The Weekend

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: A dear friend suggested that I read this book, and I sped through it on the way home from visiting my parents for Christmas. Peter Cameron has a way with people. Also with words for that matter, but his interactions border so elegantly on the line between everyday conversation and something much, much more. Clear and resonant of ourselves, the book doesn't take us on a journey so much as it tempts us into following it. A good place to start.

Rating:
Summary: simple, quiet, yet profound and disturbing
Review: 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 [e-mail], 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.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I read this book a few years back and decided to read it again recently. I remembered loving this book when I first read it and my second read confirmed why I loved it so much. It's just that Peter Cameron has an amazing way with words. In this book, he makes you understand each character by digging deep into their emotions and thoughts. This story feels so real and beautiful, even though this book's characters experience loss and discover the worst things about themselves. This truly is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic
Review: I read this book a few years back and decided to read it again recently. I remembered loving this book when I first read it and my second read confirmed why I loved it so much. It's just that Peter Cameron has an amazing way with words. In this book, he makes you understand each character by digging deep into their emotions and thoughts. This story feels so real and beautiful, even though this book's characters experience loss and discover the worst things about themselves. This truly is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: A Touching Book
Review: I read this book in High School (which makes it a good 3-5 years ago), and I don't remember the book exactly, but I was really touched by it. I even copied down a whole paragraph from it because it was so profound. Part of it is "There are things you lose you do not get back. You cannot have them ever again, except in the smudging of a carbon copy of memory." I originally chose it because I believe it was summer, and I wanted a small, short-ish book to read. It was new in the library, so I checked it out. I don't know how many people read these recommendations, but I highly recommend it if you like touching, realistic stories.

Rating:
Summary: Juvenile.
Review: Look, I gave up on this book way too early to even be writing a review. I just want to suggest to readers unfamiliar with Camerson that they may prefer to start with Cameron's Leap Year, or perhaps some of Cameron's short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Juvenile.
Review: Look, I gave up on this book way too early to even be writing a review. I just want to suggest to readers unfamiliar with Camerson that they may prefer to start with Cameron's Leap Year, or perhaps some of Cameron's short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Wondrous
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Rich and Complex
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: A small yet substantial masterpiece
Review: Peter Cameron's gifts as a writer are plainly on display in this beautiful novella of friendship, grief, hope, and honesty. The language is gorgeous (his background as a poet puts him many levels above most writers of the time) and his characterizations are realistic, almost painfully so at times. It's a shame that more people haven't discovered this extremely talented writer. He's right up there with Michael Cunningham, whose book "The Hours" has a similar calm and introspective tone. That isn't to say the two books are the same--just that they handle some rather deep and philosophical ideas without becoming indulgent or heavy-handed. "The Weekend" is a deceptively easy read, but it will leave you thinking and wondering long after the last page is turned.