Weekend Pass by Paul Cavanagh {Book Review}

Disclosure: I received this book to review through iRead Book Tours, I have volunteered to share my review and all the opinions are 100% my own.

Weekend Pass packs a lot into fewer than two hundred pages. The dialogue never stutters. The writing is tight and clean and elegant with hidden depths that give pause for reflection and thought. It covers important, difficult themes in a compassionate, humanist way. It was an absolute pleasure to read. Recommended, TheBookBag.co.uk

Who can forgive a mother who poisons her eight-year-old son? Even if it was an accident. Tasha thought she had everything under control – her family life, her career as a nurse – until her son got into her stash of painkillers. Now, during her first weekend home from drug treatment, she must come to grips with the damage she’s done and somehow pick up the pieces. Told from the points of view of four different family members, Weekend Pass is a story about the lies we tell ourselves and the people we love. And it’s about struggling to rise above the mistakes that threaten to define us.

Buy the Book: Amazon.com, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Angus & Robertson
Add to Goodreads

I am struggling with how to rate and review this book.

It was a short read, but I found it… difficult to read at times. Not so much for the story itself, but being a Canadian based story; words were different and I felt that some words were “short hand” which I am not comfortable with in reading. (I reserve that more for text to my teenagers.) Maybe I am wrong in that aspect, but that is how I felt and did feel myself struggle every once in awhile.

The storyline was intriguing. I am very familiar with substance abuse. My father was an alcoholic; I have worked residential as well as outpatient settings for substance abuse; and my education was founded on substance abuse. I found the storyline to be interesting, not only coming from Tasha’s viewpoint, but in getting to see other’s view points as well.

Understanding addiction as well as I do, I felt there were times that had me feeling an array of emotions. I am also one that can understand another person’s addiction (one not so close to me) so much better than I can understand someone who is very close to me. It allows me to see both sides. I can understand how Baker and Tasha’s family may be feeling, but also understand the disease that is addiction.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It’s a “taboo” subject that doesn’t get a lot of attention and tends to be misunderstood.

About the Author
Paul Cavanagh is a Canadian author whose debut novel, After Helen, won the Lit Idol competition at the London Book Fair in the UK and was published to rave reviews in the United States, Canada, and the British Isles. He’s been compared to Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler for his ability to be at turns funny and moving while exploring the paradoxes of modern family relationships. He lives in London, Ontario (not be be confused with that other London). Weekend Pass is his third novel.

 

 

Follow the Author
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads