The Weekend (Wood) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points for THE WEEKEND … then take off on your own:

1. Start off your discussion by considering the number of books, nonfiction and fiction, that you've read on aging. How many can you think of? Among those works, how is aging dealt with—as an unavoidable "condition," as a preoccupation with dying, as a static no-man's land between living and dying, as comedy, as tragedy, or as a natural state of life in which individuals remain capable of desire and drive, complex emotions, and deep insight?

2. (Follow-up to Question 1) How does Charlotte Wood treat aging in The Weekend?

3. Of the three women—Jude, Wendy, and Adele—who is your favorite and least favorite, and why? Talk about their long relationships with one another, as well as their long-held grievances toward each other.

4. How does Wendy's dog, Finn, represent the state of old-age? While watching him through the kitchen window, Jude considers him "pitiful."

5. Part of the pain of aging is the difference between how you see yourself and how others see you. Does that feel familiar to you personally? How does this gap in perception affect the three women in The Weekend?

6. If you are in your mid-50s, say, or older, how do you view aging? How do you view yourself and your life as opposed to when you were in your 20s, 30s or 40s? What has changed?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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