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

"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.

Each of our journey's in life are different, and I liked how Helen walked this segment of her journey. She was so compassionate with her friend, Nicola. She liked straightforward tasks of love and order that she could perform with ease (page 42). I loved how she shed tears while her granddaughter was performing at the school program (page 80). She was my kind of gal. I would recommend this book to my friends.

This was a compelling story. The author successfully conveys the complexities of witnessing a loved one's move toward death. Contrary to the subject matter, it is not depressing...rather the story is affirming. I liked it fine.

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.

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

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.

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.

An engaging,eloquent tale which explores the demands of friendship. The unsuspecting and at times, unwilling Helen agrees to care for her friend Nicola who is coping with the ravages of end-stage cancer. Nicola seems to have been a difficult person, self -centered and unrealistic even when in the best of health. Helen who is patient and forbearing learns a good deal about herself as well as about her friend during this ordeal.

The author has a knack for presenting the grim realities of the sickroom. I would definitely read further work of this author.