Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did the novel’s intense atmosphere, shaped by the sweltering heatwave and the spectacle of the stranded whale, affect your reading experience from the start? Did it make you feel more connected to the characters’ anxieties or more overwhelmed?

2. The guide compares the book’s structure to novels like NW or White Teeth by Zadie Smith, another writer famous for her vibrant portraits of London. How does this kaleidoscopic view of the city compare to other depictions of London, or any major city, you’ve encountered in literature?

3. The novel avoids a neat, tidy ending for its characters, instead offering a sense of fragile hope and ongoing change. What was your emotional reaction to the final chapters, particularly Maggie’s move to Berlin and Ed’s quiet conversation with her at the wedding?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Maggie dreads moving from London back to her hometown of Basildon, fearing it will erase the identity she carefully built in the city. Have you ever felt that a place was essential to your sense of self, and have you worried about what might happen to your identity if you had to leave?

2. Phil cultivates a tough “Action Man” persona to hide his vulnerability and past trauma, which affects his ability to connect with Keith. Do you ever feel that you have to perform a persona to help you function in challenging social situations? What motivates this behavior?

3. What did you make of the complicated friendship between Phil and Maggie? How might you compare their dynamic to your own friendships? Do you find yourself regularly navigating secrets with someone you trust?

4. Rosaleen’s decision to finally sing karaoke is a quiet but powerful moment of self-reclamation after decades of suppressing her own desires. Draw examples from your own life where you found an opportunity to reclaim your self-perception or otherwise define it on your own terms. How did you react to this opportunity?

5. Ed’s job as a gig economy courier leaves him physically and financially drained, impacting his health and relationships. Do you think it is necessary to compromise passion or even safety for stability when pursuing a career? Why or why not?

6. The book is titled Evenings and Weekends, highlighting the time when characters are supposed to be free but are often confronted with their biggest crises. Did the depiction of this pressure-filled leisure time resonate with your own experiences of trying to balance work, social life, and personal responsibilities?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How does the novel capture the specific millennial anxiety of its 2019 pre-pandemic, Brexit-era setting? In what ways do the characters’ feelings of being stuck and uncertain mirror the broader political and social mood of that time?

2. The story connects Maggie’s decision to have an abortion directly to her economic instability, arguing she wanted the choice to have a baby, not just the choice to end a pregnancy. In what ways does the novel serve as a commentary on how economic pressures can limit true reproductive freedom?

3. What message do you think the novel sends about the challenges of building and sustaining community in a modern city? Consider both the fragile, eviction-threatened warehouse community and the long-term, evolving friendships between the characters.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The stranded whale is the book’s central symbol. How did your understanding of the whale shift throughout the story, from a public spectacle to a metaphor for the characters’ personal feelings of being trapped and crushed by their circumstances?

2. What is the effect of the ensemble structure, which shifts between the perspectives of Maggie, Ed, Phil, and Rosaleen? How does having access to each character’s secrets and unspoken thoughts create dramatic irony and deepen your understanding of their conflicts?

3. Was the oppressive heatwave an effective motif for you? How does McKenna use the weather to do more than just set the scene, turning it into a force that exposes secrets and drives the characters toward pivotal confrontations?

4. The guide mentions Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway as a forerunner to the contemporary ensemble novel. How does McKenna use the compressed timeframe of a single weekend to explore a wide social landscape and the intersecting lives of his characters?

5. Discuss Ed’s performance of being a “normal man.” How do his repressed desires, his panic attacks, and his eventual confession deconstruct traditional ideas of masculinity?

6. Rosaleen’s backstory in Ireland and her memories of Pauline are revealed late in the novel. How did learning about her past experiences with repression and queer desire change your perception of her as a character?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. The novel leaves many character arcs open. Fast forward five years from the book’s end. What new chapter do you envision for Maggie in her artistic life, and where do you see Ed on his journey of understanding his identity?

2. The stranded whale becomes a viral sensation, generating memes, debates, and a media frenzy. What kind of social media post or news headline do you think each of the main characters, like Phil or Maggie, would have been most drawn to or angered by?

3. Pauline is described as a poet whose life was cut short. Based on what you learned about her friendship with Rosaleen and their life in Dublin, what do you imagine her poetry was like? What subjects or feelings do you think she explored in her work?