Second time around for The Weekend; I first read it when it was released in 2019. I hated it.
Because I loved Adele, Jude, Wendy and Finn the dog as if they were real people – my friends – and Charlotte Wood was being mean to them by exposing their ageing bodies and their many frailties to the world. It was, I thought, a very cruel book.
(Silly, yes, I know, since Charlotte Wood invented Adele, Jude, Wendy and the poor, old, befuddled and dying Finn but it shows how passionately engaged I was and, though I didn’t realise this at the time, what a good writer Wood is).
The Weekend was this month’s book group novel and – guess what? – this time I loved it. No reservations, I really did. What a turnaround. A pity, therefore, that out of nine members, only two of us did. One thoughtfully appreciated it. The rest thought it was boring, frustrating, pointless or just not their cup of tea. Which just shows, once again, the variety of responses a group of keen and intelligent readers will bring to the same book.
The story, or rather the set-up, is simple. A group of old friends meet at a beach house somewhere on the NSW coast. They’re in their 70’s. Elegant Jude, once a successful restauranteur, long term mistress of a wealthy married man. A control freak. Wendy, a famous writer and academic and owner of Finn. Widowed. Scattered, exasperating, brilliantly original. And Adele, once famous as well, an actress now unable to find work. Her lover has just kicked her out, she’s on the pension and fears poverty and homelessness. But she’s still a dramatic, passionate, sensual presence. Their friend, Sylvie, owner of the beach house, was the linch-pin of the group. Now she’s gone and they are clearing out the place where they gathered so many times in the past.
The activities of the weekend – inspecting, sorting and disposing of the house contents, cleaning, preparing food, eating out, inviting theatrical acquaintances for drinks, going to the beach – provide the canvas for a rich exploration of their long friendship, the trajectories their lives have taken, the choices and the consequences. The challenges of ageing are front and centre, yes, but this time I am 5 years older and what I thought of as cruelty now seems like clear-eyed observation and even a kind of compassion. The women are flawed, yes. They’ve got old bodies and (almost) full biographies, but they’ve got some miles in them yet. They may still surprise themselves.
I also loved Wood’s most recent book, Stone Yard Devotional, and I have my fingers crossed for her success in the Booker Prize.
I strongly disliked The Natural Way of Things and I haven’t read any Charlotte Wood since. I was tempted by Stone Yard Devotional but I couldn’t face the mice plague. Maybe I should give The Weekend a go!
Oh, I don’t know Kate. There are so many books to read, so many authors. I wouldn’t say I liked The Natural Way of Things, but I did find it really compelling. I would never have re-read this book if it were not for the Book Group!
I am actually on the hunt for ‘forgotten’ children’s writers of the 60s and 70s at present, scouring the Oppy shelves for likely candidates. Nice, slim volumes!
Ooh, my favourite genre. Fight you for them!
Oh, that’s interesting that you liked this book more on the second read. I very much disliked it on my first and only read, because the characters were so immensely privileged and annoying. I keep looking at her other books and feeling I ought to read one, but it always feels as though it would be a chore rather than a joy, and as you say, there are plenty of other books to read.
I went to a talk the author gave while she was working on this book (https://michellecooper-writer.com/blog/2017/06/curious-science-can-writers-prevent-disease/ ), which was interesting. She was writer-in-residence at a medical research centre and she talked about how conversations with the researchers there inspired some of the characters, including the poor demented dog.