The Spare Room by Helen Garner

Perhaps this isn’t the best thing to be reading on the second day of convalescence after the foot operation, when you’re a bit worn out by pain and over the adrenalin rush that sustains you through the event…. It’s a book about how a woman looks after her friend who is resisting dying of cancer. I read everything Helen Garner writes: I love her honesty, her sparse language, the way she goes to the heart of any matter no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular her position. This is supposed to be a novel but it is peppered with references to her life and her work, so I am assuming much of the experience is real. The friend is a superannuated hippie type, and reminds me incidentally of certain close friends from my past who were addicted to dancing under moonlight or any sort of whacky therapeutic practice that might provide a madcap alternative to research-based modern medicine. Anyway, I digress. The friend is trying an extreme and unproven treatment at a very dodgy clinic in Melbourne to cure her of cancer and to allow her to avoid facing the realities of the disease. The load she places on Garner is enormous and not willingly shouldered, really, although Garner loves her dearly. That’s what I mean about Garner’s honesty – who else would own up to not being up to the burden of care? It’s a very short novel, thank goodness, because it’s uncomfortable reading. It’s also not Garner’s best because I think it gets a bit sentimental at the end, but then what a topic! 3 ½ stars.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

If you’re going to get yourself laid up in bed with a foot operation for a week or so, this is the book for you. It is a piece of wonderfully intricate, detailed historical fiction, dealing with the early part of Thomas Cromwell’s career with Henry VIII. Mantel gives Cromwell a human face, a far more familiar aspect than you get from the historical accounts, where he appears as a brutal and manipulating force (which I’m sure he was). This book is a fascinating exploration of the complex politics of the time – it certainly makes the nonsense the current political parties get up to seem like kiddies’ play! A definite 5 star read this one.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

Some months ago I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and somebody recommended The Secret Scripture as a follow up. This book is just as good. It covers the same sort of ground, a modern day mental hospital about to be demolished and the long term patients assessed for re-entry into society. This one is written in two voices, that of the patient herself, Roseanne, and that of her doctor, William Grene. It becomes a quest to discover what the truth really is, whether Roseanne is delusional or whether she has been misjudged and mistreated. Set in Ireland in the early part of the century, the book is tangled up with Irish history and the values of the time, particularly pertaining to women, sexual mores and the power of the Irish Catholic church. I had two problems with the book, the first that it is written in rich language that takes time and concentration but the underlying story is so powerful that I just wanted to KNOW what happened, and to hell with all the words. So I didn’t enjoy that language as much as it deserved to be enjoyed. The second is the ending, which is pretty unbelievable. Though perhaps in Ireland, with its tiny population, perhaps…. Anyway, this is a terrific book. 4 ½ stars.

The Museum of Innocence by Orham Pamuk

This was a difficult and very long book to read but it is a book that I’ll come back to in my mind for a long time to come. It’s the story of Kemal, a Turkish playboy who becomes engaged to a suitable girl but is also having an affair with his distant cousin Fusun. He becomes obsessed with Fusun, and this obsession allows his character to develop and sadden over years and years. Of course you realize very quickly that something tragic happens because he is narrating the story in the past and has spent his life creating a museum to honour the life of the girl. It’s an interesting book because the question of virginity and its importance, then and now, in Turkey is central to the novel. I felt I got some real insight into the attitudes and values of modern day Turks. Worth the effort. 3 ½ stars.