The Stag and Hen Weekend

by Mike Gayle

The Stag and Hen Weekend is the story of Phil and Helen, a couple in their thirties about to commit their lives to one another, that is of course if they can just manage to get through their respective stag and hen weekends ( Amsterdam; a country house and day spa in the Peak District) without falling apart. Told in the unique form of two separate stories that have common characters as well as themes and conclusion, The Stag and Hen Weekend can be read from front to back or from back to front putting the reader in the driver's seat as to which story they wish to read first. Feisty, fun and thought provoking.

Genres: Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Fiction, Womens Fiction, Comedy

401 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

I was born in the 70s — the 70s were great. I would recommend them to anyone.

I was also born in Birmingham — in my humble opinion the greatest city in the world with the nicest people too.

I used to live in London — a great city too. But a bit on the pricey side.

I also used to live in Manchester — another great city (although technically I lived in Salford which is next door but that’s sort of splitting hairs).

Before I went to university I wanted to be a social worker — I have no idea why. It didn’t last long.

After I left university I wanted to write for the NME — I’ve always loved music but it was only when I went to uni that it started loving me back. I can’t play any instruments or sing so writing about music seemed to make sense.

My first paid writing gig was for a listings magazine in Birmingham — (Actually my first unpaid writing gig was an interview with Kitchens of Distinction for Salford Student Magazine. I can’t begin to tell you how terrible it was.)

I used to write a music fanzine — it was called Incredibly Inedible and I co-edited it with my mate Jackie. We typed up the first issue on my dad’s olde worlde typewriter and then literally cut and paste on to A4 sheets using scissors and glue. Over the three years of its existence we interviewed many bands and artists including: Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries, Pavement, Bill Hicks and Blur.

Reviews

[Jasprit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Stag and Hen is two separate stories told from Phil and Helen on their stag and hen weekends away. I randomly started with Phil’s stag, he and the lads decided to go away to Amsterdam. Phil and Helen had been together for nine years, so Phil knew for a long time coming that Helen was the one for him. I had a hard time connecting with Phil’s story, maybe because he was an older character than what I usually read my pov’s from. But it was fun getting into the lads mind set and watching them having a good time. The only thing that didn’t work for me was how all of Phil’s mates didn’t really give encouraging messages to Phil to get married. He was getting married next week and all of his friends had stories where they just got married for the sake of it or their partner didn’t want to get married, way to put self-doubt in the grooms head a week before his big nuptials. Then as more self-doubts started trickling in, Phil decided making erratic decisions and listening to random strangers instead of his gut instinct about his feeling towards Helen. Phil’s story started off as good fun between a group of lads but unfortunately trailed into several unwanted secrets being discovered and the groom getting cold feet.


Now with Helen’s story I much preferred, after what had gone on in Phil’s story I was eager to know whether the assumptions Phil had made were true or not. With Helen also I felt I could connect more with her character and understand the situation she was going through. Helen’s weekend in comparison was also a lot more fun, she had attitude from future sister in law and an ex-boyfriend confusing her feelings to deal with. Both Phil and Helen had individual important decisions to deal with which could affect their future in a big way. With both characters I thought I knew the decisions they would make, but both stories were left wide open with me having no clue what they would do.

Despite some issues, The Stag & Hen weekend was a decent rainy day comfort read.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

400 pagina's gelezen voor een bedenk-het-zelf-maar-einde!?!
Het verhaal was prima en dat je het boek moest omdraaien om het andere verhaal te lezen is best grappig. Maar dit boek had echt een gesloten einde nodig. Kunnen ze volgende keer niet een warning geven? 'Pas op, dit boek heeft een open einde!' Weet ik dat ook weer.

[Crystal Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that this is my least favourite Mike Gayle novel, for one big reason: I hate books with ambiguous endings! I want my happy or even unhappy ending spelled out. If I wanted to come up with my own path/my own ending, I'd have read a Choose your own adventure book. I found the idea of the dual stories appealing, but did find both main characters were lacking. I read The Hen Weekend first and found that I didn't get a sense of Phil in most of the story, same with The Stag Weekend. While I got a bit more of a sense of Phil, both he and Helen were flat & underdeveloped.

[Harriet Reuter Hapgood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm marking it as "read", but honestly, I had to give up. Woeful writing, an utterly pointless read. All tell, no show. Two dimensional and boring. I just wanted some fun fluff easy read type stuff.

This is fluff, no fun - not because of subject matter, but because it's written so badly. It reads like the plot outline of a book and the author's forgotten to write the actual book, hurt handed in the placeholder text.

Gash.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolutely ridiculous bit of fluff but what a way to escape reality. The bizarre coincidences that happened on the hen do and the meetings on the stag you couldn't credit made for an easy bit of light reading. Lovely after a few hard reads or too many 1 or 2* reads.
I liked the way the book was printed - stag 201 pages forwards, hen 201 pages upside down then backwards. Some funny looks if you are watched reading a book with a cover upside down!

