The Spare Room

On the recommendation of Nice Lady Doctor, I have just read The Spare Room by Helen Garner; Nice Lady Doctor was most disappointed that the book failed to make the Booker long list, and I can now see why.

In some ways it is an easy book to read as it is relatively short, but in other ways it is anything but easy. It deals with the way a lady takes in an old friend to stay in the eponymous spare room. This lady turns out to be in denial of the fact that she is in the last stages of cancer, and is now exploring some of the world of woo, with IVI Vitamin C which causes her great pain (which is supposed to be due to the vitamin C grabbing hold of the cancer), and then later coffee enemas.

The friend who cares finds life more and more difficult and even more difficult as she has to cope with the denial.

This is very much a story of friendship under adversity.

It is not an easy book, but it is beautifully written and is very thought provoking.