The Spare Room

by Helen Garner

Book Overview

In her first novel in fifteen years, Helen Garner writes about the joys and limits of female friendship under the transforming pressure of illness. "The clear-eyed grace of her prose" in this darkly funny and unsparing novel has been hailed by Peter Carey as "the work of a great writer." Garlanded with awards, dazzling reviewers around the globe, The Spare Room is destined to be a modern literary classic.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312428170
• ISBN13: 9780312428174
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

"It [Death] Injects Poison Into Friendship"

In Helen Garner's short novel THE SPARE ROOM, Helen, the narrator, takes in her sixty-five-year-old friend Nicola from Sydney for a three-week-stay while she undergoes alternative treatment for stage four cancer at a clinic in Melbourne. That treatment wil consist of massive intravenous doses of Vitamin C that leave her bent over with pain, coffee enemas-- but only organic coffee-- and eventually twenty apricots a day. In simple, transparent prose, Ms. Garner has crafted a novel that a fellow Australian Peter Carey describes as perfect. I am inclined to agree. There is not a misplaced or superfluous word here as these two friends, each in her own way, live with the specter of death: "Death was in my house." Helen is convinced and diagnoses accurately the so-called specialists at the Theodore Institute, where Nicola receives "treatment"-- she describes one of them as "in his tight suit and slip-on shoes he looked more like a salesman or a preacher"-- as crooks and charlatans. Nicola, on the other hand, of course has to trust them. "I don't have a choice." Their two competing attitudes provide much of the tension as Nicola gets progressively worse and Helen becomes more and more frustrated as her nightly vigil over her friend becomes a "lamp-lit labour." Ms. Garner contrasts beautifully the dying Nicola with Bessie, Helen's five-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter who plays on a trampoline and dances with only the energy of one so young. She views Nicola with "fascinated panic" and asks her granddmother-- as she confronts death for the first time-- with the honesty of children, "Is Nicola going to die?" Both women share a roller-coaster ride as they go from one emotion to another in this story that has universal implications: anger, which is exhausting, fright, hope, despair, a modicum of pleasure-- they do watch "Million Dollar Baby" alhough the narrator reminds us that "Death will not be denied. To try is grandiose. It drives madness into the soul. It leaches out virtue. It injects poison into friendship, and makes a mockery of love." The author raises touchy subjects and asks hard questions: Like Helen, which one of us has not grown weary of caring for the termally ill and wished they would die--"I had lost control of my life"-- and then be wracked with guilt for harbouring such a thought? Or like Nicola, would we, staring down death-- that literally becomes a character in this novel that you will finish in one setting-- not re-examine our faith or lack of it? Or would we not say as Nicola that we have wasted our lives? One of my favorite passages in this exquisitely nuanced novel is that one when Helen meets her "churchy" sister Lucy over grilled flounder and the two have a conversation as only family members can: "Gee, you look like Mum," Heln tells Lucy who reminds her that Nicola trusts her, that that is probably why she chose her to stay with while undergoing "treatment" and that "maybe . . . unconsciously or otherwise. . . she came to yo

Quick but thoughtful read

The story and author asks, "How much of ourselves are we willing to give up to help a friend?" This is the crux of the story...two good friends, one happy and moving through life, the other dying of cancer. The sick friend asks to stay a while, which turns out to be more than our heroine ever imagined. Heroine? Yes, heroine. This wonderfully written story of the intertwining of lives of two good freinds brings the reader face-to-face with the reality of late stage cancer in all its horror. But it doesn't have to be cancer; it's just death and the anger, sorrow, denial, loss and all other emotions that goes with it. Our heroine, Helen, says, "I had always thought that sorrow was the most exhausting of the emotions. Now I knew that it was anger." This is just one of the many gems in the story about the hard parts of saying good-bye. Filled with wit and humor, sadness and terror, and lovely writing, this is a quick read that will stay with you for a long time.

