I have mixed feelings on this book. I raced through it, there is no doubt the author is talented, and there were some really important themes touched upon. There was something that didn’t gel with me, though. I think I was more intrigued by the side-characters (eg. Maggie’s aunt and uncle) than by Maggie and Ed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fourth Estate for this arc.

A friend recommended this book on his blog and, the way he spoke about it gave me mega FOMO. Luckily I managed to snaffle me a copy and, as per usual, discovered that once again, his thoughts and feelings were spot on.
We start in 2019, with a whale beached on the banks of the River Thames in London. Also in London, we follow a bunch of connected people as they all reach crossroads in their lives.
Maggie, pregnant, about to leave her job to go to live back where she was brought up with Ed, her boyfriend. Ed, eager to start his new life with Maggie and their child but also hiding a past that threatens to become his present once again. And then there's Phil, Maggie's friend who squats in illegal warehouse HMO and has a tricky relationship with roommate Keith who has his own open relationship with another guy.
We are also introduced to various other family members. Phil's mother who has yet to tell him the devastating health news she has just received being just one who made a big impression on me. She has her own past to contend with... We also follow Callum, Phil's brother as he is about to get married...
It's hard to say any more about the goings on as you really do need to meet and get to know each and every wonderfully created character as the author intended. They are so well crafted and so easy to connect to / emote with that, by the end of the book, I was really not looking forward to having to say goodbye to them. They filled me with all sorts of emotions along the way, sharing the most intimate details of their lives... It showed me that there are many facets of people which are not as black and white as you'd expect. Mostly, in this case, to do with queer identity. Oh and how messy life can be...
It's hard for me to say much more about the whys and wherefores of exactly why I loved this book. I think that over-analysing it could well spoil it. There's no discernible overall plot per se, which usually puts me off a book, but instead follows the lives of several people, each, in turn, contributing a little something to the whole, which eventually ends up way greater than the sum of its collective parts. If that makes sense... For me, it's more a case of how I felt at the end of the book. Again hard to put into words, but a definite feeling of my life having got just a bit richer from having read this book.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Set in Summer 2019, Evenings and Weekends follows four characters, exploring their interconnected lives and relationships.

I often find in novels like these, some characters feel flat and boring, but McKenna's rich narrative develops four fleshed-out, complex characters, and I was fascinated with the discussions of relationships, identity, and aspirations.

A perfect Summer read for fans of Sally Rooney!

With thanks to NetGalley and 4th Estate for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Was fast paced, relatable characters and the perfect bit of escapism. It really stuck with me even after I finished it. Would recommend to anyone!

Sometimes there comes a novel in your life that will make you feel every rivulet of sweat, every tear cried, the scorching sensation of the sun on your body heating up on the asphalt, and this is one of those novels. In this case, the melting heat comes with a whale stuck in the Thames and an array of characters whose lives will all take a turn on one hot summer day.
The novel has a fresh and delicate narrative that intertwines multiple perspectives, nonetheless connecting them to each other in overlapping narratives. McKenna's writing and use of prose allow us to see a bigger, kaleidoscopic view of everybody's lives both in the present and in the past. Decisions that were made consciously or unconsciously still riverb through the years, actively shaping the protagonists' lives and their actions.
The book covers a lot of fragile themes that McKenna handles beautifully: a mother's cancer diagnosis and the way it triggers her to reexamine her life, a sexual assault whose pain is still felt years later, a coming out in precarious financial conditions and an unexpected pregnancy. There is a whole lot that is presented so naturally, as these lives complicate as lives do.
"Evenings & Weekends" is a great debut work that weaves the hardships of life with the little joys of it, the breakthrough moments when things fall into place and you can finally breathe again, just as rain cracks open the sky after a drought.

A wonderful character driven story. The setting, over one hot weekend in London in 2019, was engaging and gave the novel a sense of urgency and intensity. Characterisation was really impressive, with the protagonists truly feeling like they were leaping off the page. It is beautifully written and tackles a variety of topical themes in a nuanced and original way. I loved this novel.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

When I requested this book I wasn't sure it would be for me am not a fan of self indulgent whiney characters( Sally Rooney style) with no real suffering but somehow mange to find even going to buy a pint of milk traumatic. So it was with so caution I started this....

