This novel follows a group of Irish teenagers over the course of a summer, drifting between parties, friendships, betrayals, and the awkward intensity of first relationships. It is written in a fragmented style, shifting across storylines in an attempt to capture the chaos of adolescence.

The book opens with a scene in the woods, where two teenagers are lying together. The girl is described as lying stiffly on her back, staring at the sky with an unreadable expression, while the boy is focused on his own desire. The description is graphic and unsettling, and for me it set the wrong tone from the start.

I cannot understand some of the hype this book has received. The fragmented narrative, coupled with its treatment of teenage experiences, left me cold. Clearly I am not the right demographic for this novel, and I found it disappointing rather than insightful and certainly not “darkly funny”

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Seventeen-year-old John Masterson has no idea what he wants. It’s his last summer on the small island where he has grown up and he should be enjoying the weeks until his exam results come through. Instead, he’s working mind-numbing shifts at the local hotel and trying to keep his head down after his mother’s nude sext to another man was leaked to the whole island.

As John joins the local senior football team, gets caught up in fights and parties, and embarks on a tentative relationship with his slightly older co-worker Amber that he feels both proud and ashamed of, he can almost pretend that this summer will last forever. But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stay or leave, to stand out or fit in, and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human.

Fun and Games is a darkly comic, beautifully crafted debut novel that is full of feeling both harsh and tender. It takes in social class and its firm borders, manhood and its frailties, family and, of course, love.

This was most definitely not fun and games to read. I slogged my way through this out of sheer determination. It's taken me months. I feel defensive almost in saying this does not hold a candle to Sally Rooney. Not even a match. I'm somewhat shocked she endorsed it because this was the driest book I've read in years. There is no plot, fair enough...but there are also no vibes...now wait. Currently, it feels the publishing industry is pushing out so much Irish lit, which is wonderful and beautiful. However, the caveat is that they're just franticly searching for someone to emulate what Rooney does and they just can't seem to find anyone who can garner that deep emotion in the mundane that is Sally's bread and butter. This was what constantly played in my mind while reading this book. Our main character John, is an unmemorable teenager who's having an unmemorable summer with unmemorable people. The relationship between John and Amber is so...malnourished, perhaps it's because there's so many underdeveloped plot lines. From the sports, to the familial drama, to the on/off relationship...none of these are really explored in enough detail for the reader to give a damn. Pages and pages of match day/training play by plays certainly did not help.

As a woman in my late twenties, Fun and Games was a real eye-opener, offering a glimpse into the mind of a modern-day male teen tormented by love, family, home and the weight of all possible futures. Brilliant, amusing and sometimes brutal, with a compelling voice that somehow kept me engaged even during the long football sequences! This is a really strong coming-of-age novel that takes you right back to those heady, uncertain summers of adolescence. Am I nostalgic or glad they're over? Impossible to say.

Hmmm I have conflicted opinions on this book unfortunately.
For me it was not quite a coming of age novel and more YA. The book takes place over one summer, 17 year old John has finished school and is awaiting exam results before University in the autumn. While the author captures the mind of a boy at this age quite brilliantly , I am not sure if I wanted to read the inner musings and toxic masculinity and so much GAA. So absolutely, that's on me , not the author. The writing is good, I enjoyed his style of writing but the football and the drinking and the way he thought about his girlfriend, not for me.
Well written YA but very much YA for me.
I would absolutely read more from this author particularly if he writes about older protagonists.

Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh is a coming-of-age novel following John, a 17-year-old enjoying the summer between final school exams and college on the west coast of Ireland. As he awaits his Leaving Cert results, his world revolves around Gaelic football, a girl at work, fights and parties.

I enjoyed Fun and Games. It really captures a particular moment in one's life and I found myself remembering what I was like when I was the same age as John. The book feels so so Irish and John felt like a real Irish teenager trying to work his life out. It was a bit too long and there are a lot of Gaelic football scenes but that also felt realistic for an Irish teenager, especially one who just made the senior team.

I would definitely recommend it. If you like coming-of-age stories and Irish fiction, then it is definitely worth a read.

Very realistic novel about a 17 year old living his teenage years on a small island in Ireland. Embarrassing parents, a new girlfriend, a job and most importantly the local football team fill his days while deciding his future.

John is 17 and lives on an island off the west coast of Ireland. It’s perhaps his last summer at home before college so while he’s waiting on exam results he joins the senior football team & picks up a few shifts at the local hotel. This is where he meets Amber, they start up a bit of a… something. Oh and also his mum’s nudes have (non-consensually!!!) spread around the island like wildfire.

I think this did a really good job of that feeling of being in between, especially at that age. Now for me there was too much football. I just don’t particularly get on with descriptive sporting scenes, a personal preference! But otherwise I enjoyed.

John Masterson is 17, living on what seems like Achill Island, and encountering many concrete challenges and achievements for the first time. And the fruition of most of them looms in the short term, as the danger of non-fulfilment or delay.

As well as being a superb book for all those who enjoy good writing, laced with humour,it’s one of the few literaryish novels that actual 17 year olds would actually enjoy.

