Evenings and Weekends (2024) -Oisín McKenna
I feel like I’m missing something as to why this book is so well-loved
Content Warnings: Rape, homophobia, death, illness, suicidal thoughts
Representation: Gay, mlm, wlw, questioning
Favorite Quote: “She knew she’s found something good when she knew she couldn’t stand to lose it.”
Evenings and Weekends is a “quintessentially British” and quintessentially Millennial novel that regularly alternates between a large ensemble of characters. These characters make up an interconnected social web—connected through romantic, platonic, and familial ties—with the backdrop of London 2019 amidst a particularly hot summer where the news everyone is talking about is a whale stuck in the Thames. The main characters have their own news to share, however, as their lives fundamentally change over the course of this sweltering summer.
On the verge of a big move out of London, back to her rural hometown, Maggie struggles to share the news of this move, spurred on by her pregnancy, to her best friend Phil. Likewise, Phil has doubts about Maggie’s boyfriend Ed that he is unsure how to share with Maggie. All the while Phil is navigating a budding relationship with his roommate who is in an open relationship with his longtime boyfriend.
On top of these focal points, the novel also follows Phil’s mother, who has just been diagnosed with cancer, Ed’s mother, who is grieving the loss of her husband, Phil’s brother Callum, a drug dealer set to be married before the end of the summer, and a marine biologist covering the story of the stuck whale in the Thames and gaining fame from her uncanny resemblance to the late Princess Diana.
These alternating perspectives present readers with the challenge of keeping track of who is who. Midway through the novel I felt I had gained a grasp on the many characters’ stories and their relation to one another, but by then I had spent half the novel piecing these storylines together and had only a surface level sense of any particular character. This dilemma was not resolved by the end of my reading experience as I hoped.
Though I can appreciate a slice-of-life story that doesn’t dwell too much on every detail being extremely impactful, this book took its non-commitment to a plot to a point where I was questioning why I was following these characters. None were developed enough for a reader to become invested in their lives and the most of the plotlines’ resolutions were exactly what they had clearly been leading up to for the entire book.