Helpmeet
by Naben Ruthnum
A woman cares for her dying husband as something increasingly wrong happens to his body. Told in close, quiet prose that refuses to fully explain itself, this novella sits somewhere between domestic horror and literary fiction without committing fully to either.
“The house had become the body of an enormous sick animal, one they had chosen to live inside.”
What It Actually Felt Like
I came out of this going what the fuck, which is an honest reaction but not a deeply troubled one. More of a what was that supposed to mean. At 94 pages the commitment is low so you can afford to not fully land on it.
There is clearly something being said about care work, about marriage, about watching someone you love deteriorate. Whether Ruthnum lands the point depends entirely on your tolerance for ambiguity. For me it was interesting enough to stick with but not haunting enough to stay.
The Honest Part
It’s so short that nothing fully develops. The ambiguity feels less intentional and more like it just kind of ends. A longer version of this story might have been something.
Who This Is For
Literary horror readers who like weird short fiction. At 94 pages the investment is minimal so why not.
⭐⭐⭐ Confusing, kinda interesting, very brief.
Tags horror, literary fiction, body horror, novella, mood: unsettling
