The weekend
(Book)

Wendy, Adele, Jude, and Sylvie's unlikely friendship began when they were in their thirties. Now, fifty years later, Sylvie has died, which brings the other three women back together over the Christmas holiday to sort through Sylvie's beachside home. Widowed Wendy brings her elderly dog, Finn, along for the ride--they are dependent on each other, and Wendy sees herself reflected in his deteriorating body. Adele's longtime partner has left her and her stage career has evaporated, leaving her feeling vulnerable and adrift, while persnickety Jude's cold, imperious demeanor hides a deep longing for comfort and order. The house is a mess, and the women seem to be coming together out of habit more than friendship, and petty bickering and personality conflicts abound. When a long-held secret is revealed during a night of drunken revelry, the precarious friendship is further endangered. Third-person narration gives the reader equal time inside each character's head, exposing their insecurities and vulnerabilities. Each woman is both endearing and exasperating--there are no heroes or villains, only ordinary, flawed people. This insightful character study will appeal to fans of Sue Miller and Anne Tyler.

In Wood's sharp sixth novel (after The Natural Way of Things), three septuagenarian Aussie women gather to help settle the affairs of their dead friend, Sylvie. Jude, a cold-blooded restaurateur and for decades the mistress of a married man, takes charge of the friends' task of clearing out Sylvie's beach house, which is perched on a perilous cliff. Wendy, a bedraggled feminist academic still mourning the death of her husband, arrives with her decrepit dog, Finn, whose ailments mirror the women's own. Late, as usual, comes Adele, a once-celebrated actor who hasn't had a gig in some time. Together, the old friends begin sorting through Sylvie's things. Inevitably, in the process of clearing and discarding, the women unearth old irritations and a devastating secret, causing them to question how they'd ever become friends in the first place. Wood explores myriad possibilities of success, failure, philosophy, psychic ailments, and forms of melancholy that a 70-something woman might experience. While the qualities seem to be assigned almost at random to her characters, somewhat diminishing their effect (Wood likens Wendy to Sontag even though she dresses like "a witless old hippie"), the women are mostly recognizable nonetheless, and painfully relatable. Baby boomers and Wood's fans will best appreciate this astringent story. (Aug.)

Three elderly female friends reunite to clear out the home of a fourth, who recently died, in a short meditation on relationship bonds and the wisdom--and other traits--accumulated over a lifetime. Largely observing the classical unities of time, place, and action, Wood's new novel plays out like a small theatrical drama, a chamber piece in which the three characters, both individually and as a group, confront the limits of their friendship. The time is Christmas, the place is Sylvie's appealing but decaying seaside home in Bittoes, not far from Sydney, and the action spans the weekend during which Jude, Wendy, and Adele, friends for 40 years, meet to empty the place of Sylvie's belongings. Fastidious, waspish Jude approaches the task efficiently; blowsy actress Adele ("so short and so bosomy") responds chaotically; and widowed academic Wendy, accompanied by her decrepit dog, Finn, does what she can. Rigid and preoccupied, Jude is awaiting the arrival of her rich long-term lover, Daniel; artistically impoverished Adele is probably homeless now that her latest relationship seems to be ending; while Wendy is fending off the obvious need to have Finn put to sleep. Wood consistently compartmentalizes, and limits, the women--the thin one, the fat one, the pert one; the clever one, the artsy one, the bossy one--while unraveling their separate and overlapping pasts. The present is largely static until a big bang of a finale is set in motion. The novel displays wit, insight, and some astute social commentary, especially on the topic of age, but offers little in the way of engagement or surprises. Meanwhile poor, mangy Finn haunts the proceedings, an ever present specter of decline and mortality. A neatly observed, tightly circumscribed journey into predictable territory. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Wendy, Adele, Jude, and Sylvie's unlikely friendship began when they were in their thirties. Now, fifty years later, Sylvie has died, which brings the other three women back together over the Christmas holiday to sort through Sylvie's beachside home. Widowed Wendy brings her elderly dog, Finn, along for the ride—they are dependent on each other, and Wendy sees herself reflected in his deteriorating body. Adele's longtime partner has left her and her stage career has evaporated, leaving her feeling vulnerable and adrift, while persnickety Jude's cold, imperious demeanor hides a deep longing for comfort and order. The house is a mess, and the women seem to be coming together out of habit more than friendship, and petty bickering and personality conflicts abound. When a long-held secret is revealed during a night of drunken revelry, the precarious friendship is further endangered. Third-person narration gives the reader equal time inside each character's head, exposing their insecurities and vulnerabilities. Each woman is both endearing and exasperating—there are no heroes or villains, only ordinary, flawed people. This insightful character study will appeal to fans of Sue Miller and Anne Tyler. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

In Wood's sharp sixth novel (after The Natural Way of Things), three septuagenarian Aussie women gather to help settle the affairs of their dead friend, Sylvie. Jude, a cold-blooded restaurateur and for decades the mistress of a married man, takes charge of the friends' task of clearing out Sylvie's beach house, which is perched on a perilous cliff. Wendy, a bedraggled feminist academic still mourning the death of her husband, arrives with her decrepit dog, Finn, whose ailments mirror the women's own. Late, as usual, comes Adele, a once-celebrated actor who hasn't had a gig in some time. Together, the old friends begin sorting through Sylvie's things. Inevitably, in the process of clearing and discarding, the women unearth old irritations and a devastating secret, causing them to question how they'd ever become friends in the first place. Wood explores myriad possibilities of success, failure, philosophy, psychic ailments, and forms of melancholy that a 70-something woman might experience. While the qualities seem to be assigned almost at random to her characters, somewhat diminishing their effect (Wood likens Wendy to Sontag even though she dresses like "a witless old hippie"), the women are mostly recognizable nonetheless, and painfully relatable. Baby boomers and Wood's fans will best appreciate this astringent story. (Aug.)