The Weekend - Hardcover

Cameron, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374287392 ISBN 13: 9780374287399

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1994

Synopsis

Three friends gather for a midsummer weekend in a country house in upstate New York on the anniversary of the death of a man related to them all by ties of blood or love, but their sojourn is interrupted by the arrival of two outsiders. By the author of Leap Year.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Cameron is the author of several novels, including Andorra and Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You. He lives in New York City.

From Kirkus Reviews:

What's planned as a peaceful summer weekend instead stirs up all its participants' insecurities in this beautifully modulated novel of relationships, Cameron's fourth work of fiction (after the story collection Far-Flung, 1991). John and Marian, 40ish and filthy rich, wait in their lovely upstate New York home for the arrival of art critic Lyle, the lover of John's half-brother and Marian's very dear friend Tony, who died of AIDS exactly one year before. Lyle has in tow a new partner: a poor, young, half-Indian landscape painter and waiter named Robert who has rescued him from the severe depression that followed Tony's death. Marian is upset that Lyle would bring a last-minute mystery guest to this anniversary weekend and dinner party, which will also include an Italian neighbor, Laura, herself put out by the surprise appearance of her actress daughter, Nina. Cameron exploits these tensions skillfully while probing his characters' vulnerabilities. Marian is an anxious hostess and mother, fearful her baby Roland is retarded; the reserved John feels he is too dull for company; Lyle flounders without the support of easygoing Tony; Robert feels like a resented intruder; and Laura believes Nina has exposed her as a pathetic old woman. Yet Cameron has a light touch; social comedy offsets the introspection. After a difficult dinner, the novel's climax comes when a lovers' quarrel with Lyle prompts Robert to bolt for the city, leaving the others to some painful reassessment. Vigor and directness save Cameron's portrait of the chattering classes from preciosity; this fine storyteller is wise as well as clever. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0374287392
• ISBN 13: 9780374287399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 241