Review of WEEKEND PASS by Paul Cavanagh (New Release)

 3 Stars

Tasha has been in a rehab facility for three weeks for drug addiction when she is given a weekend pass.  The question is, as expressed by her father Milt, whether “’she’s going to survive the weekend.’”  She has to come to terms with the damage done to her family by her addiction.  Her marriage to Baker is in tatters because their 8-year-old son Jake accidentally ingested some of her painkillers and may have permanent brain damage as a result.  Tasha’s father Milt and her aunt Charlotte try to keep tabs on Tasha but some unforeseen events threaten to derail Tasha. 

The book is not a challenging read; most readers will find it very readable.  My issue with it is that there is a great deal of telling and not enough showing.  For instance, we are told that Charlotte “has always been one for getting disgruntled on someone else’s behalf” and is “fond of taking on other people’s burdens.”  Much of the narrative consists of flashbacks with paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition.  Dialogue often doesn’t appear for pages.  Though Tasha is the focus, the perspectives of Milt, Charlotte and Baker are also given.  Each of these characters has a backstory which is developed. 

The narrative often seems scattered and disorganized.  Do we need to know that one of Tasha’s favourite foods is osso bucco and Jake’s is deep-fried squid tentacles and Milt’s is Cantonese steamed dumplings?  Tasha’s having to deal with her mother’s alcoholism and her father’s infidelity have affected her so they are relevant, but is it necessary to give Milt’s thoughts about his marriage and to describe his attraction to young women?  For example, when Milt meets a friend of his son-in-law, he thinks, “She’s exactly the kind of young woman Milt would have had a crush on at Jake’s age.  Pretty, warm-hearted, and playful.  He’s observed that much in the few seconds he’s laid eyes on her.  Actually, Milt is plenty attracted to her now at the age fifty-eight. . . . If he were in Baker’s place, he’d be mightily tempted that’s for sure. . . . She reminds Milt a little of Josie, the woman he brought as his date to Tasha and Baker’s wedding, who shared his bed for nearly a year-and-a-half.”  All this musing serves little purpose except to portray Milt as a lecher.  Likewise, is it necessary to detail Charlotte’s rivalry with her sister, Tasha’s mother?

Occasionally, the writing style jars.  There are sentences with slang like “he’d been shagging” and a woman wanting to “hurl garden stones at his melon.”  Contrast these to the clinical description of a woman dying of cancer:  “her left eye had stopped tracking to the left, meaning that her eyes sometimes pointed in different directions, a rather chilling spectacle.  It was a sign that the cancer had likely spread to her sixth cranial nerve, maybe even her brain stem.” 

In terms of its portrayal of a woman dealing with recovery from drug addiction, I think this novel is very realistic.  It suggests that recovery is a long, difficult journey; one addict speaks of learning “to be thankful for what she has, even as she continues to grieve what she’s lost.”  An important message is that addictions affect not just the addict; at one point, Tasha realizes “it’s not just her going through a kind of recovery.” 

This novel is realistic and readable, but would be better if it were more focused.  Because of its extensive use of local colour, it will definitely have interest to people living in London, Ontario.

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.