His mother, reminiscent of Will’s mother in The Inbetweeners, is the kickoff cause of John’s problems due to a topless photo she sent but the novel branches out rapidly to create a whole community that is convincing. More readable than Sally Rooney, it should feature in many end-tpyear best-ofs.

There are lots of poetic images, too, and the dialogue is top class.

Highly recommended.

This book featured in the 2025 version of the influential and frequently literary-prize-prescient annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature.

The last two years have included Irish male writers, whose novels featuring young men navigating adulthood among trying family circumstances, both of which went on to win the Nero Book Award Debut Fiction Category (in its first two years): Colin Barrett’s Booker Longlisted “Wild Houses” and Michael Magee’s multiple prize nominated “Close to Home”.

And there is a strong link here – both authors are namechecked in the Acknowledgments (as is Waterstone’s Debut Award winning Ferdia Lennon) and this book too features a young man struggling to find himself in tricky family circumstances (in this case a separation and breach between his parents which was sealed when his mother sent a topless photo which went was passed around and which has given him an unfortunate nickname) – although in this case a younger man coming of age in his last year before college (1 year old John).

And perhaps the best known writer featured on the list is Sally Rooney – and the link here is even stronger, as Rooney’s second smash-hit novel “Normal People” starts its very brief acknowledgements thus: “Thanks, firstly, to John Patrick McHugh, who was with this novel long before I had finished writing it, and whose conversation and guidance contributed so substantially to its development.” – and the acknowledgments here make it clear that Sally Rooney returned the early reading: the two having been friends for years.

And it is surely no coincidence as an aside that a male character is named Rooney, and at least serendipity that Paul Mescal introduced the world to the rather Gaelic Football/GAA shorts for a book whose main character has three overriding pre-occupations: his nascent sex life (and in particular an on-off relationship with Amber an older girl who works at the same small hotel as him – their rather agonised dialogue and text messaging as both navigate their feelings for each other and the scrutiny of others on their relationships, as well as “blow by blow” accounts of their more physical interactions, are a major part of the book), his promotion to the GAA team for the fictional Mayo-County island Achill on which the novel is set and which is competing in the Mayo County Championship (a knock out tournament – the description of the various training sessions and in particular long accounts of some of their games is also a major part of the narrative) and social status among his school-leaver friends.

McHugh – already a published short story writer is obviously a talented writer – and I suspect captures well the life of a 17 year old boy but one caught in what I would call the formative stages of toxic masculinity and so not a life I could either relate to or have much interest in; and neither the humour or the GAA descriptions landed for me (not a sport that interests me and not one it seems suited for literary fiction – and I would say the same about real football – here soccer – which I love to watch but not to read about) – and overall this felt far too much of a young adult novel for my tastes.

But I think this is a novel which many others will enjoy

3,5
'Fun and Games' is set on a small Irish island during the summer before college starts. It’s about friendship, football, first love and sex, and all the insecurities that go with it. John is 17 years old. He's not a child anymore but clearly he's not an adult either. There are many books about growing up from a female point of view, but this is one from a male point of view, and I think it's pretty well done. I would have liked to have seen more ‘show’ instead of ‘tell’ though. A pretty good coming of age debut novel all the same.
Thanks you Fourth Estate and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

Very realistic novel about a 17 year old living his teenage years on a small island in Ireland. Embarrassing parents, a new girlfriend, a job and most importantly the local football team fill his days while deciding his future.

A dark but funny look at a certain way of growing up in Ireland. The messiness and bad decisions of your teenage years. The absolute necessity of your friends, who can also be your worst influences. Trying to navigate relationships and intimacy, all while making these enormous life choices. It's a tough stage of life and McHugh taps into it so perfectly here. John is frustrating at the best of times, hard to root for but very familiar. It made this a read that hit something nostaglic in me but I'm not sure I totally enjoyed it. Nevertheless it's an interesting new contribution from a fantastic writer.

Coming of age story for 17 year old John on the west coast of Ireland in 2009 as he waits to find out his exam results, works at the local hotel, deals with family, plays GAA, hangs out with mates and tries to get laid.
McHugh writes with an acutely aware sense of the awkwardness of the age - unsure of himself, his looks, unable to articulate what he really thinks or wants and inevitably putting it wrongly, and wanting his friends to both succeed and fail in a complex maelstrom of emotions. The female characters are well drawn - the mother humiliated after a sexted photo goes the equivalent of viral in the small town, the ‘sort of girlfriend’ amber who is slightly older and more worldly-wise and appears diffident and uncertain.

My main criticism is that the novel felt over-long and at times a bit repetitive- in theme if not action. I was definitely checking how far I’’d got a lot during the first half which I try to avoid doing, and whilst I got more immersed in the second half i still felt some trimming would have been beneficial

Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh is a sharply written, darkly comic debut that explores the turbulent coming-of-age of a teenage boy on the west coast of Ireland. Set during the limbo between school and adulthood, the book follows 17-year-old John Masterson as he navigates the fallout from his mother’s leaked nude sext, the pressures of small-town life, and his simmering frustrations with the world around him.