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea, having two separate stories from the same weekend, but not having them told alongside each other.
By reading the stag party story second a few things were revealed that hasn't made perfect sense in the hen party story.
Clever ending, as likeable as all his other books.

[Claire Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this book up at a used bookstore in Ljubljana, Slovenia after I finished my last book and needed another for my travels back to Madrid. It was an entertaining read, but the ambiguous ending from both the perspectives sealed the 2 star rating for me. It was entertaining during my travels, but I’m leaving it at the Madrid Barajas Airport now next to gate C49 because I don’t have space for it in my bag for anyone who wants it! xx Claire

[Davina Bowkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 *
A good premise. A story told in 2 parts of a stag weekend and a hen weekend, where some quite ridiculous coincidences happen and both characters quite honestly came across as quite pathetic. I quite enjoyed the story until the annoying cliffhanger ending which I didn't appreciate. Lost half a star for the ending. Nevertheless well written as always with this author

[Goldfishing]

Random library grab for a light intermezzo - this was aggressively hetero. Also when men hug they are called “man-hugs”??? Oy ve

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was rubbish, read it in 2 hours couldn’t root for the characters at all & what was that ending all of that buildup for nothing ?? bye

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was particularly excited about reading Mike Gayle’s book for many reasons. One is that I’m actually getting married this year, and me and my fiancé have recently been talking about Stag and Hen do’s, and what our plans were, so when this book came through the post – I wanted to read it straight away! The other reason which I need to talk about is the format of this book – it is actually split into TWO parts! One half is The Stag Weekend, and then once you have finished that part, all you need to do is turn the book over and open it from the other side to read The Hen Weekend! I was very excited about this and the best thing is – you can choose which story to start with!

The Stag and Hen weekend tells the story of a weekend from two entirely different perspectives – a males and a females. Phil is off on a Stag weekend to Amsterdam with his friends. Whilst Phil would like a quiet weekend of perhaps seeing the culture available and visiting places of interest, his friends are more interested in getting drunk as quickly as they can and being on the lookout for women. When Phil starts chatting to a woman in Amsterdam, it turns out they have rather a lot in common. Helen has opted to stay in the UK, going for a spa weekend in the Peak District with her friends. Ready for a weekend of laughing, pampering and relaxing, the last thing she expects is to run into her ex fiancé. As well as having a blast from the past to deal with, Helen has also been joined by Phil’s sister Caitlin, who she has never got along with…

This is the first book that I have read by Mike Gayle and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this! I was drawn in straight away and spent many wonderful hours losing myself in the two stories. I started with The Stag Weekend, but as I say, it doesn’t matter which side you start with first, and part of the fun is choosing!

With The Stag Weekend, I was immediately hooked to the story, and I instantly warmed to Phil, I got behind him from the beginning and very much enjoyed the time I spent in his story. Phil was such a well-written character that I could feel his emotions pouring out of the page. As I read the story, I could clearly see the scenes vividly in my mind from his perspective, and I went through the same emotions with him. I’m certain that there will be readers out there who will relate to Phil or one of his friends, whilst at the same time enjoying everything the Stag do has to offer! I won’t spoil it, but The Stag Weekend was my favourite part!

When I switched to The Hen Weekend, my mind was very much still with Phil and everything that had happened during his journey over the weekend. However, within a few pages, I was completely absorbed by Helen’s tale and taken on a completely different journey – this time with the girls! I felt that I connected strongly with Helen as a character, as I read more I began to understand her personality and why she acts the way she does.

I loved the way relationships were explored in The Stag and Hen Weekend. I loved how as a reader I was able to read about not only Phil and Helen’s relationship, but the relationships and firm friendships that they individually have built with those closest to them. I enjoyed seeing these friendships grow and develop differently.

Even though there are two parts to The Stag and Hen Weekend they blend together perfectly and compliment each other, and I was so pleased that as a reader we were invited on both the Stag do and the Hen do! Mike Gayle has excelled with this novel – There is drama, plenty of humour but at the same time there is a lot of emotion throughout and some parts are even quite thought-provoking. Personally I am very excited to see what Mike Gayle release next. A brilliant novel that I would thoroughly recommend.

[Agi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars.
Would be 4 if it weren't for the end.
OK, it was a new way to write a book as two seprate stories but IMHO, I think it would be better and more interesting reading if both stories were put like a normal book and you must not think for ever which one should you start with.
Anyway, I started with the pink one as I thought that the black one would be more interesting, being written by a man, with a male point of view. Well, no. Gayle had much better insight into woman's soul as into male's soul, IMO. And you can say what you want, but the hens weekend was much more interesting than stags weekend. As for the satgs weekend, I have just got a very good city - plan of Amsterdam, with a lot of street names and Van Gogh museum.
And really, it's a book, I want an ending, and not letting it stay so open. Grrr... Perhaps we will get a sequel to this book? I am very curious how it is going to end then.

