We Spread

 

We Spread by Iain Reid

Fiction

2022

Finished on April 7, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny—with a growing sense of unrest and distrust—starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging, or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?

At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid’s genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.

We Spread is not a slim novel, but with fewer than 300 pages, and a spare structure of one to two lines of dialogue, this novel is a very quick read. I finished it in less than a day.

If asked to classify the novel, I'm stumped. Is it fiction? Horror? Science fiction? A thriller or psychological suspense? It could be any or all of these (although horror seems to be a stretch). Told from Penny's point of view, I questioned her reliability. Does she have issues with her memory? Are some of the supporting characters imagined? I finished the book with unanswered questions and would love to discuss the novel with others. 

Iain Reid is a new-to-me author, and his storytelling is marvelous. The propulsive short sentences create a page-turner that I gulped down. We Spread will appeal to those who enjoyed Still Alice and Turn of Mind. Now to read Foe and I'm Thinking About Ending Things.

Highly recommend!