Charlotte Wood
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood is a light, engaging novel about the four decades’ long friendship of four women in their 70s. When Sylvie dies, her three friends gather over a Christmas weekend to clear out her beach house so her partner can put it up for sale.
Each woman has a distinct personality. Jude, the take-charge organizer, is the leader in the group. A former restaurateur, she is not married but has been having an affair with a married man for 40 years. Wendy, an author and academic, still grieves over the loss of her husband and clings desperately to her ailing dog as the last vestige of her former happiness. And Adele, a once famous actress, longs to resuscitate her former glory.
Cleaning out Sylvie’s possessions triggers flashbacks of happier times when the four friends were together at the beach house. Each woman reminisces about the past while revealing her back story. Sylvie was the glue that held them together. Without her, they struggle to get along with each other. At times, it appears as if their friendship is too fragile to survive. Long-held tensions and resentments surface; petty jealousies simmer; painful secrets are disclosed.
Wood portrays her characters as plagued with more than the typical challenges besetting the elderly. These were once strong, vibrant women, successful in their respective fields. In addition to their problems with mobility, changes in the body and bodily functions, fading memories, regrets for past behaviors, insecurities, insomnia, money worries, and grief over the loss of loved ones, each character struggles with issues that transcend age. Jude’s anxiety over her lover’s failure to respond to her texts echo a lover’s fear of a breakup, regardless of one’s age. Wendy and Adele harbor ambitions to remain relevant, Wendy by writing a new book; Adele by securing a new acting role. Wood illustrates that life’s challenges and desires don’t disappear with old age. They coexist with the challenges of aging.
Finn, Wendy’s dog, is a constant presence as a haunting reminder of the body’s decline. He is blind, deaf, suffers from arthritis, is easily disoriented, and spends his waking hours going round in circles. Wendy refuses to put him out of his misery, clinging to him as if he were her last hope for survival. What she sees in Finn is not what others see in him, which illustrates another theme of the novel. The women do not see themselves as others see them. Each harbors illusion about herself and about how she appears to others.
In this entertaining, evenly paced novel, peppered with insights about aging and agism, Charlotte Wood explores the dynamics of friendship, female aging, loneliness, grief, support, loss, and resilience. Her characters are well-developed but predictable. In spite of their petty squabbles and bickering, their loyalty to each other and to their decades of friendship survives in a feel-good ending.
Recommended.