We Spread

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

What a weird wonderful little book. Mr. Reid gets better and better with each offer, but this felt especially au courant after lock down. Both cynical and optimistic about humanity, I’m looking forward to rereading it several times to make sure I get each subtlety. Easy five

Honestly what a book. I started it and that was it, I needed to finish it - I needed to know what was going on.

All of Iain Reid's books are captivating but this one is definitely a stand out novel. I loved our journey with Penny from the beginning - by the end I felt almost protective of her and I hated what was going on.

The ending left me perplexed but in a good way - I'm a sucker for an ambiguous ending.

If you enjoyed I'm Thinking of Ending Things then you definitely need to check this book out!

Artist Penny is losing interest in the things she once loved. Alone after her partner dies, she’s struggling with ageing until a fall forces her landlord to take her to a long term care facility Penny is assured she chose as a failsafe for when she grew unable to care for herself. When Penny finds herself returning to her passions – painting, eating and enjoying the company of others – she starts losing her grip on her sense of time and her memories. Is this normal? Or is something more sinister occurring?

A timely read on the obsession with youth and prolonging the inevitable, WE SPREAD is a deliciously uncomfortable, creeping gothic horror full of some of my favourite things – fungus, puzzles, and terrifyingly dreamy motifs.

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I had only read one of Reid's previous novels 'I'm thinking of end things' which I thought was fantastic. It was definitely not my usual type of novel which I think made it even better.

So when I say his new novel on Netgalley I knew I had to request.

Penny lives alone after the death of her long term partner. After a few falls, it is clear she is unable to live alone and is moved to an assisted living facility, a very small scale care home with only a handful of residents.

When she gets there, she begins to lose a grip on reality.....or does she?

Reid definitely has an immense talent as an author of taking a subject and with sparse, gentle writing making it into a novel which will definitely make you think.

I am not quite sure about the ending but then, given the subject matter, I am not quite sure I need to be and am not quite sure it matters.

Massive thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK, Scribner UK, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Interesting premise and great build up of suspense, capturing the loneliness and uncertainty of old age.

For a short book, Ian Reid's extraordinary genre defying novel makes quite the chilling emotional impact, leaving me shaking my head on finishing, wondering what on earth I had read. He explores the themes of art, getting older, beginning to feel the inevitable decline in our physical health and mental faculties, losing agency over lives, and the nature of our relationships. What starts out as the all too ordinary soon moves into darker and more unsettling territory, but nothing is certain, all is ambiguous. Penny is an elderly artist, she has lived in her small apartment home for decades, surrounded by all that she has accrued during her long life. She has learned to accept and accommodate what comes with old age, but matters have come to a head with a few 'incidents'.

Her longtime partner passed away many years earlier, but had made provisions that she knew nothing of. Which is how she finds herself with a room in a long-term care facility. At first, all appears fine and normal, with Penny conversing and mixing with others, but soon time becomes blurred, more difficult to differentiate, her sense of self and grip on life begins to slide away from her. Is what is happening all part of the normal ageing process or is something more sinister at play? The talented Reid writes beautifully, building a menacing level of tension and atmosphere, incorporating elements of horror, that draws in the reader with ease from start to finish, whilst touching on issues that none of us can escape from as we all inevitably get older.

A short, disturbing, captivating and thought provoking read on life and death that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Iain Reid writes incredible, literary, thought provoking works of art that genuinely defy genre.

His stories tend to have a strong sense of isolation running through the narratives, his trademark if you like, each novel explores the human condition in unique and emotionally resonant ways. Anyone who drew in a sharp breath through the final page of the intensely brilliant "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" will know exactly what I mean.

We Spread examines the onset of old age through its main protagonist and her slowly slipping sense of time and place, it is both disturbing and beautiful- beyond my ability to describe it, this is a full on amazing read.