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A review by versmonesprit
We Spread by Iain Reid
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
What happens when a book is misrepresented? This. The worst possible rating.
We Spread is categorised as a psychological thriller, and worse yet, horror. It’s neither. Maybe if someone had the sense to categorise this as literary fiction I might have gone into it with a different set of expectations, might have even liked the book. But I listened to it because I was in the mood for a creepy read, and all along I waited very patiently for the ball to drop, only to realise there was never even a ball.
I’ve started listening to audiobooks more frequently because they help better than music while exercising. I usually stay away from audiobooks because some narrators have a theatre kid complex, and I do not want anyone to yell in my ear. On this front, the audiobook was quite great, as the narrator read calmly.
The book is narrated by Penny, an old woman with dementia, and that’s it. About 20% into the book, she’s finally brought to the care facility the book is said to be set in, and then practically nothing happens.
Upon finishing the book (with the worst opinions) I went around to read reviews on different platforms to see if I could find something to like in the book (which is a thing I do from time to time, I think out of a wish for the book not to have been a complete waste of time) and one user on Reddit (yes I clicked on Reddit, we all do terrible things sometimes, I was just bored of clearly biased “reviews” from newspapers and magazines which are in fact adverts) shared their theory that Penny is a painting. How I loved that premise! How I wish that was the book! Unfortunately it very obviously is not, because any author who could come up with such a clever idea would add clues to suggest it. And instead the conclusion is just tangible human death.
I think the reason people feel unconvinced nothing sinister is happening is because they’re unfamiliar with dementia. Nothing that happens in the book and appears sinister ever ends up anywhere, not even at a suggestion towards anything within the scope of horror. It seems to me people don’t realise just how much dementia patients forget. They forget everything: how much time has elapsed, the order of events, who people around them are at all, who they themselves are. They forget what they like, they forget what they *don’t* like. My grandmother who has Alzheimer’s recently said she’s disgusted by the taste of shrimps… they have always been her favourite food. Before, she drank a whole bottle of beer saying she loves beer… she always hated beer, she never drank anything other than wine and gin. She was hospitalised for COVID, but she’s adamant she has never gotten it and we’re lying when we mention how our entire family eventually caught it. She forgot my father is her son-in-law. She forgets which of her friends she spoke to the second she hangs up the phone. I could go on indefinitely. The point is that yes, people with dementia are as confused and disoriented as Penny is throughout the book. The point is that yes, people with dementia can get paranoid fears, imagine sinister things going on, be distrustful of new people (who would be the caretakers brought in to assist them)…
This book is just the daily life of a woman with dementia. And that could’ve been such a touching premise too, but it’s not done well at all, especially considering this is allegedly a horror novel. The “horror” here is that the employees at care facilities try to keep their elderly patients alive, and as mentally active as possible so they don’t deteriorate faster. That’s all there is. Everything could have been done better — ESPECIALLY the proper categorisation of the book.
We Spread is categorised as a psychological thriller, and worse yet, horror. It’s neither. Maybe if someone had the sense to categorise this as literary fiction I might have gone into it with a different set of expectations, might have even liked the book. But I listened to it because I was in the mood for a creepy read, and all along I waited very patiently for the ball to drop, only to realise there was never even a ball.
I’ve started listening to audiobooks more frequently because they help better than music while exercising. I usually stay away from audiobooks because some narrators have a theatre kid complex, and I do not want anyone to yell in my ear. On this front, the audiobook was quite great, as the narrator read calmly.
The book is narrated by Penny, an old woman with dementia, and that’s it. About 20% into the book, she’s finally brought to the care facility the book is said to be set in, and then practically nothing happens.
Upon finishing the book (with the worst opinions) I went around to read reviews on different platforms to see if I could find something to like in the book (which is a thing I do from time to time, I think out of a wish for the book not to have been a complete waste of time) and one user on Reddit (yes I clicked on Reddit, we all do terrible things sometimes, I was just bored of clearly biased “reviews” from newspapers and magazines which are in fact adverts) shared their theory that Penny is a painting. How I loved that premise! How I wish that was the book! Unfortunately it very obviously is not, because any author who could come up with such a clever idea would add clues to suggest it. And instead the conclusion is just tangible human death.
I think the reason people feel unconvinced nothing sinister is happening is because they’re unfamiliar with dementia. Nothing that happens in the book and appears sinister ever ends up anywhere, not even at a suggestion towards anything within the scope of horror. It seems to me people don’t realise just how much dementia patients forget. They forget everything: how much time has elapsed, the order of events, who people around them are at all, who they themselves are. They forget what they like, they forget what they *don’t* like. My grandmother who has Alzheimer’s recently said she’s disgusted by the taste of shrimps… they have always been her favourite food. Before, she drank a whole bottle of beer saying she loves beer… she always hated beer, she never drank anything other than wine and gin. She was hospitalised for COVID, but she’s adamant she has never gotten it and we’re lying when we mention how our entire family eventually caught it. She forgot my father is her son-in-law. She forgets which of her friends she spoke to the second she hangs up the phone. I could go on indefinitely. The point is that yes, people with dementia are as confused and disoriented as Penny is throughout the book. The point is that yes, people with dementia can get paranoid fears, imagine sinister things going on, be distrustful of new people (who would be the caretakers brought in to assist them)…
This book is just the daily life of a woman with dementia. And that could’ve been such a touching premise too, but it’s not done well at all, especially considering this is allegedly a horror novel. The “horror” here is that the employees at care facilities try to keep their elderly patients alive, and as mentally active as possible so they don’t deteriorate faster. That’s all there is. Everything could have been done better — ESPECIALLY the proper categorisation of the book.