Perhaps not her best (that would be "We Need to Talk About Kevin") but Lionel Shriver's latest is nothing short of fantastic. Ex-pat Shriver manages to distill the American health care situation into the story of two families coping with devastating illnesses. Her ability to make you really feel what the patients are feeling is spot-on (I read this book while going through chemo and some of the parallels to my own life were eerie) and for a book with such a grim subject, she manages to make it end on a positive and wholly satisfying note.

I was happy to win this book through Goodreads giveaways but I had mixed feelings about the book itself. Parts of it I really liked and the book made plenty of good points about the way things are and the way people are (although some were obvious points). But sometimes I felt like I had to force myself to plod through parts of it and I sometimes felt like the writing was awkward. The main character's sister Beryl lived up to her personality so well that it was actually unbelievable.

If I could give this books 3-1/2 stars I would. I would give the main story line about health issues an unequivocal 4 stars, but the secondary story line just didn't do it for me. Shriver does a great job of capturing the indignities of living with a serious illness. Sometimes so good it was painful for me to read and remember times I'd been through something similar.

I so wanted to like this book, and i so did not like it. I loved Lionel Shriver's "The Post-Birthday World", but found "So Much for That" to be extremely preachy and unenjoyable.

I'd heard a recent interview with this author on NPR and while awaiting her current book from my local public library, I decided to read this one.

All books have some attributes that are more appealing to a particular reader than others , and this selection was no different. I don't read much fiction these days but really got sucked in to this story due to the very human and flawed characters as well as the subject matter. Although I woke up feeling physically ill a few mornings during the week-10 days I spent reading this, in the end I realize I needed the book's message and the fact that I stumbled upon it at all was probably not simply happenstance.

This is my first Lionel Shriver, and although it wasn't a favourite book for me, I get the impression from reading this that I will really like some of her other works becuase of the way Shriver writes.

This is the story of Shep Knacker and his wife. All his life Shep has worked hard and saved up in the hopes of movinbg to a remote island and living out his retirement in a relative luxury off of the money he's saved. Shep's wife has never been quite as keen on the idea, despite Shep's assurances, and as time goes on it looks less and lees likely that they will ever actually get to go to the 'Afterlife' as Shep calls it, so he sets up an ultimatum...come with me now, or I'll go alone.

Shep's wife and kids are unimpressed by his declaration, and just when he gets the courage to go his wife announces that she has been diagnosed with a highly aggressive and extremely rare cancer and Shep cannot leave becuase she will need his health insurance to cover her treatments etc. Shep is devastated by the loss of his dream, but as the time goes on and the story of their relationship and the treatments his wife undergoes develop, it may just be the one thing that can save their marriage after all.

Alongside Shep's story we also see the story of his best friend Jackson and his wife. They are family friends to Shep and his wife, but they too have their own dilemmas and troubles within their marriage, and young disabled daughter who is troubled in her own ways too. Watching the parallel stories makes for a devastating and heartfelt tale as time goes on and the relationships build, and I found it a slow but interesting read throughout.

Overall, this is definitely a heartfelt book that talks A LOT about the healthcare systems of America and shines a light on the troubles many, many people in the US face daily. It's a great book for that and a heartfelt one, and yet it's also pretty slow. For me, it worked becuase the topic was interesting, I'm not sure she's author who will appeal to everyone, but I enjoyed it and gave it 3*s in the end.

excellent book. nothing but the best from her. i am not a very emotional reader - the last 50 or so pages i could not stop crying. i mean, i just could not stop.

Holy shit.

That's the most concise way to sum up my reaction to this novel that alternately stunned me, shocked me, humored me, disgusted me, intrigued me and touched my heart. There's the writing: insanely intelligent with long-winded sentences that pack punch after punch, sometimes necessitated a re-read just to be sure I got it all. While the dialogue rang a little less than authentic at times (like every single character was as super smart as the author clearly is), the overall narrative was superbly presented. Follow that with characters and a story line that ask uncomfortable questions, portray the darkest of life experiences and hold nothing back, really nothing at all, and it adds up to a novel unique among books that attempt to address the too often difficult to address issues of relationships, dying, health care, money, and the worth of a life.

I've loved some of Shriver's other work, but in this she just comes off preachy. It has stunted dialog and incredibly unlikable characters who are worse, uninteresting. The female characters are particularly underdeveloped. Like all Shriver's work, there are some very good and beautifully written passages, but the rest was unbearable. I skipped a huge chunk in the middle because I felt I was wasting my time.