How far are we expected to go for another person? How much should we be willing to sacrifice for a friend? Helen and Nicola are old friends, close but rarely reliant on each other – until Nicola arrives at the door a shadow of her former self, clearly in the final stages of cancer. In the three weeks that follow, Nicola takes over not just the spare room, but all aspects of Helen’s life.
The contrast between the two friends, both free spirits in their youth but now worlds apart in their outlooks and lifestyles, gives Helen Garner’s novel a backbone of tension and discord. Nicola is convinced by alternative therapies, yet as her condition only worsens despite these treatments, her relationship with Helen becomes increasingly stormy.
The success of the book lies in Garner’s utterly convincing portrayal of the ugliness of caring for the terminally ill, probably a product of her own experiences. There are no rose-tinted glasses here; the prelude to death is not accompanied by soft harmonies and romanticised recollections.
Nicola’s stubbornness and self-destructive denial is heartbreakingly real. Despite the clarity of the situation, she refuses to accept any version of events but her own. As Helen is forced to behave ever more heroically towards her guest-patient, her frustration grows. Duty and responsibility, as Garner demonstrates, are by no means black and white.
Garner’s prose is not especially remarkable, and more back story would not have gone amiss. We are given little sense of why it is Helen of all people who is called on in Nicola’s time of need. Given the novel’s relative brevity, it’s a shame that the characters remain only half-painted canvasses. Still, ‘The Spare Room’ will stay in your mind long after you turn the final page. If it isn’t exactly a pleasurable read, it’s certainly thought-provoking and intelligent.
