We Spread A Novel

this is one of those books that makes you stare at a wall quietly for five minutes after you finish it

usually i like not knowing what's going on, but this time it was boring

man that was good. and maybe this is antithetical to the whole thing but now i am afraid of growing old

"the tragedy of life isn’t that the end comes. that's the gift. without an end, there’s nothing. there's no meaning. do you see? a moment isn’t a moment. a moment is an eternity. a moment should mean something. it should be everything." i think why i like iain reid's writing is bc you never know whats real or what's not in his books. even after having read the whole novel, you're left wondering— with thousands of questions in your mind— as to what actually transpired. you never get the answer to your burning questions and in iain reid's case, it's beautiful and surreal and ever compelling to be left in the dark—to be left to my own interpretations for days and months to come on after having shut the final page of the novel (i think i just rly love authors who don't think of their audience as dumb brainless fellows and instead challenge their minds w clever prose/writing)

I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, I enjoyed the tension. I could feel myself getting as stressed and confused as Penny the whole time. I thought Reid did a nice job showcasing the horrors of growing older and losing one's mental faculties. But on the other, I couldn't tell you a single thing about what actually happened. This was the first book I've read by Reid, but I can tell his writing style might not be for me.

Well this was a quick confusing read. I like when i can't figure out if the narrator is reliable or just going insane. I love when books gaslight me despite the book being categorized horror it didn't feel much of a horror for me more like a psychological thriller. There were scenes and aspects of the story that the author could've used to his advantage to make the story more intriguing and more horror-ish and creepy but sadly he went for the safe route and left so many questions unanswered it made the ending feel anticlimactic which i wasnt a fan of.

Utterly exhilerating and yet completely confusing at the same time. Confusion is an underrated term for this book, it is entirely empty. It fills every corner of my brain, trying to understand what is the truth and what is not.

I can't properly process anything right now. My brain feels like it's just exploded and I'm in awe. We Spread was a phenomenal book about a woman named Penny. Penny is getting older. She's losing function in her body and her memory isn't what it used to be. She spends her days reminiscing about her younger self, painting, and wishing she'd made more of her life when she still could. After a nasty fall, Penny is taken to a small long-term care residence in the country, surrounded by the forest and nature. For the first time in a long time, Penny is eating and sleeping well. She feels passionate about art again and is making friends with the other residents. But maybe there's more going on in this house than the others know. Something sinister and creepy. Maybe they're all in danger and time is running out. Maybe Penny is the only one fighting against it. Maybe she's everyone's only hope, if only she can figure out what's going on in time to stop it. Or maybe Penny has dementia and her mind is playing tricks on her, causing her to lose time, forget where she's been, and make up new memories to make sense of it all. What I loved so much about this book is that Penny was an unreliable narrator. Or was she? Who knows? That in and of itself was part of the thrill. At any given time there was no way for me to know if Penny was genuinely experiencing these events or if this whole story was the result of confabulation and a failing memory. We Spread is a terrifying story, just as much about a supernatural science experiment as it is about the way the mind fails us as we age. Iain Reid has found a way to put into words the gut-wrenching, helpless fear you feel when you're losing your memories and can't be sure of what's real and what isn't. When you can't tell if that memory is a paranoia-induced nightmare or if you're really being experimented on and used. When you're constantly questioning if your own thoughts and memories are even real. My brain is still trying to digest this story. I picked this book up from the library earlier today and read it in one day. I flew through the pages and now I'm sitting here writing this review and trying to figure out what the fuck I just read. This book is brilliant and I absolutely loved it. If you're looking for a psychological thriller/horror read, look no further. This is it! Content Warnings for Dementia, Death, Medical Content, Toxic Relationship, and Animal Death. Additional non-spoilery details under the spoiler tag. (view spoiler)[Dementia is the closest I can get to describing what this book is about. Dementia is never explicitly named, but one of the main themes of the book is the main character not being sure if she can trust her own memories or thoughts anymore, very much like someone with Dementia loses their memories or confabulates new ones to make sense of everything. Death is also talked about extensively. Medical content is because they are in a long-term care residence and the people there often have IV's, staff helping them shower and use the restroom, etc. The main character talks about a toxic relationship she was in with quite a bit of detail, from the very beginning of the book. Animal death is mentioned and impacts the emotional state of the main character, but is never shown on page. (hide spoiler)]

As usual, Reid does a beautiful job of using the simple and mundane to leave one feeling haunted. We Spread uses two of society’s greatest fears, old age and the uncertainty that anyone can trust their own mind, to unsettle and make you question not only what it means to be a part of community but what your obligations are to each other vs yourself. I love works with open endings, and this is one for sure, so if that is not your thing, you may want to skip this. Thanks to Goodreads and Scout Press for the ARC.