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Field of Periphery
Field of Periphery is about an accomplished journalist living in fear of his own irrelevance. His latest escape involves writing a more extensive story, a book, on a fallen sports star – an athlete, not unlike himself in his youth, who had a promising career until a random tragedy stripped it all away. The journalist turned author discovers the book’s success is also fleeting and soon he is struggling with his own cycle of rise and fall, leaving him in fear of his own humanity.
298 pages, ebook
First published September 25, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 10, 2015
The effect of modern journalism on people's lives is an interesting subject. The relationship is indirect in that while the journalist cannot be an objective observer, neither is the reader an objective reader. News passes through at least two prisms of preconceptions, prejudice, and the like before being assimilated, discussed, and judged. With the advent of mass communication, the impact of news once it passes beneath society's microscope can be devastating to the people involved in the news event, innocent bystanders, and news reporters. This, coupled with pressure to increase readership, makes every newsworthy event into a powder keg of explosive possibilities. This novel delivered an insightful journey through one such event, with a concentration on other human issues such as ambition, choices, and self-awareness.
My reading experience would have been improved by less exposition during the first quarter to half of the novel. Sometimes jumping into the fray is necessary, otherwise, all the background information seems extraneous. For example, the in depth description of Martin's bar buddies turned out to have little bearing on the story. Other descriptions and explanations were reiterated too often, in my opinion. There are minor editing issues, but none that detracted.
In all, a good read from an author who does his research and considers his story from multiple angles.
November 17, 2015
This is the kind of story you reach for when you’ve got a good, warm, cup of tea by your bed. Some books fly by, before you know it you’ve reached the end and you’re begging for more. But this book wasn’t like that. Don’t get me wrong, it was good it just had A LOT of buildup.
The story centers on protagonist McCullough, a journalist who’s pretty much lost his passion. I think that’s something every person can relate to, especially authors. In the midst of his dull moment in life, McCullough decides to write a story like none he’s ever written before. This story is about a fallen athlete which we learn, as the story progresses, is actually closer to his own story.
There’s a lot of description and character development in this book. Every detail is laid out bare and there’s little left to the imagination but those aren’t complaints. I don’t mind a little extra detail in books, but the way it was written made everything drag. I wasn’t bored, I didn’t dislike it, I just noticed that it took me a much longer time to read this book than I thought it would.
There aren’t any edge-of-your-seat moments but you do get a lot of emotion as we watch a man kind of struggle to find himself even though he’s not one of those young, ‘free-spirited’ college kids. That’s what really came through in the story; the development and growth of McCullough was VERY well played out and expertly written. Caulfield is a genius at characterization which is sometimes all you need. If your readers love your characters as much as you do then your book is a success.
The last thing I enjoyed about the story was the information given about the journalist realm. I don’t know much about it but my eyes were certainly opened. It was smart of Caulfield to adopt such an open form of writing on this topic. He easily addressed topics that could get touchy quickly. Things like our perception of the world around us, the deception of the media, and self-discovery.
I enjoyed this book very much and I would recommend it to young adults and adult audiences as well. It’s a good, clean story with great characters and a strong message.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
The story centers on protagonist McCullough, a journalist who’s pretty much lost his passion. I think that’s something every person can relate to, especially authors. In the midst of his dull moment in life, McCullough decides to write a story like none he’s ever written before. This story is about a fallen athlete which we learn, as the story progresses, is actually closer to his own story.
There’s a lot of description and character development in this book. Every detail is laid out bare and there’s little left to the imagination but those aren’t complaints. I don’t mind a little extra detail in books, but the way it was written made everything drag. I wasn’t bored, I didn’t dislike it, I just noticed that it took me a much longer time to read this book than I thought it would.
There aren’t any edge-of-your-seat moments but you do get a lot of emotion as we watch a man kind of struggle to find himself even though he’s not one of those young, ‘free-spirited’ college kids. That’s what really came through in the story; the development and growth of McCullough was VERY well played out and expertly written. Caulfield is a genius at characterization which is sometimes all you need. If your readers love your characters as much as you do then your book is a success.
The last thing I enjoyed about the story was the information given about the journalist realm. I don’t know much about it but my eyes were certainly opened. It was smart of Caulfield to adopt such an open form of writing on this topic. He easily addressed topics that could get touchy quickly. Things like our perception of the world around us, the deception of the media, and self-discovery.
I enjoyed this book very much and I would recommend it to young adults and adult audiences as well. It’s a good, clean story with great characters and a strong message.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
October 10, 2015
Field of Periphery is more of a human-interest story than it is an action-packed novel, although toward the end the action ramps up a bit. As such, it has long sections where the author summarizes events or goes into detail about various issues. In particular, the book has interesting insights into both the magazine publishing and book publishing worlds--perhaps geared more toward other authors than toward the average reader.
The story follows Martin McCullough in his newspaper reporting/writing career. Dissatisfied with the doing the same types of stories time and again, he decides to write a novel about a fallen sports star. Subconsciously, he is doing this because that is his story, having never made it to the pros himself. Although he comes to learn that writing for a newspaper and writing a non-fiction story are vastly different, he still applies his newspaper-writing techniques to his novel. This has unforeseen consequence that disrupt the town where his "fallen star" lives. And then the effect ripples out to capture Martin in its wake as well. The following quote tells about this:
"People enter this business believing the news and events out here drive newspapers. They learn quickly that they have to drive the news, even if that means creating stories where none exist."
