When someone we love dies, many of us find ourselves coexisting within two very different worlds – one, the corporeal world of human existence, the other, the ethereal world of ghosts and the afterlife. Heartsease, by Kate Kruimink, skilfully explores both these worlds with paradoxical lightness and depth, sensitivity, and a hilariously rendered idiosyncrasy that is often particular to sibling relationships.
Heartsease revolves around the final days of Nelly (Ellen) 32, a loveable, irreverent misfit with a wicked sense of humour, who has grudgingly agreed to meet her older sister Lot (Charlotte) at a meditation retreat in Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, but sneaks out to drink whiskey and take acid instead.
Nelly lost her mother at the age of 14 when she was depressed, alienated and at odds with her mother. Lot, eight years older, abandoned her dreams of overseas study to look after her troubled younger sister. The siblings are very close and often read each other’s thoughts and finish each other’s sentences. The abiding bond and affection between them, while rarely stated, is palpable.
Kruimink performs a great piece of literary head-messing with an unusual narrative device; Nelly’s story is told through a first person point of view in one chapter and is set before her death, while Lot’s is told through the third person in the next chapter, in the immediate aftermath of Nelly’s death. This makes for a jarring contrast at first, when we realise in Lot’s first chapter, that the immensely likeable Nelly, with whom we’ve just bonded, has died. The reader bounces back and forth between Nelly’s life story, told through her own perception, and her after-death story as seen through her sister’s eyes.
Heartsease therefore explores the old, complicated grief the sisters hold from their mother’s demise 18 years prior, and the fresh, acute grief that Lot suffers over the sudden death of her younger sister. Kruimink states in her acknowledgements that Heartsease is a personal story for her and it certainly contains the ring of truth and authenticity within its pages. What is particularly impressive is that she avoids sentimentality, instead allowing the pain and love between the sisters to simmer as an ever-present subtext beneath their hilarious banter.
While sitting on the toilet seat Lot has just used, Nelly says, ‘I love you Lot.’ When Lot laughs and asks why, she says, ‘You have the warmest bum.’ Later we learn that Lot feels guilty that she didn’t reply with an ‘I love you’. Yet the love is implicit in every interaction between the two. It’s such a delight to read a book about grief and loss that intermingles humour with pathos on every page.
Kruimink’s depiction of character is multilayered and wonderfully distinctive in its details. Nelly gets through her troubled teens by drinking Fruity Lexia and listening to Nick Cave. She is not haunted, but comforted by the spectre of her mother, who visits her often. She wears boiler suits and Blundstones, and meets her best friend Josh at a special school for troubled youth. They bond over Venn diagrams and MDMA and, after Nelly’s death Josh bonds with Lot over Tim Tams, acid, bioluminescence and their shared grief.
Nelly and Josh love each other, but their relationship is unconsummated because Josh is asexual. Lot is a former bulimic and dissatisfied lawyer, who believes the removal of pubic hair is the result of internalised misogyny and is in love with an old friend called Amita. These details paint a unique picture of complex contemporary characters with much light and shade.Â
The dialogue is wonderfully contemporary, sparkling and hilarious, and the prose is often beautifully poetic in its evocation of Cradle Mountain, the natural and spiritual world, and the description of the Heartsease pansy, which we discover is a crucial motif that will help Nelly forgive her mother. The ending is beautifully satisfying, insightful and profound.
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Heartsease is one of those books that makes you feel deeply connected and somehow a better person for having read it. Its warm characters become your best friends, and you care deeply about their fate. It acts as a balm for anyone suffering the rawness of fresh grief or still wading through the guilt and complexity of old grief. Best of all, it’s a page turner and a hugely entertaining read. Kudos to Kruimink for crafting such beautifully realised characters and story.
Heartsease, Kate Kruimink
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781761266836
Pages: 320pp
Publication Date: 28 May 2024
RRP: $34.99
