So far life has been good to 13 year old Jim Finnegan, growing up outside Dublin amidst his large family in a close-knit community. However, it is the 1980s and the catholic church's grip on live is all pervading. It's not easy for a growing teen and his blossoming sexuality to toe the line and as a creepy priest takes an interest, Jim's life is soon turned upside down and starts to spiral out of control. This book is very funny although the subject matter is hardly a hoot and at times quite horrendous, but the fresh and lively narrative voice manages to carry the story with lots of humour and verve and makes it a pleasure to read.

This is a great first novel from a really promising new author. The charming and endearing main character Jim Finnegan is what makes this novel so engrossing. I found myself eager to get back to his story and loved his voice whether describing his everyday antics at school and home or the darker moments of his life. The Fields starts out in a very light hearted tone but later moves on to darker issues and though in some books this can be jarring I found that Kevin Maher managed to make the good flow into the bad without changing the tone. This has been one of my favourite novels so far this year and is a brilliant addition to the 2013 Waterstones 11 list.

Having been sent quite a few books over the Christmas period to review, most of which I did not enjoy and some unreadable, I embarked on this book with some trepidation as initially the style of language took a bit of getting used to. However, from the first page I loved it and couldn't put it down and, although its subject matter is dark and won't be to everyone's taste, I would highly recommend it. As an Atheist, who believes religion is just a man made institution set up to control the masses, I found I could still sympathise entirely with the lead character, a young Irish Catholic boy, whose family life was totally dominated by its relationship to the church in Ireland a few decades ago. With teenage angst, he bounces from one tragedy to the next but always with hope in his heart. Through bullying, beatings, paedophilia, first love, first sex. first job, death. You name it; the world seems to throw everything at him. The ending was a complete surprise and I'm not entirely sure I understood I,t but it did go some way to explain some of the weirdness that went on. Definitely a new author to be watched.

This is both very funny and yet very dark. It explores some very difficult and complex issues surrounding sexuality, the transition into adulthood, abuse, and pregnancy facing the (mainly Catholic, mainly Irish) characters. These issues are handled in a very mature manner, and yet the narrator remains believably a teen-aged boy. The ending is a little weak in light of the strength of the earlier writing, and yet not so weak as to distract from the overall quality of the book. Be warned some aspects of this book may shock you.

The story is of a teenage boy growing up in 80's Dublin with dire consequences when his mother forces him to be an altar boy and the randy Father takes a fancy to him. Very readable despite the subject matter and the crazy pregnant girlfriend is spot on. The ending is rather strange and I was left wondering what had happened. Good story though and I would recommend it to friends.