I was captured instantly by the well formed stylish style of writing, the rich characters and the London setting.

The characters are whiney but they have things to whine about, proper issues there is no self pitying self indulgent spoilt brats in this book, they do so in way that's not only humorous but feel true to life. I liked the inner monologues from the characters and they way they all interlinked with each other. I always like hearing a different POV on the same situation it always makes for interesting reading.

There is a load of themes going on here, but I found the coping with loss and illness of a parent to be the most insightful and I felt connected to it.

I enjoyed the fact the events all take place over one weekend it made for a proper plot among what is very much a character lead novel.

This is book full of human emotions all of them, it's well written, examines society, and has a pace that flows well along side a cast of flawed but perfect characters.

It took me one weekend to read

It had the same style of writing as Caroline O'Donoghue which I really enjoyed any comparison to the dreaded Sally Rooney is unfair to this book as it is far more interesting and real written with far better style.

A very solid 4 stars

I thought this one was really good: it's set mostly over one hot summer weekend in London in 2019, and follows a cast of interconnected characters. It felt very assured and polished in a way that I liked, and the setting was probably the best bit – London felt soooo real and recognisable. I didn't love this book cause I'm super picky and I never vibed particularly with any of the characters – but I would definitely recommend it and Oisin McKenna's writing in general!

This book was a highlight of mine to receive and it did not disappoint, a beautiful story that you just have to keep reading, another fabulous debut from another brilliant author to keep an eye on, one I will be recommending to everyone

This fantastic debut feels like a breath of fresh air. As its characters suffer in the stultifying summer heat, they start to unpick various truths and stories they have fed themselves over the years. Relationships are questioned, old memories resurface, and tensions flare.

However, even alongside this compulsively readable novel, I found other elements of this book fascinating. Firstly, this is one of the best fictional representations I have read recently of discussions about many areas of relationships: monogamy, open relationships, having children, and polyamory. This I thought was a real strength of the book- characters were allowed to be messy, to get things wrong, to have second and third chances, to disagree on core aspects of how they lived their lives, and then continue to grow and develop without these having to be explained away with oversimplified reasons. As a result, these characters felt like people, rather than ciphers for topics.

I think this is an excellent and fresh novel, and I am very excited to see what comes next.

Russell Tovey claims it is ‘Astonishing’
Owen Jones shouts ‘lt’s a masterpiece’

I therefore was excitably nervous as to what I would think and find between this intriguingly reviewed book

I found London, London in that hot never ending Summer of 2019 when the poor whale beached, London full of lust, excitement and the belief that anything and everything was just around the next corner

Based on complex characters yet not complex to get to know and their ambitions and dreams and wants and desires it was a book like no other I have read for a long time

It is a queer led book ( yep I used to not be overkeen on the word either but as someone who was used to being called it it feels almost ok after reading this book that its been reclaimed by us for us and not a care given either way who it offend )and has some very poignant dilemmas as unspoken love comes to a head with outspoken sexuality

The writing is divine, it was literally a joy to read and one of those books where every sentence caused a reaction, sometimes good, sometimes challenging

I absolutely loved it, every word

Thank you to Netgalley and 4th Estate for allowing me access to this ARC.

Evenings and Weekends follows the story of two families, and their relationships, both with each other, and the world around them.

This book is a beautiful tribute to struggles surrounding identity, sexuality, aspirations, and many more questions which bubble just under the surface for every single person in the world.

I found this story of love, obligation, mistakes, awkwardness, sweat, and reality, so beautifully moving.

A perfect read for fans of Jessica Andrews, and Sally Rooney.

