Bibliofemme Reviews
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Time Tracks by Michael Cronin 
(Published by New Island)
Read in the week I left the shores of the Emerald Isle
Michael Cronin's new book, Time Tracks, makes for a
poignant and gloriously funny mediation on Irish life.
Cronin’s world is not the ‘sell it to the tourists and
Diaspora’ world of begora and begosh, thatched
cottages and dancing at the crossroads. No it is
filled with the wonderful little details that we all
think individual to your own childhoods, adolescences
and passing adulthood.
Intricate biscuit eating rituals, tea making, electric
bar heaters and buses are just some of the things that
come under Cronin’s humorous scrutiny. You can’t read
this book without constant reference to your own
experiences and memories, each story becomes laced
with the time your friend taught you to make tea (only
about a month ago!) because he wouldn’t drink your
beige muck any more, an add hock list of all the pubs
you’ve loved before, memories of “getting the phone
in” and havin the neighbours queue up at the door and
get you ma to dial up relatives, doctors, vets ... and
of course your own special execution in eating
Kimberlys, Mikados and Coconut Creams.
In Cronin’s own words “this indeed is where the
Remembrance of Things Past might begin, in the pockets
of detail, the crumbs from our tables, the touchstones
of memory".
Don’t just send this to you Aunty in Amerikay. Savour
these deliciously wrought nuggets of our lives for
yourself.
A gem.
November 2003
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