What I liked most about the story was its foray into not only the decay of human life, but also that of rural America with the decline of various industries. The two themes ran parallel in both this novel and the story that the main character, Martin, sets out to write. A quote from the author describes this well:
"This was Sunville’s ground zero he concluded, the starting point where desolation erupted like a volcano when the mill closed a decade earlier, wiping out opportunity and hope throughout the village below."
What I liked least about the story was it contained a lot of backstory at the beginning, which slowed it down. Much of this could have been incorporated into the story where Martin was researching his characters, and parallels would have been better seen.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It has nice descriptions of places and people. It discussed the lengths of deception people will go to in order to sell a product. The "periphery" part of the story directly refers to the "fallen star," it can also relate to Martin. He sees all the things in the periphery of his subject's life, not necessarily facts, but opinions of others, and incorporates them into the story he wanted to tell.
The story follows Martin McCullough in his newspaper reporting/writing career. Dissatisfied with the doing the same types of stories time and again, he decides to write a novel about a fallen sports star. Subconsciously, he is doing this because that is his story, having never made it to the pros himself. Although he comes to learn that writing for a newspaper and writing a non-fiction story are vastly different, he still applies his newspaper-writing techniques to his novel. This has unforeseen consequence that disrupt the town where his "fallen star" lives. And then the effect ripples out to capture Martin in its wake as well. The following quote tells about this:
"People enter this business believing the news and events out here drive newspapers. They learn quickly that they have to drive the news, even if that means creating stories where none exist."
What I liked most about the story was its foray into not only the decay of human life, but also that of rural America with the decline of various industries. The two themes ran parallel in both this novel and the story that the main character, Martin, sets out to write. A quote from the author describes this well:
"This was Sunville’s ground zero he concluded, the starting point where desolation erupted like a volcano when the mill closed a decade earlier, wiping out opportunity and hope throughout the village below."
What I liked least about the story was it contained a lot of backstory at the beginning, which slowed it down. Much of this could have been incorporated into the story where Martin was researching his characters, and parallels would have been better seen.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It has nice descriptions of places and people. It discussed the lengths of deception people will go to in order to sell a product. The "periphery" part of the story directly refers to the "fallen star," it can also relate to Martin. He sees all the things in the periphery of his subject's life, not necessarily facts, but opinions of others, and incorporates them into the story he wanted to tell.
December 14, 2015
I don’t generally read books like ‘Fields of Periphery’, but I found myself flicking through the pages quicker than I realised. The story itself had a gradual build up. It starts with Martin McCullough arguing about the wording of a story at the beginning of the book, but then it takes a whole different angle. Martin ends up writing an article on a fallen sports star.
I found the author’s handling of the situations that arose and the overall character development to be very well done. I particularly liked the interactions with Martin’s fellow reporters in Becker’s bar. It looked like Martin’s career was going nowhere in some places, but then he started to find a bit of passion for writing again.
This book is very well written, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes stories about the cut throat world of journalism.
*I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
I found the author’s handling of the situations that arose and the overall character development to be very well done. I particularly liked the interactions with Martin’s fellow reporters in Becker’s bar. It looked like Martin’s career was going nowhere in some places, but then he started to find a bit of passion for writing again.
This book is very well written, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes stories about the cut throat world of journalism.
*I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
December 8, 2015
I really dug this book! Living in southeastern PA, the setting played a big role. My wife's family is from rural PA and the town and details rang true to me. The journalistic details and angle also were fascinating. I really like Neil Hankins and wanted the best for him. Martin the main character was also very interesting, though not nearly as likable. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good read with well thought out characters and story. Great job, Fran!
December 8, 2015
Martin McCullough is a journalist who feels his life has been traveling down the same rut for far too long. Caulfield has done an excellent job in developing McCullough and in making us feel his near desperation brought about by what can only be described as a dull existence. Without jumping into the plots and twists of the story, McCullough ends up finding his own path through writing a novel that unknowingly really turns out to be about someone he knows quite well.
One of the things I always hope to find when reading fiction is some true insights into areas that I find interesting. I found it here. Caulfield has structured some vignettes that tell some of the ins-and-outs of the newspaper business and the fact that it’s really the papers that drive the news rather than the readers.
I loved the character development, the vast descriptions of people, places and events and as the story progressed there were times when I could take a breather and simply enjoy the writing. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is more dialogue. I think there were places where the characters could have described the events better than descriptive narratives. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story and I would love to read more from this author.
One of the things I always hope to find when reading fiction is some true insights into areas that I find interesting. I found it here. Caulfield has structured some vignettes that tell some of the ins-and-outs of the newspaper business and the fact that it’s really the papers that drive the news rather than the readers.
I loved the character development, the vast descriptions of people, places and events and as the story progressed there were times when I could take a breather and simply enjoy the writing. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is more dialogue. I think there were places where the characters could have described the events better than descriptive narratives. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story and I would love to read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews