Monday, March 3, 2014

Book 25: The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

Goodness, this book is anxiety-inducing. It really is perfectly crafted, every word perfectly calculated to draw the reader further in; I'm surprised that this is McFarlane's first book.

Ruth is an elderly widow living alone in a house on the beach. She has two adult sons who call occasionally and visit infrequently. Ruth is proud of her independence, and so she is unsure of how she feels when Frida shows up at her door, claiming to be her government-assigned carer. Ruth's meditations on aging, her childhood in Fiji, and her first love are absolutely beautiful, and it's impossible to look away from Ruth's paranoia and gradual unraveling as Frida insinuates herself further and further into her life. A.

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