I was lured by the cover of Oisín McKenna’s debut novel, Evenings and Weekends. And the comparisons to Sally Rooney and Zadie Smith. And the fact that it’s by an Irish author, so I was hoping for some Irish-misery-porn.

The story focuses on a group of friends, over a hot summer’s weekend in London. There’s a party planned at a share house, which sets the stage for the drama.

Initially, I was reminded of Colm Toibin’s Long Island – both books are written from multiple perspectives, and it is only the reader that knows all of the ‘secrets’ and how they intertwine. However, where Toibin’s ‘secrets’ were simple (but emotionally rich), McKenna has gone for something more dramatic – there’s more action and less inner-voice informing the narrative. After finishing the novel, I discovered that McKenna’s previous writing has been for the stage. This didn’t surprise me because the dialogue was solid but the emotional narrative lacked depth.

The overall result is lots of tension, a lot of miscommunication, and a lot of me wondering if I cared about the characters (not really).

There’s a mystical quality to this book – a whale stranded in the Thames and the journalist, dubbed a Princess of Whales, who is covering the story; a toad rescued while crossing the road; the 37 colours that can be identified in a magpie’s feathers… I wish McKenna’s editor had put a handbrake on the animal elements because it felt like I should be finding meaning where I wasn’t. For the record, there was a whale in the Thames, which I did like because it reminded me of Salvatore.

Ultimately, I expected and wanted more from this book (and I’m really not sure where the  Sally Rooney comparison applies).

2.5/5

Someone will say ‘Maggie, will you take the bins out?’ and someone will say ‘Only if you give her a cheesy olive bite!’ Maggie can’t account for where the joke came from, or why it’s a joke at all; she feels ambivalent at best about the cheesy olive bites and its almost certain that she’s never stated otherwise.