The Weekend Crashers

Finished January 16

The Weekend Crashers by Jamie Brenner

This women's fiction novel has three female characters that we follow over the course of a few days. Maggie Hodges is in her 40s, raised her adult daughter as a single mom, and works at a clothing store in New York City. She started the job when her daughter was young, and stayed. The owner, an older woman named Elaine, is a woman that has invested in a variety of businesses.

Piper Hodges, 23, daughter of Maggie has been working as a model since being discovered by a reputable agent. Piper lives with her boyfriend Ethan, and has paused her college education to focus on modelling. 

Belinda Yarrow owns a small hotel in small town Pennsylvania with her husband of 35 years, Max, something they bought into decades ago after a crisis in their marriage.

All three of these women are knitters. Belinda runs knitting retreats on a regular basis, with some people coming regularly. Elaine grew up in the town Belinda's hotel is in and told Maggie about the retreat.

As the book opens, Piper is doing a show in New York City, and Maggie has scored a ticket. For unknown reasons, as Piper is walking onto the runway, she faints and collapses. 

We can see Piper is less enthused about her modelling career than her mother is. Piper has other interests, and hasn't made big money so far, and she finds herself feeling relieved that this may end her career. Maggie is worried about her daughter in many ways, including that she is in a serious relationship at such a young age. This may be because Maggie herself got pregnant with Piper when she was quite young and gave up her college education to be a responsible mom. She wants Piper to have more options.

Maggie brings up the knitting retreat as a way to take Piper's mind off her mishap and have some mother daughter time. 

Belinda's husband has booked another group into the hotel on the same weekend as the retreat, a bachelor's party where the focus is on outdoor expertise and survival skills. They've also had an offer from a chain to buy the hotel and Max is eager to move to another stage of life. Belinda isn't so sure. 

As we see the possibilities for people who truly care about each other want different things in life, we also see how throwing two disparate groups of people together by change can create interesting situations. 

I think I liked Belinda best of the characters, perhaps because she is closest to me in age, I found her insightful, thoughtful, and good at her job. She isn't as good at communicating her own wants and isn't always diplomatic when she does.

Each women grows in some way during this weekend and its aftermath, and many of the men face issues of change as well. I enjoyed the read. 

Canadian Fiction

Finished October 18
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
This is a wonderful novel revolving around native characters from a community in northern Ontario. The chapters are told from the points of view of Annie, a young native woman, and her uncle Will Bird, who is lying in the hospital in a coma. The chapters alternate between the two viewpoints. Annie has been on an adventure out in the wider world, and has brought back Gordon, a native boy from the city with her. She is teaching Gordon ways of living off the land. She visits her uncle in the hospital every day and begins talking to him on the advice of the nurses, telling him what she has been through over the last little while.
Will's story is told in his own head, but also deals with his secrets over the last little while, the things that led to him being where he is right now. He also talks about past events in the family, some secrets, some not.
The reader learns a lot about the Bird family and their lives up to now. We also see the community and how the people in it relate, the issues and lifestyles. In Annie's side of the story we also see city life and the world of modelling as she experiences it.
A fascinating and very human story, this is also a story of hope. I loved it.