Fun and Games, John Patrick McHugh
A coming of age story to be added straight to your bookshelves, John Patrick McHugh’s Fun and Games follows seventeen year old John Masterson as he teeters of the brink of saying goodbye to a childhood that’s existed on the west coast of Ireland, the one place he’s known. It’s the last summer of school, and he’s surrounded by big decisions wherever he goes, whether on the football pitch, at school, or at work, where he’s entered into a relationship with his slightly older co-worker, Amber. He can avoid the future wherever possible, but the summer won’t last forever, and things will have to come to a head eventually – for him and everyone around him.
This is a book that’s received a lot of buzz, complete with a quote from Sally Rooney – and for good reason. Throughout his writing, McHugh perfectly encapsulates the uncertainty of adolescence and the pain and pleasure of the unknowingness that comes with it. Laced with nostalgia and emotion, the transience and intensity of youth is laid bare to incredible effect.
One particularly powerful aspect of the novel, aside from a masterfully depicted experience of this particular time of life, is McHugh’s writing on male friendship. John’s relationship to his school friends was a pleasure to explore; tinged with aggression, bravado, and tenderness all at once, the result is an important exploration of masculinity and vulnerability on the cusp of adulthood that feels raw to the touch.
Despite wanting to shake our narrator at times, this is an authentic, poignant debut novel that will transport you straight back to the precariousness of being seventeen; I for one can’t wait to read more of McHugh’s work.
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