Genre: Fiction, Satire | Pages: 294 Star rating:
Synopsis of the novel by Neal Cassidy:
In the last days before the real world, six college friends prepare to take a bow in epic fashion. After Sunday there's just Harry, the future business owner; Justin, the medical intern; Trent, the hapless wanderer; and Clarence, soon to don the badge and blues. But now they have years of memories to honor, all packed into one weekend. Will they grow into their new adult roles? Will they go out in style with the girls? Will the four of them even survive the sheer level of debauchery? Living in an apartment paid for by the Grandma, an ex-hooker turned millionaire, Courtney and Ling-Ling couldn't be more opposite, yet are completely inseparable. Courtney and Harry have been hooking up for years, neither able to commit, but their imminent separation is about to test that arrangement, and Ling-Ling's never-ending reciprocated crush on Justin just might become more than that. Their lives intersect with that of Professor Goodkat, their idolized instructor who never quite "left" college himself. In Goodkat, we find the consequence of getting to live out a hedonist fantasy, and the possibility for change in anyone. Hilarious, raunchy and uninhibited, "The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale" captures contemporary society while chronicling the dreams, regrets, perspectives, and future after youth in an unbroken sequence of shockingly touching exploits. No longer armed with the excuse of college stupidity, these friends will go on a journey with higher stakes than a night out has ever had. Because there are things about themselves that blacking out can't erase.
My Review:
Let me approach this review from a different angle this time. The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale can drive you insane, consume you and take over your life. This coming of age book will leave an emotional strain on you and is as addictive as they come.
The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale is about different groups of people from the same college, who move to live their life outside college after completion. Each and every character is unpredictable and ecstatic in their own ways and this book revolves around them meeting on last time after college on a weekend - before heading out to the real world - where they all indulge in sex, drugs and alcohol.
The story is quite a roller coaster and is at times almost extravagant hysteric and the suffering becomes difficult to endure even to the readers. However, the author tries to mok the system and finds humor in these sorry situations. A lot of times novels come along that match the times and this book is the perfect narrative of this era’s anxiety, friendship, sex, drugs and love affairs. It almost makes you think how this has now become a norm to youngsters across the world.
This book stands out in so many areas and the character development his simply amazing, not to mention the truly most non unimaginative twist. This book touches upon so many complex emotions and state of mind. The coping mechanism all of us have turned to and the cultural norm that we have accepted for ourselves.
This book helped me understand how experiences and relationships are so fluid and how we have learned to accept realities even if they are not ours better than we did before.
Overall, this book feels honest and real about the characters in an anxious world like ours. This book was definitely a good read, although lengthy hit all the right chords. About the Author and the Novel:
Neal Cassidy is a debut author of "The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale." It was published this past summertime and has done well, selling over 10,000 copies and appearing on a few of Amazon's Best Seller Lists. This book is available in all online and offline stores.
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