Close to Home: Winner of the Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction 2023

What a book. Read it in 24 hours. Couldn’t put it down! It’s a beautiful story, deftly written, heartfelt and shocking with characters you love/hate and root for all the same.

A personal journey of discovery, acceptance, and rejection tied up in a post-Belfast Agreement world where characters, communities, and a city come to terms with the past, present, and fear of the new. A novel with heart, passion, and a joy to read.

I so much wanted to like this book as I recognise the near absence of the young male northern Irish voice in contemporary literature. It's good in parts, but the characters are not sufficiently developed given the near absence of plot. I'm afraid I couldn't reconcile the first two chapters of gratuitous violence and substance consumption with their reminiscences of the main characters' halcion days reading English lit at Queens and Liverpool.I agree with Patrick Gale - keep an eye on Magee as I'm sure there's better to come.

I loved this book, I didn't want it to end. I wanted to read it for the rest of Seans life. Its so well written and I can't wait to hear what the author has next for us

A read that packs a punch from the off (quite literally) and continues in its gritty Belfast imagery and way of life.This doesn't shy away from harsh realities and focuses on identity, labels, belonging and rejection in different guises.A powerful debut, and I'll be interested to see what this author achieves next. Some vivid descriptions, and no speech marks kept me on my toes.

Did not want this book to end… everything about this novel felt real. Loved it, will wait impatiently on the follow up.

I loved this book. When I wasn't reading it I was thinking about what was going to happen next. Although nothing much happens, everything happens. It's a fantastic novel.

Started with some promise but ended up stalling. Plotless and many of the characters not fully realised. The main character Seán doesn’t feel authentic, lurching between drug and drink benders/criminality and reading the Unbearable Lightness of Being in coffee shops. Readable for the most part but falls short on character realisation. Disappointing

Read in one sitting.

An honest and moving portrayal of a young man's working-class life in Northern Ireland. There is a real tenderness to the main character who struggles to escape his life of economic limitation and to find a sense of fulfilment. I thought I would not like this book because it opens with a scene of young hooligans getting drunk and taking drugs, but very soon, one gets to see the kinds of social conditions that fuel this behaviour, together with the peer group pressures that keep pulling back those who want to move towards something more hopeful. A very beautiful book of raw honesty.

A friend of mine recommended this book without realizing just what a trip he would send me on. I grew up on the Black Mountain, know all of the places Michael talks about, intimately and was one of those wee girls from St. Louise's.This book is wonderfully written, honest and authentic, I laughed and I cried while reading it.This could not have been an easy book to write to convey the story without opening yourself up to the criticism of not knowing what you were talking about. It is clear that you do - from someone who knows.Thanks for the journey Michael.

Very good bookGreat description of life in Belfast for the youthGreat to see the different ways people can interpret a situationCan’t wait to read his next book

It's a good book. An interesting lead character trying to make a go in tough circumstances. I sure do like a book when quotes are in quotes. And the cover art on this book is very unpleasant. Why?