Ode to the author’s mother is also a ruthless, unforgiving exploration of his upbringing and the traumas he endured
The tone of Cells is sombre, scathing, at times vengeful, recollections written with the kind of anger that brings a startling clarity of expression to subject matter that includes homophobia, class issues, mental health, parental neglect and illness.
As with the best memoirs , McCrea uses his own life as a springboard to discuss wider Irish society, mixing public and private histories. When it comes to his family, particularly his siblings, McCrea can be ruthless about his grievances, with the sense of settling scores, but this is part of the same impulse that runs throughout the book, to go deep, to say the things that don’t get said, which seems linked ultimately to an urge to reconcile old hurts before it’s too late.
McCrea himself emerges as a man who doesn’t suffer fools, to the extent that he can sometimes appear to lack compassion, especially if he feels he’s been wronged The most pressing of these is his relationship with his mother. Through his steadfast delineation – McCrea goes everywhere, even describing in graphic detail a childhood fascination with his mother’s genitals – she emerges as a brilliant, complex woman. Crucially for the narrative, she acts as a foil to McCrea’s earnestness, adding brightness and levity to the author’s analytical style.
McCrea himself emerges as a man who doesn’t suffer fools, to the extent that he can sometimes appear to lack compassion, especially if he feels he’s been wronged. There is a pleasing honesty in this, an unwillingness to compromise on his hard-won outlook, no concessions or pandering. It’s also worth noting that he frequently casts his relentless gaze inward.
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