Book Review: “Only on The Weekends” by Dean Atta

“Only on The Weekends” by Dean Atta (2022)

Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, YA, LGBT

Page Length: 560 pages (hardcover)

Synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Mack is a hopeless romantic–likely a hazard of growing up on film sets thanks to his father’s job. Mack has had a crush on Karim for as long as he can remember and he can’t believe it when gorgeous, popular Karim seems into him too.

But when Mack’s father takes on a new directing project in Scotland, Mack has to move away, and soon discovers how painful long-distance relationships can be. It’s awful to be so far away from Karim, and it’s made worse by the fact that Karim can be so hard to read.

Then Mack meets actor Finlay on set, and the world turns upside down again. Fin seems fearless–and his confidence could just be infectious.

Review:

I was eager to delve into this novel as I thoroughly enjoyed Atta’s debut novel, The Black Flamingo. Only on the Weekends, brings readers another coming-of-age story. The main character, Mack is a romantic (as the synopsis states) teenager who likes many of us is struggling with his identity. His father is a big-time film director which means they don’t get to spend much time together. While trying to navigate his strained relationship with his father, he tries to find himself at school and falling in love for the first time. But when his relationship with Karim becomes long-distance, how will they stay connected.

Like Atta’s other work, this novel written in verse is emotionally charged and powerful. It shows the indecisiveness of making hard decisions, growing up, love, and relationships. Mack comes to a crossroads in his relationship with Karim after meeting Finlay. The two are complete opposites of each other, and Mack must choose between the two. On top of that, he works through his relationship with Dad who is trying but seems absent due to the death of his mom. Though her death happened years before the grief spurs them to cope with their feelings and try to open up to one another more. It’s clear that her death is fresh in their minds, but they try to work through the feelings and try to repair their relationship.

I appreciated also how this novel navigates the narrative of love (platonic, romantic, and familial). It’s not always perfect and sometimes messy. It brings up of discussion of really listening to our hearts and being open with our own feelings and each other. Mack doesn’t always make the best decisions, and at times his character made me a little frustrated, but I thought that it was good that he was a somewhat flawed character. He starts to learn more about his mistakes through his journey of self-growth and starts to become more confident in his identity. Even by the end of the book, there is more room for his character to expand and change just as we do in real life.

The novel was beautifully written, and I love how some of Mack’s own poetic/romantic nature is reflected in the verses. This novel reminds readers that growing up and life, in general, is never easy. We must make mistakes and also make amends for the errors we cause. Only on the Weekends is another fantastic novel from Atta that is about self-love as much as it is about romance. I enjoyed the characters and story as a whole.

TW: Homophobia, Racism, Death

Final Verdict:

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Wunderkind PR in exchange for a fair and honest review.