This week I finished reading a book called Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum. It was another very short novella of only 85 pages. This one could easily be read in a day or over a weekend, which makes it perfect for padding your book reading numbers.
The author is Canadian and the genre for this book is "body horror," which isn't a genre that I am overly familiar with and not one I read normally. That being said, I don't have a good reference base to compare it. I personally didn't find this one to be scary or disturbing in any way though. I would probably describe it more as supernatural than horror myself. I found it more interesting and entertaining than anything.
There is a good description listed on the back cover that I like.
a uniquely unsettling Gothic love story.
I think that is a pretty fitting description myself.
The book is short so I'll keep the synopsis brief. It is essentially about a woman who cares for her dying husband who is suffering from a strange and gruesome illness. I don't want to give away too much if anyone actually wants to read it. The book explores themes of infidelity, marriage and partner devotion, the caregiver relationship and disease with body horror.
I'm going to include a section with a more detailed description now, for those that do not plan on reading it. I will be including spoilers in this section so Skip the small print if you don't want the ending to be spoiled.
The husband contracts a strange disease from a woman that he is having an affair with. The wife knows of the affair and has accepted it and takes care of her husband as his body goes through a gruesome transformation process. The wife is a nurse by profession so she is at ease with the mans care. She can remove herself emotionally from the situation and act as his nurse I mean. She also still deeply cares for him. The mans nose turns color and falls off, his eyes fall out, as do his teeth. Eventually his tongue falls out as well and it ends up just being tossed in the fire. The mans skin changes, he experiences intense pain and then comes the climax. The mans back rips open and a strange parasitic supernatural organism that resembles a flower emerges from the mans body. It walks around on hard tipped petals. We find out that the woman who the husband had an affair with had been instructed by the parasite on how to resurrect it. She comes to collect the parasite at the end and she unexpectedly also gets taken over by it. The husband and wife actually live on, but in the most bizarre way imaginable. The parasite shows the wife how to climb into her husbands skin and become one with him. She effectively wears him like a body suit which molds to her form. The two continue to live out their days in the country home where all this takes place.
If you read the spoiler section then you might think that this book is a little over the top and maybe kind of stupid sounding, but its really not. Its strange for sure, but it was well written and the story progresses in a way that makes sense to the reader. I found it novel and entertaining and would recommend it if it sounds appealing to you. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
