The Field (ACHUKAbooks) [Format Kindle]

If you're looking for a quick and easy read, then this is the book for you.

It follows Jacinta Grogan who claims to have seen an apparition of Mary, Our Lady. The books follows the ensuing publicity as the story progresses to the 23 July, a date set by Mary as the next time she would appear to Jacinta.

This book left me a bit confused; it's well written (aside from the odd typo / spelling errors which can be edited out of future versions) but I'm not sure what I really made of it.

I don't think the book went to any real depths, but then again did it need to? I'm not sure.

I did like the way the book was split up into section, and section two being quite interesting in terms of looking at press cuttings etc.

There's probably a more in depth story in here somewhere that Nagelkerke could pursue.

I think in all, this book left me wanting more; but with a slightly disappointed feeling that this `more' wasn't explored in the book.

That said, it's a quick and easy read that I got through in about 40 minutes.

Sarah Burns ~ on behalf of The Kindle Book Review

The child dismissed by adults as having an 'over-active imagination' is something of a literary commonplace. What makes 'The Field' different is not only the nature of the child's supposed 'imaginings' (in this case Marian apparitions), but the setting, both in terms of the time (very much the 21st century) and the place, the full poignancy of which doesn't hit until the final pages.
It would be all too easy to look at the cover of this book and reject it as sentimental Catholic schmaltz. Which would be a great shame, as the book is anything but. The theme has very obvious Catholic underpinnings - a 12 year-old girl in Christchurch, New Zealand, believes that Our Lady has been talking directly to her through a TV screen - but the religious element is only one layer in a complex weave of ideas. So while on one level the book is an exploration of the tension between the world of childhood and adulthood, on another it is about the broadcasting and distortion of voices - particularly that of a child, and thus someone particularly vulnerable to media manipulation - in the age of Facebook and school Wiki pages. And then again it is a book about change - the father of the protagonist, Jacinta, is about to lose his job as the sports ground he has worked in all his life is about to be replaced by a shiny new stadium. Then there is the tension between organised religion, represented here in the figure of the Bishop (whose authority effectively silences the views of a much younger and more junior priest) and the more spontaneous religiosity of the ordinary people. Most of all though, the book is perhaps about daring to hope, about the need, almost, to cling somewhat naively to a hope that might be vain, but which might just turn out to be real. It possibly helps if you come to the book with some kind of religious background and knowledge of historical claims of Marian visions (or have read Michele Roberts' excellent 'Daughters of the House', although that is more of an adult's book), but it is not essential. And it is certainly not just for Catholics.
While the opening pages are marred in places by some slightly stilted prose, the book soon picks up pace, and Nagelkerke soon shows that he can write, and well. It is very much a 'join-the-dots' kind of book, in that its length, inevitably, leaves the reader filling in lots of background. Is this a problem? Perhaps. A much longer book could certainly have been made very effectively from the same material, and there are plenty of ideas there that are bursting to be further explored. But then again, perhaps the author intended the reader to do much of the work. Maybe we are too used to being spoon-fed information in brick-like novels, and it does us good, sometimes, to step back a bit and actually think for ourselves.
The blurb perhaps doesn't do the book justice. Although it has been lifted directly from the book, the juxtaposition of the visions of Our Lady and the 'snigger factor' of a child wetting themselves, which works perfectly in context, leaves the tone of the book something of a mystery until you actually pick up and read it. Nor is it immediately clear who the book's intended target audience is, although I imagine it is probably children in their early to mid teens.
But do pick up and read it. I was very nearly in tears by the end, and that's a compliment.

Jacinta's father works as the groundsman for the local sports stadium, which they've nick-named The Field. While he tends to the needs of the stadium, Jacinta looks down on the world from the Crow's Nest, the corporate box used by the big-wigs to get the best view of the games at the stadium. The Crow's Nest is one of her favourite places in the world and she often pretends that she commands the players and places them where she wants them to go. She may not have her special place for much longer if the City Council gets its way and knocks down The Field to replace it with a carpark for the new stadium. It is while she is in the Crow's Nest one day that Mother Mary appears to her in the television. Jacinta doesn't know if she is going crazy and seeing things or whether her vision is real, but when Mary appears again the next day there is no doubt. Mary wants Jacinta to gather as many people as she can at The Field so that she can pass on a message. The only problem is trying to get her family and the rest of her town to believe her.

The Field is a refreshingly original story from one of Christchurch's own children's authors, Bill Nagelkerke. The story had a real `Kiwi' feel about it, from the setting (which could be just about any city in New Zealand) to the characters. Don't be put off by the religious aspect to the story because I think you'd enjoy it whether or not you have any religious affiliation. I found Jacinta easy to relate to as she was just a normal kid, and I found myself wondering what I would have done if I'd been in her situation. In a way she's a modern day Joan of Arc, who has to convince her parents, the priests and the other people in her city that she actually is communicating with Mother Mary and that they should listen to her message. One thing that I particularly liked about the story was that the second part was told using different forms of media, including newspaper articles, letters to the editor and City Council meeting minutes. This added different opinions to the story that we didn't get in the first part. The ending leaves you wondering whether people do turn up to hear her message and what that message might have been. Like the other people in the story, we have to make up our own mind.