Word: shriver
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...Lionel Shriver has a history of conjuring up cranks and complainers who see everything wrong with the human condition. She usually manages to turn these characters into dark delights, whether they are the demographer in Game Control blithely planning a pandemic or the brittle mother in We Need to Talk About Kevin who abhors her child. Brilliantly funny and a superb plotter, Shriver is a master of the misanthrope...
These irascible characters get away from Shriver - or rather, they veer too close to one another; their anger may be justifiable, but their voices start to blend. All except Shep, who stands in for what all of us have faced or will face. He views Glynis' artistic life as an indulgence he has underwritten and doesn't think she stands a chance against her illness, but what is he going to do - stop subsidizing her will to survive? Health care in the 21st century is cruel territory, and sometimes, as Shep points out to Glynis' doctor, a positive attitude...
...engagement with Shep's private war between doing the right thing heartwise and doing the right thing headwise saves the novel. In its second half, So Much for That becomes a page turner. Having let her characters amply articulate all the reasons life stinks, Shriver starts making a case for why even a lousy life is worth fighting for, and she does it with a biting honesty that rebukes all sentiment ality. For too long, this book had me thinking its title is dispiriting, a cynical flick at our throwaway dreams. In fact, says this viciously smart writer, the that...
...only highlighted the legacy of her father, but also discussed the work of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56, and aunt Eunice Kennedy Shriver, both of whom passed away this summer...
Read Maria Shriver: "The Unfinished Revolution...