TUMBLING IN THE HAY

Announced as an autobiographical novel, but reads like reminiscences of medical student days at Trinity College, Dublin, More time seems to have been spent at The Hay, a neighboring public house and hostel, than within the sacred halls; cycling takes precedence throughout over medicine. The book is episodic in treatment, though successive events follow each other chronologically, punctuated by examinations and problems of escaping work. There are brilliant and typically Gogartian bits, amusing thrusts at various ""sacred cows"", but much of the text is virtually unintelligible to those unversed in medical terminology and usage. Very Irish, in tempo and wit.