Simons Says: Faith, Fun, Foible Book

This is the autobiography of 'Todd' Andrews, who was 'in and around' most of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and then went on to be a protagonist in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War in 1922. He was born in 1900, grew up in Summerhill and then when he was about 10 his family moved to Terenure. Thereafter a lot of the locations mentioned are well known to me, which helped bring the book to life.

In some ways it's a slightly one-dimensional book, in that it is a factual telling of an infancy in a down at heel area of Dublin and then a gradual drift as an adolescent into the Republican movement. He was marginally too young (or perhaps just not engaged by) the 1916 rising, but thereafter he was a participant in the War of Independence and very much so in the Civil War.

In that latter conflict he was on the Republican side and it's very noticeable how much of the bitterness toward the 'Free State' side he retains. In fairness I suppose when you have been interned, been at risk of summary execution and know a large number of people who were 'taken out and shot' it'd be hard to avoid this perspective. And yet at times in the book it appears to be a 'game', with pen pictures of many people he knew and then the phrase 'he was murdered by the Free State'. I have no views on this either way, save that I'm sure there were atrocities carried out on both sides.

One noticeable trait - possibly the carefree view of a young man - is how he 'expected' (if he ever thought about it) his parents to continue to fund and support him. It's not that he seems to have felt this was 'because he was about important business', but maybe more because at this point in his existence, getting a job and supporting himself seems to have been far from his mind. And there seemed among the Republican 'fighters' to have been a 'commandeering' mindset - as in 'I need your car to support the development of the fledgling Republic'. Possibly reinforced with a pistol in hand.

Taken as a whole though, it is a fairly passionate but factual record of a hugely important period in the development of the nation, told by a protagonist. So it's a very easy read and a good record of 'the times that were in it'. There's a second volume about his later years called 'Men of no property' which I might get around to reading in due course.