[Kate Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a tedious, badly written book. The only reason I finished this was because I needed something to read in the bath and I had nothing else to read having finished the Saturday paper. Terribly cliched and even by chick lit standards it was pretty awful. The ambiguous ending was annoying (even though quite frankly, I didn't care whether or not Phil and Helen did stay together) and barely any funny moments to make it worth the read.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoying reading the ‘stag’ side and found it a lot more interacting and enjoying when following the plot. The ending of the ‘stag’ half was also more interesting
The ‘hens’ half was a bit bland and after reading the stag half first, I thought I knew what was going to happen. The ending connects up and it’s a shock to the system, but I felt like reading the ‘hen’ half was a bit of a drag and I just wanted to get to the end of it.

[Jo Maule · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept to put two stories back to back. Very easy reading but didn’t engage at a very deep level with the characters and they were a bit unbelievable to me at points. It was an inconclusive end too which I found frustrating.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time reading this and I loved it all over again. What endings, omg, still wish I knew what happened after for a few of the characters. This is still one of my favourite Mike Gayle books!

[Rachael Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading
Fun reading 📚

[Isabel Chevis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. Usually I live Mike Gayle but this was a bit 'chick lit' for me. It was OK but not up to his usual standard.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the concept of this book. I think reading many of the reviews, people missed the point of the overall story! I thoroughly enjoyed it and have come to my own conclusion with how it ends!

[Katie Rushworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't one of the better books by Mike Gayle so I was disappointed. I liked that it was spilt in two but after reading the hen weekend one first I didn't even want to read the stag one. The main girl who's getting married is really annoying and goes through various ways of ruining the weekend by refusing too do stuff that has already been prearranged, choosing instead to stay in her room just because her ex boyfriend is staying at the same hotel. She can't get hold of her fiancee to tell him because his phone is off so panics that her sister in law will tell him so goes out if her way too lie to her friends and her about who the ex boyfriend is. But how can she get in touch because his phone is off and even if she did, it wouldn't be the main character's fault as she couldn't get in touch with him. Then comes the inevitable kiss between her and said ex boyfriend and then she panics again that the sister in law will tell but she never actually saw them nor did the book portray that so that bit doesn't make sense. All in all it was quite boring with the main character acting like a child and rushing through the weekend so we barely know what is happening.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chick lit - so nothing special to see here.

But, what's interesting is the playing around with structure. I'm not twelve, so when I got the book home and realised that it had the "Now turn over" gimmick I was irritated. But I had nothing else to read, so I gave it a try.

It really doesn't matter which book you read first - I started with Helen the Hen. What that meant was that I got a reveal in the Stag story. I can see that if you start the other way round, the dramatic tension might be greater because you know more, but I think I preferred it the way round that I read it.

So, on those grounds, it's worth a three. Glad I gave it a chance due to it being Mike Gayle, but really, the story itself is complete tripe!

[OxoNewbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there was an option for half stars as this was better than a 3 but not quite a 4. It's genre writing and formulaic but it's the sharp observations that elevates Mike Gayle's writing above the rest in the field. In this book, it's his comment on how swanky bathrooms are sometimes better than luxurious bedrooms in high-end hotels. The humour in 'The stag party' was funny too. With two separate stories, your perspective on the weekend would depend on which story you read first. I read the Hen Party first. It has an ambigious ending but my heart tells me, and having a chance to get to know the characters, that the wedding goes ahead.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. This was a terrific concept - basically the same story told from two different points of view. The cover(s) and the way the stories were laid out caught my eye at a used book sale, and I was excited to read something light-hearted. Not knowing which part to read first, I started with the hen weekend. Once the bride-to-be's evil sister-in-law came into the story, though, I switched to the stag part of the book for a while. This was definitely a light read, but there were too may coincidences for my liking, and I didn't like the way to book(s) ended - too ambiguous.

[Shanoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the dualism of the story and I would really recommend reading "Stag night" before "Hen night" as I have the impression that the story goes further (or the ending gets more clear) in "Hen Night". For me, the book has its flaws, the characters are quite shallow and the plot itself has its lenghts (especially in Stag night, but maybe this is more interesting for male readers ...). All in all, it was an enjoyable read, but it could have been a lot better.

[George (Fueltheblog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely story and I really enjoyed the flip. BUT the reason it has 3stars and not any more is the end. Spoiler alert there is no end?! I mean say what!! It’s thrown my head into a spin and I’m not sure why.

Great idea and concept and loved hearing about the two weekends but really wanted to have a together end to find out! It’s the ultimate cliffhanger!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't come up to my expectations at all. So raw, unrealistic, the characters weren't fully developed. It definitely lacks something. However, an open ending is quite interesting, gives some room for thought.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much as expected from the title - the stag side felt more true to life. Plot depnded a bit on coincidences. Fine as a quick holiday read.

[Sarah Benjafield-Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I thought it was going to be. Had to put it down half read as found it rather flat and not what I’m used to in Mike Gayle!

[Claire Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Little twists not what I expected

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best ! Don’t like a cheat!