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Evenings and Weekends: A Novel Kindle Edition

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 355 ratings

“This is such a love story to cities & people & heartbreaks, death & loss. It's not at all corny, it's smart. But I just finished it & it made me cry.” — Eileen Myles 

"Signals the arrival of a novelist sure to resonate with young people who endeavor to make intimate connections." The Washington Post

"Like the book version of a Richard Curtis film, but with more grit, more bathroom sex and a literal beached whale." —GQ

For fans of Sally Rooney and Torrey Peters, a stunning debut that follows a vibrant multi-generational cast of characters through a London heatwave as their simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over a feverish, life-changing weekend.

Summer in London stops for no one. Not the half-naked drunks and stoners, the bachelorette parties glugging from bejewelled bottles, the drag queens puffing on hurried cigarettes. It’s June 2019, and everyone has converged on the city’s parks, beer gardens, and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive.

Everyone but Maggie. She’s 30, pregnant, and broke. Faced with moving back to the town she fought to escape, she’s wondering if having a baby with boyfriend Ed will be the last spontaneous act of her life. Ed, meanwhile, is trying to run from his past with Maggie’s best friend Phil and harboring secret dreams of his own.

Phil hates his office job and is living for the weekend, while falling for his housemate, Keith. But there’s a problem: Keith has a boyfriend and there might not be room for three people in the relationship. Then there’s Rosaleen, Phil’s mother, who’s tired of feeling like a side character in her own life. She’s just been diagnosed with cancer and is travelling to London to tell Phil, if she can ever get hold of him.

As Saturday night approaches, all their lives are set to change forever. Temperatures are soaring and the weekend is about to begin…

Strikingly heartfelt, sexually charged, and disarmingly comic, Oisín McKenna’s debut is a mesmerizing dive into the soul of a city and a searing look at what it takes to build a life there.


From the Publisher

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This sparkling first novel focuses on the intertwined lives of three Londoners and their friends and family, largely over the course of a single weekend in June 2019...In another pair of hands, the compressed timeline and the size of the cast could have made for a disjointed reading experience, but McKenna toggles among the different characters and storylines with aplomb. What emerges is an empathetic portrait of millennials trying to build lives for themselves amid social, political, and ecological change...A smart debut that feels rooted in the experiences of a generation and establishes McKenna as a gifted writer." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This vivid realist novel adroitly maneuvers a sprawling interlocking cast around the hipster haunts of north and east London, including Kingsland Road, London Fields and the Hampstead Heath swimming ponds…His electric, broadbrush vignettes of urban life recall Kae Tempest’s novel The Bricks That Built the Houses and Vivian Gornick’s memoirs. For even as it utters a howl of rage at broken, late-capitalist Britain, Evenings and Weekends is a love letter to the city – the chance it offers to forge your own identity, and the interconnectedness of urban life. A tender portrait of contemporary queer London." — The Guardian

"A bit like the book version of a Richard Curtis film, but with more grit, more bathroom sex and a literal beached whale."
GQ

“This is such a love story to cities & people & heartbreaks, death & loss. It's not at all corny, it's smart. But I just finished it & it made me cry.” — Eileen Myles 

"McKenna’s ornate tapestry is one to savor." — Publishers Weekly

"A masterpiece: this searing tale of class, love and sex will resonate for generations to come." Owen Jones

"The aching, swelling humanity of this book swallowed me whole."
Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes

“The characters in Evenings and Weekends are almost shockingly alive. I was fascinated by the mix of zeitgeisty humor, wisdom, and existential angst. I have never read a book that captures what London feels like to young people quite so compellingly.” — Tomasz Jedrowski, author of Swimming in the Dark

Evenings and Weekends dives into the heart of a city and its inhabitants with beauty and intellect. The result is a novel brimming with life, confronting the difficult and ugly with a fresh and charming levity. I can’t wait to read what McKenna writes next.” — Nicola Dinan, author of Bellies

"This book was a thrill. Zadie Smith-esque in its kaleidoscope of London and incisively political but only in the most generous, specific, and lived-in way; That Oisín can write a book so steeped in identity politics and yet so casually chaotic and real is a testament to his imaginative generosity and sense of scale. I could go on and on and on. Compassionate, intelligent, hilarious. This book will win prizes. I enjoyed it so much."
Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy, winner of the Rooney Fiction Prize

"‘I tore through Evenings and Weekends, a story which is full of life and rings with passion and hope. A brilliant study of the sins of modern Britain and the energy of contemporary London." — Soula Emmanuel, author of Wild Geese

