So Much for That
Lionel Shriver Author, 2010
HarperCollins
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061978494
Summary
Shep Knacker has long saved for "The Afterlife": an idyllic retirement on a tropical island in the Third World where his nest egg can last forever. Traffic jams on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway will be replaced with "talking, thinking, seeing, and being" — and enough sleep.
When he sold his home repair business for a cool $1 million, his dream finally seemed within reach. Yet Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years, has concocted endless excuses why it's never the right time to go. Sick of working as a peon for the company he founded, Shep announces that he's leaving for what they've always tagged "The Afterlife," with or without her.
Just returned from a doctor's appointment, Glynis has some news of her own: Shep can't go anywhere because she desperately needs his health insurance. It rapidly becomes clear that this "health insurance company from hell" only partially covers the staggering bills for her treatments, and Shep's nest egg for The Afterlife soon cracks under the strain.
So Much for That follows the profound transformation of a marriage, for which grave illness proves an unexpected opportunity for tenderness, renewed intimacy, and dry humor, while also pressing the question: How much is one life worth? (From the publisher.)