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A review by zoenosis
The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan
2.0
I teared up a little on the final page. Beautifully written book with an elegant and simple storyline that drifts between present, past and fantasy. As a Melbournian I also appreciated the local flavour.
While it was beautiful, I'm not sure I would read it again. I found the portrayal of the men/women, carer/cared-for dynamics a little bit off and odd. All of the main female characters in this book (Heather, Fleur, their mum and Sylvia) are all cared for as a focus of the novel (i.e. we only interact with these women when they require care), and men are their primary carers, either as sons, husbands, fathers or lovers. I found this divide between what the men in the book were doing and what the women were doing to be really harsh and confronting, and I don't think it reflected that well on the ability of these women to have agency or be complex people. Normally in a book, I am fine with a few characters being the same, but here it seemed overwhelming without a counterpoint/contrasting character or two.
It is especially hard to stomach because the archetypal 'woman' presented here is just lots of women being burdens on their families, who moan about how awful the women are for being ill. If we were able to see some equal sharing of care tasks between partners, or some more equal distribution of care needs between the genders, I think it would have been a more complex narrative about the nature of illness and caregiving. As it was, I felt it was a bit one note.
While it was beautiful, I'm not sure I would read it again. I found the portrayal of the men/women, carer/cared-for dynamics a little bit off and odd. All of the main female characters in this book (Heather, Fleur, their mum and Sylvia) are all cared for as a focus of the novel (i.e. we only interact with these women when they require care), and men are their primary carers, either as sons, husbands, fathers or lovers. I found this divide between what the men in the book were doing and what the women were doing to be really harsh and confronting, and I don't think it reflected that well on the ability of these women to have agency or be complex people. Normally in a book, I am fine with a few characters being the same, but here it seemed overwhelming without a counterpoint/contrasting character or two.
It is especially hard to stomach because the archetypal 'woman' presented here is just lots of women being burdens on their families, who moan about how awful the women are for being ill. If we were able to see some equal sharing of care tasks between partners, or some more equal distribution of care needs between the genders, I think it would have been a more complex narrative about the nature of illness and caregiving. As it was, I felt it was a bit one note.