The Fields

May 6, 2013
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. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic Inc.

June 15, 2013
The narrator's breathless, slang-rich voice distinguishes this "luck of the Irish" coming-of-age story. Debut novelist Maher gives us Jim Finnegan, a fast-talking, high-spirited young man. Jim is the only son in a family of six. He shares a bedroom with his sister Fiona, takes lip from older twin sisters Sarah and Siobhan, an overworked mom and an irritable dad. Jim becomes acquainted with ne'er-do-well Declan Morrissey, aka Mozzo, who is going with the beautiful Saidhbh. He meets trouble in the form of the parish priest, O'Culigeen. Though just a wee lad of 14, and with early '80s pop music providing the backbeats, Jim is dubbed Finno the madser when he begins a relationship with the older, devout Saidhbh, a great admirer of the dreadful O'Culigeen. The comedy is low and plentiful; the sins various and cringe-worthy. But the story, complicated and plotty, isn't the draw: the language is. "Go on now, ye ride, get them off ye, ye sexy little who-ers!" Or "So soft, and so warm, like a dreamy five-fingered skin-plug into the flex of her soul." Or ."..I add that love is good and God is love and love is sex and sex is love and if love is good and God is good and sex is love than God is sex then sex is good is God." Unless you fall for Jim's Irish-English speech, you might not finish this book.

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July 1, 2013
Set in Dublin in the 1980s, The Fields is the story of young Jim Finnegan's coming-of-age. Benchmarks of his uneven progress include his serial sexual abuse at the hands of the local parish priest and his falling in love with a beautiful older girl, Saidhbh. A bit improbably (he's only 14; she's 17), she returns his affections and in short order becomes pregnant. The two go to London, planning an abortion. But will they follow through, and what will happen to them in the city? Maher's first novel features a wonderfully sympathetic protagonist and first-person narrator in Jim, while his familyhis parents and five older sistersare equally endearing. The voice and tone are spot on, but after a realistic treatment of the characters and a nicely realized setting, the book takes a very odd turn near the end when Jim discovers New Age thought and practices. Indeed, the ending almost seems to belong to another book but is redeemed by the boy's rapprochement with his family. Inconsistency aside, The Fields is an often humorous, always diverting exercise that is sure to charm readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2013

London-based Maher is stirring interest on both sides of the Atlantic with his first novel, which has drawn comparisons to Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha and Paul Murray's Skippy Dies. His protagonist, 14-year-old Jim Finnegan, falls for an older girl who's attracted the attentions of a local priest.

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Starred review from June 15, 2013

In 1984, Dubliner Jim Finnigan is 13 years old. The youngest child and only son in a family of eight, he has Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" playing on a loop in his head as he grapples with sex, familial dysfunction, and the predations of Father O'Culigeen, a parish priest obsessed with Hollywood actors Burt Reynolds and David Hasselhoff. Jim finds a stabilizing influence in Saidhbh Donohue, a stunning 17-year-old. Despite the age difference, they begin dating the day after Jim's 14th birthday. The neighborhood is scandalized, but Saidhbh grows more convinced that their bond is divinely directed. When she becomes pregnant, the couple flee to London where Jim tries to heal an increasingly fragile Saidhbh. Will he heal himself as well? VERDICT This first novel by journalist Maher signals a breakthrough voice in contemporary fiction, recalling Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and the works of Irish novelist Dermot Healy. Jim's voice conveys a rare lyricism that is terribly funny and cruelly sad; it transcends the book's infuriating conclusion and will remain with readers long after they finish reading. [See Prepub Alert, 2/4/13].--John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2013

In 1984, Dubliner Jim Finnigan is 13 years old. The youngest child and only son in a family of eight, he has Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" playing on a loop in his head as he grapples with sex, familial dysfunction, and the predations of Father O'Culigeen, a parish priest obsessed with Hollywood actors Burt Reynolds and David Hasselhoff. Jim finds a stabilizing influence in Saidhbh Donohue, a stunning 17-year-old. Despite the age difference, they begin dating the day after Jim's 14th birthday. The neighborhood is scandalized, but Saidhbh grows more convinced that their bond is divinely directed. When she becomes pregnant, the couple flee to London where Jim tries to heal an increasingly fragile Saidhbh. Will he heal himself as well? VERDICT This first novel by journalist Maher signals a breakthrough voice in contemporary fiction, recalling Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and the works of Irish novelist Dermot Healy. Jim's voice conveys a rare lyricism that is terribly funny and cruelly sad; it transcends the book's infuriating conclusion and will remain with readers long after they finish reading. [See Prepub Alert, 2/4/13].--John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.