andrey93

Author Peter Cameron’s novel, The Weekend, is a poignant examination of friendship, intimacy and the unconventional ties that bind four individuals with clashing personalities. The characters in the story try to avert disaster over a two-day period spent together in upstate New York. Lyle, a big city art critic and lecturer, still quietly mourns the AIDS-related death of his lover, Tony. Lyle accepts an invitation from John, Tony’s half-brother, and his wife, Marian, to spend the weekend at their country home, a place he and Tony visited frequently during their ten-year relationship. The fact that it falls on the one-year anniversary of Tony’s death is no coincidence, and Marian especially looks forward to talking old times with Lyle. What throws a wrench into her agenda, however, is his companion Robert, a young waiter and aspiring artist who made Lyle’s acquaintance just a few short weeks ago. The pages literally drip with tension, from the moment early on when Lyle tells Robert what he has in common with John and Marian, to dinner that evening when Marian’s dinner guest, the chatty Laura Ponti from Italy, makes an unnecessary spectacle of herself. Each conversation, whether it is between Lyle and Marian, Robert and Lyle, or Lyle and John, is filled with apparent unease, and not only because Robert is an unfamiliar presence in the home. Marian, a new mother who has battled depression in the past, continuously questions or second guesses everything she says or does. John, seemingly aware of his wife’s temperament, seeks refuge in the garden away from everyone, including his newborn son. Lyle, meanwhile, who is attracted to Robert, speaks perhaps a bit too openly--and prematurely--to his newfound love interest, without taking his counterpart’s feelings into consideration. Cameron has created a rich cast of characters, each complete with his or her own strengths and flaws. The interplay occasionally borders on pretentious, but the author’s remarkable prose makes the situation seem real and somehow less awkward. Although the destiny of these four is ultimately left to the reader’s imagination, the small amount of time spent with them is enough to spark endless discussion and deserving speculation.

2023-02-28 11:22