Even wealthy hippies die

This spare novel details the struggles of a pair of upper middle class Australian women to come to terms with the fact that one of them is going to die of cancer shortly. The one dying is in serious denial, and as a wealthy hippie, can afford to travel from Sydney to Melbourne to indulge in expensive alternative therapy. She stays with her friend for the three grueling weeks, blithely refusing to acknowledge that she is not getting better; she is getting progressively more ill and requires care more intense than her friend feels she can or should provide on her own. How they come to terms with this conflict makes for surprisingly good reading--not maudlin or overly gruesome, and in the end, I felt a sense of catharsis. A worthwhile read.

"Death will not be denied."

Garner has crafted a powerful paean to friendship, the profound generosity of an Australian woman, Helen, who welcomes her dear friend, Nicola, into her home for three weeks of alternative cancer treatment at the nearby Theodore Institute. Helen attends to the most intimate details in her preparation for the free-spirited Nicola's visit. Rescheduling other responsibilities, Helen anticipates the hours ahead with some trepidation- Nicola does have a cancerous tumor- but has done everything she can imagine to make Nicola's stay comfortable. Meeting Nicola's plane, Helen is shocked by her friend's condition, the woman barely able to navigate without assistance. Back at home, Helen realizes Nicola is sicker than she has realized, terribly thin, assaulted by chills and unrelenting pain. This is Helen's first glimpse of the rigors ahead, the night sweats, the all-consuming pain, Nicola's extreme reaction to massive infusions of Vitamin C. But the indomitable Nicola will not be deterred, steadfastly clinging to her faith in the Theodore Institute in spite of evidence to the contrary. Alone with Nicola's stubborn refusal to accept the truth of her predicament, Helen is soon overwhelmed, emotionally and physically exhausted by sleepless nights and long days at the clinic, drained by Nicola's refusal to request appropriate pain relief. It is Nicola's rigorous spirit that eventually fills the practical Helen with a rage that consumes her as the days pass: "I was sick with shame, raging at myself... raging at death... for being so slow with her and so cruel." This friendship is built on confidence, a shared sensibility that finds humor in every situation and a mutual respect that has allowed the two women to bond so deeply. But this desperate, brittle Nicola has been altered by her disease, fueled by an unflagging will to survive, enduring harrowing, pain-wracked nights only to soldier on the next day, a rictus of a smile plastered on her face. The more pragmatic Helen is unsettled by her friend's denial, finally undone by her helplessness in the face of Nicola's refusal to surrender to necessity. Garner describes Helen's agonizing unraveling from generosity to rage: "Anger is the most exhausting of emotions." What might have been maudlin and depressing becomes transcendent in the hands of a compassionate author who artfully dissects the many layers of human suffering, a subtle balance of good intentions and the terrible burdens demanded by such care. This is primarily Helen's journey, Nicola engrossed in her own private battle against death, an overwhelming need to dominate a condition that strips her caretaker of hope in the face of a ravaging disease. These two women in their sixties face mortality armed with their enduring affection for one another, neither expecting the emotional rollercoaster that confronts them as death asserts itself. While Helen's internal struggles are deeply painful, she aligns herself on the side of reason, her love for Nicola

A little book that packs a big punch.

Spare Room is a short novel, and it can easily be read in one sitting. But just because it's short doesn't mean it doesn't pack a big punch - it does. Summary in a nutshell, no spoilers: The bulk of the story takes place over a 3 week period of time. Nicola, 65 years old, is near death from cancer and comes to visit her close friend Helen. Nicola is desperate for a cure and goes to a clinic with dubious credentials just because they promise her what no one else will - that they will rid her of the cancer. Helen wants to help her friend but grows more and more frustrated with Nicola's refusal to face reality, both because she wants Nicola to be able to end her life well and say good-bye, and because Helen is stuck with round-the-clock care of Nicola because of the sick woman's refusal to get real help. This is a touching, beautiful novel. We not only get to examine the relationship of these two women - one who raised a traditional family and one more bohemian - but we also see how they reflect on their lives and the choices they made. We also become observers of the aging and the existential angst of a generation that thought it would be forever young and vital. I highly recommend this novel. It is short but not slight, and when you finish, you will feel like you've just read something much longer. I know I had a lot to think about when I turned that last page, as I examined my personal thoughts on my own aging and mortality, and the duty and true meaning of friendship. The subject matter is serious and somber, yet the story is told with humor and wit. Brava.