She moves through the boom
Anne Marie hourihane
Sitric books (Lilliput Press)
Set in an era that doesn’t seem possible, a time that the ramones has sung about such a short period before. It’s the end the end of the century and dublin, along with most of ireland is awakening from a greatness that has enveloped the city since the state was formed. A country on the edge of Europe whose greatest exports were people and alcohol. A country that kept its alcoholism and whose establishment kept that iron established grip.
It was noticeable that, when looking for directions to Kelly’s row in dublin the author had to go to a mini cab office for assistance. It was somewhere nearby but no one could assist, until the book of dublin street names appeared.
This was written as the millennium approached, a new century and who knew what was in store? Banks were only starting to reduce its personal interaction with customers, people paid their bills direct, our road to multiculturalism was only beginning to be paved. People with same sex relationships were still very much in the quiet corner as the island was coming to grips with a ceasefire culminating in less murders and bombs. We were opening in borders and minds.
Overall this is a book of stories about people in a land that was burgeoning. There are lines to read between that hindsight gives a different reflection on.theres personal information relating to business and transactions that would get nowhere near such a missive now due to Data protection regulations yet we allow companies have so much more of our personal information. Anyway it’s not a lesson in comparison just an interesting look into dublin at a time when people started drinking lattes.
niallhope
