Random Raving 5 (Holiday Come-Down Edition) - The Night Guest

After two weeks sunning it up (and not getting even slightly tanned) my holiday is over and I'm back in the UK. It's probably a good job I'm back now, I'd exhausted my entire collection of holiday reading, and my 'to-read' pile is looking precariously shallow. On the bright side though, that means that I've got a lot of books to talk about over the next couple of weeks.

As promised in my first holiday reading review of World War Z by Max Brooks, this time I'm going to talk about The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane. 

NOTE: Some mild spoilers may follow.

The Night Guest is the latest in a growing list of books about mental health and the elderly (initially releasing shortly before the first book that I reviewed, Elizabeth is Missing). The book follow Ruth, an elderly widow living on the Australian coast. One morning Ruth is greeted by Frida, a carer sent by the government to help her around the house. As Frida gradually becomes more and more integrated with Ruth's life, and Ruth is haunted by sounds of a tiger in her living room (the eponymous 'Night Guest'), the book entirely leaves it up to the reader to establish what is real, what is in Ruth's head, and exactly who Frida actually is. 

As I've previously mentioned, I find mental illnesses associated with old age (including dementia) really difficult to read about, and as a result I was a little bit cautious going into this book. The very concept of an elderly woman 'troubled' by a tiger in her living room poses immediate questions about Ruth's mental capacity, and one of McFarlane's biggest successes is leaving the reader guessing throughout the entire book just what is real. 

Perhaps even more importantly, McFarlane succeeds in rationalising entirely irrational and impossible ideas through Ruth's perspective. The prospect of a tiger repeatedly entering a home on the extreme coast of Australia is tremendously unlikely, but Ruth is entirely convinced, and McFarlane's writing is so emotive and powerful that I genuinely found myself convincing that a tiger was in Ruth's house, despite knowing it was frankly stupid to believe so. 

Ruth herself is an excellent character, despite her flaws. Both fickle and fiercely independent, Ruth's development from a woman determined to survive without assistance to a woman entirely reliant on Frida is interesting. I do find that the jump is a little extreme at points. When we first meet Ruth she is extremely hesitant to believe or accept Frida, but in almost no time at all, and more importantly, without any real reason, Ruth quickly becomes far more docile and, for want of a better word, weak. It's a bit of a flaw in an otherwise very interesting character development. 

My other major gripe is with the overall storyline of the book. I just found it far too predictable. I understand that it's not about the plot as much as the development of the characters, but still, I feel like a little curveball or even a little something unexpected would have been extremely welcome. Don't get my wrong, I did enjoy the ending and it was fitting, but it was just too obvious all the way through. 

Overall then, a very interesting, if somewhat challenging, book that includes some fascinating characters and blurred lines between reality and Ruth's imagination, but some jumps were a little too big and it all felt a bit too easy and predictable. 

Well worth a read, especially if you've enjoy Elizabeth is Missing or have an interest in mental health and old age, but there were just a few too many hiccups to really blow me away.

Writing: 8.5/10

Plot: 5/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Conclusion: 7/10

Overall Rating: 7/10