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A review by ashmagoffin
Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
What a spectacular debut. Evening and Weekends captures the magic of London during summer. There is a unique kind of chaos that takes the whole city by storm and this book is the closest you can be besides experiencing it for yourself. Set directly before Covid, the narrative follows a web of interconnected characters all at a crossroads, some carrying around shame, others managing the fallout of self-repression or a decision to leave.
On a basic level Evenings and Weekends is about the messiness of humans and our modern relationships. Our inability to communicate with each other and feeling alone in a sea of people. Oisín McKenna has touched on political ideas such as Brexit (how can we escape it in the summer of 2019?), the negative impact of Ireland's conservative views and simply the grim future of ordinary souls in London. A city that is crushed by the weight of its own inhabitants.
McKenna has written these characters with a clear humorous tone. We follow multiple perspectives which all have distinct individual voices. The pace of the narrative did slow down as the book progressed, as did the optimism. Even when the mood darkened and the subject matter grew bleak, this novel was compulsively readable.
A plot that continued to surprise me until the last page, I feel like utter shit but in the best way possible.
On a basic level Evenings and Weekends is about the messiness of humans and our modern relationships. Our inability to communicate with each other and feeling alone in a sea of people. Oisín McKenna has touched on political ideas such as Brexit (how can we escape it in the summer of 2019?), the negative impact of Ireland's conservative views and simply the grim future of ordinary souls in London. A city that is crushed by the weight of its own inhabitants.
McKenna has written these characters with a clear humorous tone. We follow multiple perspectives which all have distinct individual voices. The pace of the narrative did slow down as the book progressed, as did the optimism. Even when the mood darkened and the subject matter grew bleak, this novel was compulsively readable.
A plot that continued to surprise me until the last page, I feel like utter shit but in the best way possible.