'We Spread' by Iain Reid follows the story of Penny, an elderly woman who is moved into a care facility after an accident at home. The narrative delves into Penny's struggle to hold onto her memories as she navigates life in the facility, surrounded by other elderly patients. The plot is carefully crafted to leave readers questioning the reality of Penny's experiences, blurring the lines between dementia, reality, and potential sinister motives within the care facility. The writing style immerses readers into Penny's perspective, creating a sense of confusion and fear that mirrors her own struggles with memory loss and old age.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book contains high content warnings, particularly regarding dementia, memory loss, confusion, and existential themes related to aging and death.
From The Publisher:
The author of the "evocative, spine-tingling, and razor-sharp" ( Bustle ) I'm Thinking of Ending Things that inspired the Netflix original movie and the "short, shocking" ( The Guardian ) Foe returns with a new work of suspense following an elderly woman trapped in a mysterious facility.
Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many "incidents."
Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny-with a growing sense of unrest and distrust-starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?
At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid's "exquisite novel of psychological suspense" ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.
Ratings (19)
Incredible (4) | |
Loved It (8) | |
Liked It (5) | |
It Was OK (2) |
Reader Stats (32):
Read It (18) | |
Want To Read (13) | |
Not Interested (1) |
5 comment(s)
Uhhhhhhhhh I feel like reality has been altered. I feel like I can’t trust anyone or anything after reading this book. What the fuq did I just read?! 5 stars for you again, Ian Reid.
It was well written but I struggled with getting into the story and feel connected with it. I might do a Reread if it another time to hopefully like it more.
Unanswered questions? You betcha. There’s a ton but that’s kind of Iain Reid’s thing. The writing is beautiful and if you enjoy closing a book and being left with a whole lot of stuff to unpack you’ll like this. I can’t stop speculating. There’s metaphors aplenty to sift through. I could heavily annotate 10 different copies and end up with something different every time. I love it!
Iain Reid does it again. I really enjoy Iain's books and this one didn't disappoint me.
Once again Reid has placed us inside the mind of a fascinating unreliable narrator. Leaving more to the imagination than his previous novels, I think he's perfecting his personal brand of nuance and letting things sit unanswered, uncertain.
What can you read after
We Spread?
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