By Kevin Maher
Reagan Arthur Books, $26.00, 400 pages
In The Fields, we are transported back to Dublin, Ireland in the 1980s and meet the Finnegan family, specifically, Jim or Jimbo, who is a 14 year old boy, just trying to find his place in his noisy house and the world at large. We not only meet Jim, but his five loving and caring sisters, who elbow each other at the dinner table and his parents. Throughout The Fields, Jim is faced with issues that most 14 years olds hopefully don’t face, including sexual abuse at the hands of the parish priest and dealing with consequences of an ill timed teen pregnancy and how Jim handles these situations in a different and some might say unusual way than most, including leaving Ireland to do so.
The writing does take awhile to get used to since it is written with Irish tones and might not make for the smoothest read, but I thought it makes the entire Finnegan family, easier to understand and relate to. I personally enjoyed getting to know the boisterous and endearing Finnegan family and I think that other readers will as well.
Reviewed by Annie Hicks
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