Weekend Pass

Weekend Pass is an intense domestic drama novel which explores the effects of addiction across extended families, and how patterns of self-destructive behaviour can be repeated down through multiple generations. The novel itself takes place over a single weekend - Tasha's first temporary release from Recovery House, a drug treatment facility - but manages to encompass years in the lives of her family. Weekend Pass is a gently paced novel which packs a lot of events into its pages. I was engrossed to the extent that I hardly noticed an afternoon passing me by. I didn't want to leave these people until their story had been resolved.

I thought Paul Cavanagh did a really good job of telling this story with the emotional sensitivity it needed, but also without pulling any punches when it came to portraying the realities of drug and alcohol addiction. He does resort to telling, rather than showing, a bit too often for my tastes in depicting Tasha's family's history, however I liked the characters he created. I felt he had a genuine understanding of their fraught relationships. I appreciated also the realism of their fractured communications. A myriad of reasons prevent these people from being open and honest with each other and, even when they believe themselves to be acting in everyone's best interests, the resulting crossed wires often lead to greater misunderstandings and frustrations.

For me, Weekend Pass was quite an emotional read. I could empathise with Tasha, despite what she had done, and also with Charlotte and Brenda. I think this novel would appeal to readers who also enjoyed Distorted Days by Louise Worthington and perhaps also Plumas de Muerte by Phil Motel.