"Summer is almost upon us. By the end of it… Evenings and Weekends, will surely be a much-thumbed book atop many bedside stacks and best-of lists. With it, yet another brilliant Irish voice announces their presence in contemporary literature…Intoxicating… Evenings and Weekends is a wonderful, almost engulfing reading experience." — Irish Times

"McKenna’s book captures what it feels like to be worn out by the constant calculations, and adjustments and uncertainties that so often underpin a London life." — Independent

About the Author

Oisín McKenna was born in Dublin and lives in London. He was awarded the Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland to write Evenings and Weekends and it was developed with further funding from Arts Council England. Evenings and Weekends has been awarded a 2022 London Writers Award and in 2017, Oisín was named in the Irish Times as one of the best-spoken word artists in the country. He has written and performed four theatre shows, including ADMIN, an award-winning production at Dublin Fringe 2019, and has written for outlets including the Irish Times on issues such as gentrification and the alienation of Dublin's youth.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CC5VZHW5
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books (July 2, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 2, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2553 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0008604177
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 355 ratings

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Oisín McKenna
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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
355 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2024
this book is worth the hype and deserving of a sally rooney comparison (when not many books really are). this book is a beautiful depiction of the chaos and emotional turmoil thrumming in london heat, interpersonal connection, the ways we struggle to express ourselves and our love to others
One person found this helpful
Bericht
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024
Oisin McKenna’s debut novel “Evenings and Weekends” is loaded with remarkable characters. Early on I had to jot down a roster, a family tree of sorts, as these people came on the scene. It was worth it. The cast here is amazing, populated by fascinating three-dimensional players. Strikingly, there are no bad guys here, just souls figuring out who they are and what they need for their lives.

London. Cities or locales are usually integral to the story– here London is a big player. The city charges and feeds those here. We feel the promise, the excitement, everyone’s expectations pumped up. The intensity is magnified by the sensation over a whale trapped in the Thames, an event drawing most of these players in.

There are couples scrambling to determine the futures of their relationships. Maggie is pregnant with Ed’s child, and they are planning on raising the baby outside of London. Ed is afraid Maggie is going to find out secrets in his past. Maggie’s close friend, Phil, has had a sexual experience with Ed and may tell Maggie. Phil is in love with his housemate, Keith– who also has a boyfriend, Louis (who may be harboring feelings for Phil!).

So, there are a lot of characters and interweaving relationships going on here… a little reminiscent of a movie like “Love, Actually.” My favorite is Rosaleen– Phil’s mom. She has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She has to find the right way to let Phil know. She has to make sense of her life’s journey. She also has to embrace Pauline, her close friend whose death years ago has haunted her.

Yes, it was a little difficult to keep track of these people as they first appeared. With so many different threads going, it would seem likely to be the stuff of a soap opera. Somehow, the pages kept turning rapidly and I bought into each character’s struggle to navigate a future. An inspired novel by a new voice.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2024
Evenings and Weekends is a charming gem of a debut novel. Over a swelteringly hot weekend in London, we follow several linked characters as they navigate secrets, their careers, and their futures.

Maggie is thirty, pregnant, and uncertain of her path forward. Ed is her boyfriend, and he is barely making ends meet and is struggling with his identity. Phil is Maggie's best friend, and he knows things about Ed that no one else does.

There were several other characters, and I was pleasantly surprised by how seamless the story moved from one person to the next. It was also somewhat addictive because I always looked forward to reading how these storylines connected. Overall, this was a fun, unique new novel.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2024
The cover made me want to read this book. I wanted to see what the story was about because of the cover. I found a ton of characters and a heatwave in London. There were trials and relationships explored. McKenna had a great idea for a novel.

Top reviews from other countries

Nora Fuhrmeister
5.0 out of 5 stars best book ever
Reviewed in Germany on August 1, 2024
in some ways the best book i've ever read. such a brilliant mix of politics, love, life, queerness and just soo many complex characters. it's much more than the synopsis let's you think, i loved rosaleen's, louis', holly's and valerie's povs so much. genuinely a stunning novel & debut!!
Maggy
5.0 out of 5 stars A love letter to london
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2024
Instantly my favourite book. I have never read a book that so closely describes the complexities, highs and lows of London life, and the perspective of Irish heritage within it.
I’ll never write a review to do this justice but an absolute classic.
One person found this helpful
Bericht
Bookworm17
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2024
I’ve had a week long book hangover. Read it!
2 people found this helpful
Bericht
Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars No real narrative with pretentious characters.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2024
Im confused about this book. It didn't have a narrative. It was mostly just short interconnected stories. Every character was pretentious. Especially the gay character.
It had promise but in the end it just felt flat.

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