You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here
You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here is the debut novel by Francis Macken, a writer from Claremorris, Co. Mayo. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and has written several short stories. When writing about a book I think it is helpful to include the blurb as this is what folks might first read if they picked up this book in a bookshop. We are told of You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here:
Katie, Maeve, and Evelyn - friends forever, united by their childhood games and their dreams of escaping the tiny Irish town of Glenbruff.
Outspoken, unpredictable, and intoxicating, Evelyn is the undisputed leader of the trio. That is, until the beautiful, bold Pamela Cooney arrives from Dublin and changes Glenbruff forever...
Told from Katie's witty, quirky perspective, Frances Macken's debut beautifully captures life in a small town and the power of yearning for something bigger. Filled with unforgettable characters and crackling dialogue, You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here takes a keen-eyed look at the complexities of female friendship, the corrosive power of jealousy and guilt, and the way that life can quietly erode our dreams unless we're willing to fight for them.
This story follows Katie as she moves from her hometown of Glenbruff to Dublin and back again. Katie and her friends are close growing up but Evelyn holds something special for Katie. Evelyn is moody and brooding and has a confidence that Katie aspires to, even when Evelyn is cruel to others and takes joy in making her status as Queen Bee well known. Katie is reluctantly friends with Maeve, Evelyn’s less-fortunate cousin who has all the awkward earnestness of a girl trying to belong. We also meet Paeder and Aiden, two brothers, with Aiden becoming Katie’s first crush. When Pamela Cooney arrives in Glenbruff from the big city, she quickly catches Aiden’s eye and brings mystery and intrigue to the town.
This book takes a refreshing look at childhood friendships and has some wonderful dialogue between the main characters that brought me back to the petty dramas and slights of girlhood. When we are young we can feel that our friends in childhood will be our friends forever. There are loads of lovely stories out there about lifelong friends, but there aren’t many that address the feeling of outgrowing your childhood friends, which Macken does well. It can be a really disorienting experience to see that sometimes friendships are built on geographic closeness and lack of options rather than from a deep bond. Katie feels an alliance with Evelyn even when she sees proof that she and Evelyn have grown apart and that Evelyn might not be as invested in their friendship as Katie assumes.
I really enjoyed seeing the honesty of Katie’s bumpy journey into adulthood and eventual retreat back to Glenbruff. Katie decides to become a filmmaker after being given a camera by Evelyn, and sets out determined to make something of herself in Dublin. We see her struggle to find a job and then surviving the job she does find. Eventually, it is all too much and the money is too little so Katie comes home. This is something that so many people experience today that it is the new normal. Despite it being so common, it can still feel shitty to have to take a step backward. Recalibrating her path in life shakes how Katie understands the world and herself and the people around her. The writing in these moments is sharp and relatable. Katie is learning to be the main character in the story of her life and I loved all the growing pains we saw her go through, which added so much texture to the story. The writing is humorous and triumphant without being cheesy.
I would classify this book as a ‘coming of age’ story about the messiness of becoming an adult under contemporary capitalism. Stories about teenagers who want to escape their small towns are common, but Macken gives this a realistic touch in showing that most of the time it isn’t a smooth transition. Through Katie, Macken shows us that there is no expiration date on chasing down a dream.
For More Information:
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0508/1137257-you-have-to-make-your-own-fun-around-here-macken/
https://www.writing.ie/interviews/you-have-to-make-your-own-fun-around-here-by-frances-macken/