🌆 REVIEW 🌆

Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna
Release Date: 9th May

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

📝 - London, 2019. It’s the hottest June on record, and a whale is stuck in the Thames River. In the streets of the city, four old acquaintances want more from life than they’ve been given. On the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, their paths will intersect at a party that will change their lives forever…

💭 - This story takes such a nuanced but realistic perspective on relationships across family, friends, romance, and is full of honesty, love, guilt and more. While there are a fair few characters, I didn’t find it difficult to keep track as each one was given time to show themselves. Each character brought something different to the story as well, and it was obvious that their connections had been crafted with real detail and integrity. Highly recommend for anyone who loves interwoven, character driven stories, with lots of flawed characters, but each realistic and full of depth. An extremely promising debut and an author I will be keeping my eye on…

#oisinmckenna #eveningsandweekends #debutauthor #literaryfiction #contemporaryfiction #newrelease #books #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #booksbooksbooks #irishauthor #irishauthors

This story follows the lives of Ed and Maggie and Phil and Callum - as well as their parents during the hot summer of 2019. Ed and Maggie currently live in London but are moving back to Basildon to start a family. The book looks at the lives and lies that interlink each person and the hiding of secrets between friends and family. The book flicks between memories of the past and their current situation looking at the relationship and friendships between them throughout the years. This is a character building book and has the tale of the whale in the Thames as part of the backstory which I found interesting. A good read and I will be recommending

4.25

Evenings & Weekends is a novel centred around a group of people who are all intertwined in some way to the backdrop of the hottest summer on record in London 2019. This is a character-driven novel with very little plot. Every character felt completely realistic, and the different issues they were working through covered some really important topics that were all well executed. I also think the book captured the true, messy reality of life in London. I would say there were some characters introduced that didn’t bring much to the book and made it confusing to keep track of everyone. I also don’t agree with the comparison to Sally Rooney; I don’t find this similar at all. Overall, a great read with endearing characters and so well crafted! Big thanks to 4th Estate & NetGalley for an eARC.

It was really quite beautiful a read. So incredibly human in a way it sometimes feels only the Irish writers can truly capture.

Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna captures relationships and love and family and friendships. It explores feelings of insecurity and of ambivalence.

A whale has lost its way and has swam up the Thames ( remember that news in 2006?) and the news about attempts to free the whale during a scorching London summer create a back drop and time line for a novel about a group of friends, "escapees" from Basildon ( a dull "new" town in Essex) who now live in London and who also seem to be losing their bearings and need to be find freedom from their inner demons.

Ed and Maggie, a "solid" couple since sixth form 10 years ago live in a damp flat in Hackney. Maggie wanted to be an artist but couldn't afford to live whilst waiting to be discovered and has worked in a cafe since graduation but she still wants to piant and dance at raves and reclaim her sense of fun. Ed has tried teaching and is now a bike courier. Ed doesn't know who or what he is and is carrying a lot of shame and guilt about secrets in his life and is struggling under the pressure. Maggie is pregnant ( unplanned) and their only option seems to be a move back to cheaper Basildon where they will have family support but both are totally dreading the move. Maggie's best friend since childhood, Phil resides in a communal living warehouse and is sleeping with a fellow resident, who is in a committed but non monogamous relationship. Phil struggles with the abuse he endured in the past as a young gay man and how it has impacted the way he behaves in relationships. Phil's brother, Callum, a drug dealer, is Ed's best friend and their mother, Rosheen, an earlier escapee to London from Ireland has cancer and doesn't know how to tell Phil. The secret thoughts, feelings and experiences of the group are all slowly revealed in this epic saga and come to a head after a solistice house party.

I think that this is a fantastic debut novel. It certainly kept me turning the page for the most part. I think it was a little bloated in parts and could have done with some pruning as some storylines didn't really progress but it was interesting to follow the characters on hot evenings and weekends all the same.

Absolutely brilliant. The comparisons to Zadie Smith are, for once, not overdone. Not since White Teeth have I read a better novel about London, it’s millions of contradictions, its beauty and horrors. Great stuff.

I couldn't put down Evenings and Weekends, I loved the use of the infamous Thames Whale to as a central point in which to explore the lives of these East Londoners - brilliant character exploration, each person was interesting in their own right and I never found myself wanting to return to another persons story more than the others. Recommend to readers who love character heavy novels exploring queer relationships, claustrophobic London summers and poignant Irish writing.