THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH HER by Kate Weinberg

There’s Nothing Wrong With Her is the second novel of British author Kate Weinberg. I picked it up in Sydney a few weeks ago and, if I am honest, I wasn’t sure why.

There’s Nothing Wrong With Her is the second novel of British author Kate Weinberg. I picked it up in Sydney a few weeks ago and, if I am honest, I wasn’t sure why. The blurbs on the front were from people or authors who are not people whose work I read, but I think because of the absolute burnout I am experiencing at the moment, the sense I feel of “there’s nothing wrong with me” while feeling like everything is wrong, spurred me to think maybe this could be relatable.

It’s the story of Vita, a woman around 30 years old who spends months inside her basement apartment, consumed by illness that causes her extreme pain and sickness, sleeping for sometimes days at a time. She shares the apartment with her boyfriend, Max, who is a surgeon but who cannot diagnose her ailment.

Vita spends much of the novel recollecting her life prior to her illness becoming all consuming, often her only conversations are with her imagined friend Luigi and her goldfish, Whitney Houston. That is, until an event forces her to go upstairs and meet her neighbours.

It’s difficult to review this book without spoiling it. This is a novel which will have the reader considering whether Vita is mentally ill or whether there is a rational reason for her physical and emotional decline. Most of Vita’s symptoms don’t neatly fit into a diagnosis, and the physical tests she undergoes provide no clues. At times, that makes Vita frustrating, but at the same time there is a deep empathy to be felt by a woman who is clearly unwell but without a clear picture of why. Most women have experienced, at some stage in their lives, the feeling of being dismissed by the medical establishment and a failure to investigate deeply when a woman presents with symptoms that don’t neatly fit in a box.

All I will say is that when the reader makes the realisation of what Vita’s condition is, it is unforeseen but makes perfect sense. Unforeseen, because until the reveal, the part of the story that makes Vita’s condition obvious is unspoken. Worse, it is heartbreaking and many readers will feel it deeply within.

I read this book, for the most part, in one day. It is character driven rather than plot driven but it was really good. Given the time of year, it made a good read for this “in between time” of Christmas to New Year, when time and day are a blur. I liked it more than I expected (though unlike Kiley Reid’s blurb, I wouldn’t call it the best thing I have read this year!).