John’s summer is one of listlessness, spent working mind-numbing shifts at the local hotel, joining the senior football team, and getting caught up in fights, parties, and an uneasy relationship with Amber, his slightly older co-worker. He is a character both deeply believable and, at times, deeply frustrating. Immersed in a culture of toxic masculinity and social expectations, he seems determined to resist growth, swinging between apathy and anger as life happens to him rather than because of him.

McHugh’s writing is sharp, observant, and full of cutting humour, vividly capturing the claustrophobia of small-town Ireland. The book excels in its portrayal of the female characters—Amber, John’s sister Kay, and most notably his mother Yvonne, who carries herself with dignity despite the judgement and disrespect she faces. In contrast, the male characters, John included, often feel flat, which may be a deliberate reflection of the narrow, stifling culture they exist within, but it makes for a sometimes frustrating read.

John’s lack of self-awareness and his inability to take control of his own life may be realistic, but it makes him a difficult protagonist to root for. While some readers may find his portrayal an honest reflection of adolescent insecurity and small-town masculinity, others may struggle with his passive, often unlikeable nature.

Despite this, Fun and Games is an insightful and well-crafted novel that offers a raw look at the complexities of youth, class, masculinity, and the struggle for identity. Whether you connect with John or not, McHugh’s prose and a keen eye for social commentary make this a compelling read.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

This coming of age story is set on an island off the west coast of Ireland. John Masterson in 17 and at that great crossroads in life. It's his last summer at home before he embarks on the adventure of university. But he's got problems to deal with. His father has moved out of the house after discovering his mother had sent a nude picture to another man. This has earned John the unfortunate nickname of Tits, much to the hilarity of his friends. He's also in a situationship with an older co-worker called Amber and hugely confused about how to navigate it. And he's on the verge of breaking into the local football team, along with all of the pressure that goes with it. It's a turbulent time, no doubt - mistakes will be made and hearts will be broken, but John will come out the other side all the wiser.

I enjoyed John Patrick McHugh's collection of short stories, Pure Gold, so I was excited to read his first novel. And I thought it was fine. As a chronicle of Irish country life it certainly succeeds. A small community where everybody helps out but also knows your business, the prominence of the local GAA club, the general lack of things to do - I appreciated all of these rural attributes and more (I come from the back of beyond in County Galway myself). And I thought that it did a good job of the depicting that awkward journey into adulthood, including the general puzzlement and uncertainty that comes with it. But I'm afraid I didn't find John all that interesting a character, or any of the supporting cast if I'm honest. Maybe it's because I recognized all of these people so well, coming from a similar background - they don't hold any particular intrigue for me. I also felt like McHugh was retreading a lot of the same ground as his previous work. I would like to see him spread his wings and tackle something other than life on a small Irish island, as his talent is in no doubt.

John is a seventeen year old, who lives in a small village in the west of Ireland. His nickname is ‘Tits’, as his mum sexted someone and the picture went viral. As a result, his parents are separated. He’s in a loose relationship with Amber, a slightly older girl. John is still in love with his first girlfriend. The novel plays out over these events, his sister’s wedding and his games for the local Gaelic football team.

It’s a timeless tale, so let me tell you it’s set in 2009. Your shagging playlist on an MP3 is nine songs, an animation of an envelope being folded proves your text is sent. Its main theme however, is not nostalgia but how men relate to men and how they, in turn relate to women.

There’s plenty of teenage shagging between John and Amber - hot, sweaty and furtive. The main themes have been done before though, and as a result the action grows a little episodic. Plus, the relationship between John And Amber takes a turn in the last third and it doesn’t really seem credible and the novel ends on a question mark.

Viewed with modern eyes, however John can be seen as having ADHD and body dysmorphia. However, this is a dark, solipsistic read but lacks narrative pace.

It’s published by Harper Collins on April 24th and I thank them for a preview copy. #funandgames.

A gorgeous coming of age novel that is laced with nostalgia and emotion. Beautiful piece of Irish literature!!

I really enjoyed this, as someone who came of age at the same time it was supremely nostalgic and so a reminder of how excruciating it is being a teenager.
John was so relatable, even though I’m not a boy, nor Irish - but the experience is universal.
I loved the dialect and the insight into the lads and Gaelic football too.
So good on first love, lust, hormones and the sheer embedment of every thing you do at that age.
Will look out for more from this author.

Set in the summer of 2009, Fun and Games follows seventeen-year-old John and his footballing mates, all four determined to play for their club in the Championship. John spends much of his time consumed with social anxiety, second guessing his every move not least with Amber, his colleague at the hotel where he's working while waiting for the results of his exams, definitely not his girlfriend but they seem to secretly hook up more and more. John’s thoughts are fully taken up with himself – his prospects with the team and Amber, what his friends think of him, how horrible his body is in comparison with theirs – leaving little room for anyone else. As the summer wears on, he’s faced with a few home truths, even managing to grow up a little.
I wasn’t sure if I would stick with McHugh’s novel at first; there are some lengthy football passages, not something I’m at all interested in. That said, John’s character drew me in to this funny, poignant coming-of-age story which smartly nails late adolescence with all its excruciating discomforts, and the ending is a masterstroke.