Page Turners: November 2025

Page Turners book club members will be
reading The Weekend by Charlotte Wood this November. This short novel describes how “three elderly
female friends reunite to clear out the home of a fourth, who recently died,
in a short meditation on relationship bonds and the wisdom—and other traits—accumulated over a
lifetime.”
One reviewer states that most novelists avoid writing about old age viewing it as a “hinterland”
between life and death. He states that “the temptation to reduce ageing to a condition experienced
en masse rather than by individuals is a trap that snares only lesser writers. The better ones have
avoided it— writers such as Nora Ephron and Penelope Lively, and, most recently, Elizabeth Strout.
Joining their ranks is Australian Charlotte Wood, whose novel The Weekend conceives of old age as a
state of mutiny rather than stasis, a period of constant striving against the world, but also
against oneself.”
Having read this book myself I have to agree with the following statement: “What gives this novel
its glorious, refreshing, forthright spine is that each of its protagonists is still adamantly
(often disastrously) alive, and still less afraid of death than irrelevance.”
According to Goodreads, “The Weekend explores growing old and growing up, and what happens when
we’re forced to uncover the lies we tell ourselves. Sharply
observed and excruciatingly funny, this is a jewel of a book: a celebration of tender- ness and
friendship from an award-winning writer.” I am really looking forward to our group discussions of
this book.
If you are considering joining a book club and would like more information, please contact one of
the coordinators of our three groups—Thursday afternoon (two separate groups) Lisa Buchner at
lisabuchner47@ gmail.com or Steve and Ann Morris at samwrsi@cox.net or the Monday after- noon group
myself at fozimec@cox.net. We always welcome new members.
—Frances Ozimec