The Weekend

by Peter Cameron

Book Overview

In the woods of upstate New York, three friends gather on the anniversary of a man's death who was related to them by blood or love. Their idyll is disturbed by the presence of two outsiders, an Italian dinner guest and a young gay man, now involved with the dead man's lover. Thus each event is charged with the tension of trying to recapture something lost.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374287392
• ISBN13: 9780374287399
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Wondrous

One summer weekend in upstate New York, three friends gather on the anniversary of the death of the man who was their centerpiece. The widowed boyfriend's new lover and a surprising dinner guest disrupt the memories and push the tension of the trio into clarity for each as they struggle to regain something lost. Cameron's exquisitely written novel weaves flashbacks into the story, giving the whole an almost lazy summer day atmosphere, just like what the weekend was supposed to be for the characters. Not only is the story beautifully told, but the personal epiphanies of the characters are almost startling in context of the tale, and the human truths about loss and perception are quite universal and sharply rendered. This is a book to treasure.

A Small Surprise

This is a very strange, quiet and unsettling book that I would recommend reading. It's like reading a foreign film: minimal plot, GREAT character development and lines that seem to jump off the page at you. And, after it's all said and done, you kinda feel like hugging the book. A definite read!

Rich and Complex

Peter Cameron has succeeded in creating a world filled with rich, human characters caught up in the tangled web of love and loss. The story moves along quickly over the time span of one weekend spent in the country. By far, Cameron's strength is his use of dialog. He masterfully conveys what his characters are feeling in a clear and emotional way. We come to learn so much about these people from what they say to each other and what they struggle to articulate and define for themselves.Realistic and not at all overly sentimental, The Weekend will soon be a major motion picture. I hope the film lives up to the book!

The Weekend

The best book I have ever read in my life.The language is so beautiful.... Syntax, words, pause, everything is beautiful. It is such a heart-healing book.

simple, quiet, yet profound and disturbing

i bought this little hardback at an australian gay book store 3 years ago cos it was discounted and i liked the cover. having just finished it this weekend, i have to say i am glad i did buy and not read it then. it is a simple worded story. no obvious pompous imagery or over the top philosophy (though i did cringe a little during the dinner exchange, which bordered on the preachy). yet under the uncluttered language hides a tumultuous cast of characters with an equally tumultuous sense of self. they all present that sturdy, friendly, "oh, i like you" facade in front of strangers, only to crumble when confronted by themselves and, unwittingly, others.what is absolutely wonderful is the handling of the idea of truth (absolute and relative, pun intended) and the sense of your place in the world. in trying to figure out who you are, where you are and how you are doing in this thing we call "life", peter cameron has shown us a few different, very disparate examples. they are for us to look at, laugh at, identify with or mistake, like for chaikan@hotmail.com, where looking at it as explicitly gay literature has made him/her miss the point totally, and which depth was never insisted, but loomed very darkly over all that seemed frivilous and flippant.