What readers think of The Spare Room, plus links to write your own review.

I read this book in a night, it's short and bittersweet. I'm not sure how I would have felt about this book if I hadn't had a sister die of cancer, it was more painful to read because I kept thinking of all she went through. I wish I could have cared for her like the author cares for her friend. Its not just a pretty story, its very truthful and shows all the emotions that caregivers go through. I recommend this book for a quick read and for its honesty and forthrightness.

This novel is concise and competently explores the tenuous hope given by, as well as the inevitable pitfalls of, alternative cancer treatments. The interactions between the two main characters are presented realistically and directly. Some of the physical details of one character's suffering from terminal cancer might be a little too graphic for the squeamish reader, but the novel's sense of place (Melbourne, Australia) adds interest and variety. Definitely a worthwhile book.

Having recently been in care taking for a dear friend who underwent horrible chemotherapy followed by two months of intense depression, the experiences of Helen in caring for Nicola rang so true. Before taking it on who would think the 24 hour care of feeding, sheet changing, transporting, companionship while keeping ones feelings to self could be so exhausting in such a short period of time. And this with the conflicting feeling of what it does to ones own life and relationships. Yet you would not want to be any where else doing anything else.

It may be fiction but it rang so true to my experience.

For a story based on ultimate sadness, it is a tribute to friendship, what we will do for our friends who really are our family.

Highly recommend this short easy read.

The Spare Room by Helen Garner, an Australian writer who I hadn’t read before, is a fast and intense read. I really didn’t want to put it down. The story is completely focused on the relationship between the first person protagonist, Helen, and Nicola, an old friend who is suffering from stage four cancer.

Nicola, who lives outside Sydney, comes to stay with Helen, who lives near Melbourne, when she is undergoing an alternative therapy for cancer. This is an “exploding doormat” story: Helen is the dutiful friend who finds that more and more of her time and energy are used to accommodate Nicola’s needs, physical and mental. Finally, when Nicola’s niece comes to stay, she realizes that she’s been put in position beyond her abilities and she explodes with anger.

I writhed with recognition at a situation that seemed so realistic to me – who can measure how far a friendship should go? I particularly liked the setting of Australia, where what is everyday to the characters came across as exotic to an American reader. I would have liked a bit more backstory about how the relationship between the two friends developed, but that might have cut the intensity of the plot, which was tightly focused on the relationship between the two women. Although the story is primarily about friendship, the details of the progress of cancer and the desperation of the treatment are extremely intense for someone looking for an escapist novel

While I read this book in an afternoon it was a wonderful read. Helen Garner writes eloquently and, at times, humorously, about friendship, fear, self preservation, and dying. She is able to articulate what so many of us go through when someone we love is sick.

The story moves quickly and the characters are vibrant and three dimensional. I identified with this book on many levels, which to me is the mark of a well written story.

This book will resonate with anyone who loves their friends, but at times wonder what the heck they are thinking as they make decisions in their lives, and struggle mightily to support them anyway.

The Spare Room by Helen Garner, is a hard read at times because of its brutally honest portrayal of the way a last-chance treatment for cancer affects the lives of the patient, Nicola, and her friend Helen, who has agreed to put Nicola up in her house during the weeks of the treatment.

Although their long-term friendship is strong, Nicola's tunnel-vision about the alternative (and questionable) treatment, and her inability to honestly see the way it affects her health and the lives of those around her, tests the women's relationship, and also Nicola's relationship with others.

I liked Garner's easy and intimate writing style, and the humor she injects into the mostly depressing story. One gets the feeling from the book's account of cancer symptoms and the body's reactions to certain treatments that the author must have either cared for a cancer patient herself, or witnessed the affects of the disease on someone close to her. Its details are what are hard to read at times, but they're also integral to the plot and to how the disease and prognosis affects both Nicola and Helen.

Although this wasn't one of the best books I've read recently, I'm glad I did. The Spare Room's plot is small and only covers a short period of time, but its emotional intensity and insight into different personalities lingers.

"The Spare Room" is a spare, heartbreaking, beautifully crafted novel. Helen is a woman in her 60s who lives alone when she offers a room to her long-time friend, Nicola, who is receiving alternative treatments for terminal cancer. What follows is a magnificent story that about life's big issues, including the limits of friendship, coming to terms with our mortality, and the responsibility we have to loved ones. This is one of the best works of fiction I've read in a long time.

This is a spare yet powerful novel that packs an emotional punch. The friendship between the two main characters, as well as the questions of how much can a terminally ill friend rightly expect of the other, and in turn how long-suffering and compassionate can that other one be expected to be, make for a great read. On the downside I found several aspects of this novel frustrating. The relationship between the two characters was not well developed causing me to become impatient with their demands on each other. Also, Nicola has an unbelievable sense of entitlement due to her sickness. In reality people are much more aware of being a burden to their loved ones. This conflict within the novel would make it a great choice for bookclubs.