Scan barcode
A review by linnaboobooks
We Spread by Iain Reid
5.0
I am yet another person to give this a five star rating.
If you have a family member or work with elderly people, especially if they suffer from Alzheimer's, you will see some sort of familiarly you might find in any respect of the variation in one of the four elders that are shown in this novel (Penny, Hilbert, Ruth, and Pete). And because of that, it's understandably impactful to see what it's like inside the mind of someone with Alzheimer's as it becomes worse.
As someone who has had a grandfather with Alzheimer's, from a young age I've been aware of this disease for over 15 years. The title "We Spread" has a different meaning to me because of this than the in-novel reference, it's about how the disease spreads with time through the brain as neurons and tangles worsen.
This by far may be one of the most realistic horrors I've came across, in how sincerely and honestly it portrays the horror of Alzheimer's and how it affects the person with it. How scary it becomes to lose the passage of time, to forget hours and days at a time, hallucinate, and a bunch of other terrifying one can go through.
It's not scary, not in the way more traditional horror is, it's scary for Penny. And possibly the reader if growing old like this is a fear of theirs.
If you have a family member or work with elderly people, especially if they suffer from Alzheimer's, you will see some sort of familiarly you might find in any respect of the variation in one of the four elders that are shown in this novel (Penny, Hilbert, Ruth, and Pete). And because of that, it's understandably impactful to see what it's like inside the mind of someone with Alzheimer's as it becomes worse.
As someone who has had a grandfather with Alzheimer's, from a young age I've been aware of this disease for over 15 years. The title "We Spread" has a different meaning to me because of this than the in-novel reference, it's about how the disease spreads with time through the brain as neurons and tangles worsen.
This by far may be one of the most realistic horrors I've came across, in how sincerely and honestly it portrays the horror of Alzheimer's and how it affects the person with it. How scary it becomes to lose the passage of time, to forget hours and days at a time, hallucinate, and a bunch of other terrifying one can go through.
It's not scary, not in the way more traditional horror is, it's scary for Penny. And possibly the reader if growing old like this is a fear of theirs.