The Fields
A brilliantly funny, moving read for fans of 'Derry Girls'
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2.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
'A joy to read: fresh, funny, moving and always surprising' Kate Atkinson
'Fresh, beguiling and laugh-out-loud funny on every page, this must be the most enjoyable Irish novel since Skippy Dies' Guardian
They'd sit around in a steamy kitchen circle like four mad witches, and dip ginger-snaps into Maxwell House until they went wobbly-warm, and take turns at saying, Jahear about so-and-so, Lord rest his soul, only thirty years old, poor creature?! They were brilliant at it. Scaring the s***e out of each other, grinning inside.
Jim Finnegan is thirteen years old and life in his world consists of dealing with the helter-skelter intensity of his rumbustious family, taking breakneck bike rides with his best friend, and coveting the local girls from afar - until one day when everything changes.
The Fields is an unforgettable story of an extraordinary character: Jim's voice leaps off the page and straight into the reader's heart as he grapples with his unfairly interrupted adolescence.
Praise for The Fields:
'Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measures' Stylist
Funny and heart-warming' Daily Mail
'The Fields is crazy mad, lyrical and unforgettable' Red
'Exquisite moments of comedy that anyone with a whiff of Irish heritage will immediately recognise' Sunday Express
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This ambitious novel from Dublin-born, London-based journalist Maher observes its cheeky 14-year-old narrator Jim Finnegan's coming-of-age in mid-1980s Dublin with humor and verve. The youngest child of office-equipment salesman Matt and devoutly religious Devida, Jim has five sisters, but he is closest to Fiona. His life is blighted after the repulsive Father Luke O'Culigeen recruits Jim to serve as the parish altar boy, sexually abusing him until Jim's "hard as nails" Aunty Grace comes to the rescue. Jim's own mistakes contribute to his troubles, as when his girlfriend, Saidhbh Donohue, a "vision of pure beauty" four years his senior, announces she is pregnant. Meanwhile, his father is struck down with debilitating lymphoma. Feeling desperate, Jim decamps with Saidhbh to London, where Aunty Grace lives, and, in a far-fetched stab at finding the solution to everyone's problems, trains at the School of Astral Sciences to become a "fully-fledged healing machine" with the ability to observe people's "auric fields." The strong voice Maher creates for his protagonist, rich with the slang of working-class Dublin, provides the most lasting impression in this solid debut.
Customer Reviews
All over the place
The promise of “laugh out loud” humor and the book being a “joy to read” simply did not deliver. I found it heartbreakingly sad and disturbing in places - priests and altar boys -and far fetched and ridiculous in others - 17 yo girls finding 13yo boys desirable, chakra healings.
I struggled to find the motivation to want to finish it.
The final wrap up was unbelievable and ridiculous, and made me sorry I persisted.
Utterly disappointed.