I think Lionel Shriver is a fantastic writer - We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Post Birthday World are two of my favorite books. This one, while still good, just isn't great.

The book is about the American health care system and how much it sucks. There are four medical crises in the novel, each of which cause total destruction to families' finances despite the fact that all of the sick people actually have health insurance.

Now, when I'm reading it (being a liberal and all), Shriver is preaching to the choir. The thing is, though - she's actually preaching. The "dialogue" between Shep and Jackson explaining America's health care system is stilted and doesn't ring true. She clearly has an agenda, and I wonder if a nonfiction book on the subject might have been better.

A few other things that I didn't care for - the character of Glynis. She's made out to be a terrible woman. Really, who would be friends with her or bankrupt themselves to pay for her chemo? I feel like despite her nastiness, there has to be something that keeps people around her, and I didn't get that from the novel. Same thing with Beryl - she was so over the top as to be almost unbelievable.

I did like the character of Shep, the husband. And I liked the Afterlife, the retirement in Africa that he strives for all his life. And I thought the ending was great.

I got bored about halfway through. I thought the narrative was very wordy and that losing around 100 pages wouldn't have damaged the story. It picked up towards the end though and while I predicted the eventual ending, there were a couple of twists along the way.
I really enjoyed the different medical scenarios from penis enlargements to cancer to genetic disorders to placebo treatments and how they were interwoven together and only really appreciated how much I'd enjoyed it after I'd finished the book.

What a horrible, wonderful book. A must-read for anyone who can stand the grim events, such as cancer, debilitating disease, humiliation, suicide, botched penile enlargement surgery, and Schopenhauer-like brilliant misanthropic fatalistic pessimism.

Guy wants to earn enough to retire early to a life of idleness on a desert isle. Shriver's ultra-intelligent, insightful contrarian prose makes it all worthwhile, if not pleasurable every single minute.

Hang in there for a drastic change in tone in the extended "happy" ending. Though she doesn't do happy nearly as well as desperate, the long-awaited payoff is a relief and reasonably satisfying.

I was intrigued about this book as I really appreciated Sheps idea of saving for The Afterlife so he could escape the grind of working life. It's a plan I am working on myself.

I found the characters more real than most books, we were allowed to see their flaws which we all have, even if we try and hide them to some extent.

I didn't love the way it ended but don't want to spoil it for anyone.

The first half of So Much For That was incredibly difficult to get through. It felt like there were too many lectures, and too little characterization. The second half moved at a much better clip, but unfortunately this book felt too much like "American Health Insurance for Dummies." Jackson, for the first half of the book, seemed to exist solely as a mouthpiece for the author. Shep and Glynis, who were the heart of the story, seemed murky and distant, much like a picture from a pinhole camera. The prose is wonderful in much of the book, but it is too flawed to recommend.

I loved this book! It was an unflinching, smart, and satisfying, study of illness, love, the complicated nature of caregiving, and the American healthcare system.

unenjoyable from start to finish - the only moment of redemption was the last couple of chapters where his wife dies with a bit of dignity.

Too satircal, too over the top and a boring far fetched plot with a ridiculous ending.

So Much For That addresses issues surrounding the healthcare and insurance system in the US by following 2 families that are inflicted with serious medical issues and the impact that it has on their finances and relationships. Lionel Shriver has a way of tackling really difficult subject matter in a profound way. This was smart, powerful, honest and the characters were very well developed. As with [b:We Need to Talk About Kevin|80660|We Need to Talk About Kevin|Lionel Shriver|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327865017s/80660.jpg|3106720], it is heavy but well written and incredibly moving and thought provoking.

In the end, I liked this book. At times it's slow and I think the author uses big words just to impress. At times I stopped caring about the protagonist and wondered more about the surrounding characters. But I liked it. I think this book is best for people who have very pragmatic ideals about death. I happened to discuss this book at a gathering and promptly depressed the crowd. Don't be that person.