas present you can give-even if they never experienced the magic of the place the work stands up on its own as a bloody good tale. Only one fault that I could find is that Colin mentions that the Steamie and the bagwash were one and the same thing. NOT SO! The bagwash I remember was in Waddell St and owned by a big Polish man. The stuff he put in to clean the clothes bleached them to an unrecognisable colour and rotted the fabric. Anyone remember this? Cheers Rita
Submitted by: Rita Moffat
Glasgow, Scotland
20/11/07
AUTHOR COLIN MACFARLANE IS A REAL BRAVEHEART December 7, 2007
THE AUTHOR OF THIS FABULOUS BOOK ON THE OLD GORBALS COMES OUT AS A REAL BRAVEHEART WHO NEVER FLINCHES AT MEETING ALL THE GORBALS CHARACTERS HE ENCOUNTERS EVERY DAY. IN FACT THIS BOOK WOULD MAKE A BETTER MOVIE THAN BRAVEHEART AS IT IS HEARTWARMING, VIOLENT AND VERY FUNNY. MACFARLANE IS ONE OF THE LAST OF THE OLD GORBALS SCHOOL AND THE WAY HE TACKLES HIS CHILDHOOD IN THE GORBALS IS A UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO HOW BRAVE AND FUNNY A GORBALS BOY CAN BE. IT'S A TREMENDOUS BOY'S OWN ADVENTURE FULL OF CHARACTERS THAT LEAP OUT AT YOU FROM THE PAGE. READ IT AND YOU WILL NOT BE ONLY AMAZED BUT HIGHLY ENTERTAINED. TO THE AUTHOR... I HAVE A NEW NAME FOR YOU IN FUTURE BOOKS - BRAVEHEART MACFARLANE!
NO-ONE WILL EVER WRITE A BETTER GORBALS BOOK ! December 7, 2007
Hey i was around the Gorbals at he same time as Macfarlane and i remember him well. He was a bit of a wildman and after reading his book I can tell he still is. Macfarlane like myself was a member of the local Cumbie gang and I can remember him in his Levi Sta Press trousers and hand made Arthur Black shirt. He was always well dressed and had a good line in patter. He was quite bright at school and recognised as a good story teller. I was going to write a book about the Gorbals but there is no way I could match this as it is a real page turner. Well done Colin you have come a long way from the wild streets of the Gorbals. I remember you once quoting to me the line,"Men who are not mean have got to walk these mean streets."...and you were absolutely right. The streets of the Gorbals were wild yet exciting places for every one of us.
THE BEST BOOK ABOUT THE GORBALS EVER! December 7, 2007
I have just finished reading Macfarlane's The Real Gorbals Story and it really is a fine piece of work with some fantastic tales that only someone like Macfarlane, a real Gorbals street boy, could have written. His first chapter called Murder Polis is a classic piece of writing and his chapter on the Bunnet Brigade had me laughing until the tears were coming down my cheeks. His descriptions of The Steamie and The Jakes are also ones to look out for. And I think for the first time ever Macfarlane describes in detail the local gang set up and it makes compelling reading.
You won't find a better read about the old Gorbals than this - ten out of ten Macfarlane, you are now the Gorbals king of literature.
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