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.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 18, 1957
• Where—Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College; M.F.A., Columbia
University
• Awards—Orange Prize
• Currently—lives in London, England.
Lionel Shriver (aka Margaret Ann Shriver) is an American journalist and author born to a deeply religious family (her father is a Presbyterian minister). At age seven, Shriver decided she would be a writer. At age 15, she informally changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a conventionally male name fitted her better.
Shriver was educated at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA, MFA). She has lived in Nairobi, Bangkok and Belfast, and currently in London. She is married to jazz drummer Jeff Williams.
Writing
Shriver had published six novels before the 2003 We Need to Talk About Kevin. She called it her "make or break" novel, referring to the years of "professional disappointment" and "virtual obscurity" preceding it.
Its publication in 2003, We Need to Talk About Kevin made Shriver a household name. Beautiful and deeply disturbing, the novel asks one of the toughest questions a parent can ask of themselves: have I failed my child? When Kevin Khatchadourian murders nine of his classmates at school, his vibrant mother Eva is forced to face, openly, her son's monstrous acts and her role in them.
Interestingly enough, her agent rejected the manuscript. Shriver shopped her book around on her own, and eight months later it was picked up by a smaller publishing company. The book created a good deal of controversy, but achieved success through word of mouth. As Publisher's Weekly comments, "A number of fictional attempts have been made to portray what might lead a teenager to kill a number of schoolmates or teachers, Columbine style, but Shriver's is the most triumphantly accomplished by far." Kevin won Shriver the 2005 Orange Prize.
Her experience as a journalist is wide having written for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Economist, contributed to the Radio Ulster program Talkback and many other publications. In July 2005, Shriver began writing a column for the Guardian, in which she has shared her opinions on maternal disposition within Western society, the pettiness of British government authorities, and the importance of libraries (she plans to will whatever assets remain at her death to the Belfast Library Board, out of whose libraries she checked many books when she lived in Northern Ireland).
The Post-Birthday World was issued in 2007. The novel uses a parallel-universe structure to follow one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. In 2010 Shriver released So Much for That, which was subsequently named a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction. Her work The New Republic came out in 2012, and Big Brother, inspired by the morbid obesity of one of her brothers, in 2013. (Adapted from Barnes & Noble and Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/11/2013.)
Book Reviews
[Shriver's] managed to take an idea for a kind of thesis novel and instead create a deeply affecting portrait of two marriages, two families, as cancer in one case and a rare, debilitating childhood condition in the other threaten to push their daily lives past their tipping points. Though there is one farcical plot development that is poorly woven into the emotional fabric of the story, and though some of the asides about health care feel shoehorned into the narrative, the author's understanding of her people is so intimate, so unsentimental that it lofts the novel over such bumpy passages, insinuating these characters permanently into the reader's imagination.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
If Jodi Picoult has her finger on the zeitgeist, Shriver has her hands around its throat. Not only does her new book wrestle with actual laws and prices…but it reminds us just how politically argumentative a novel can be. Like Upton Sinclair, she forces us to look at how the sausage is made; if anything, So Much for That is even bloodier than The Jungle.… I admire that what [Shriver's] done here is without a dose of sentimentality. Yes, it's gangling and pedantic and far, far too long, but its anger is infectious. If you can take the story's grisly details and Shriver's badgering insight into all things, this is the rare novel that will shake and change you. With these wholly realistic and sympathetic characters, she makes us consider the most existential questions of our lives and the dreadful calculus of modern health care in this country.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
(Refers to audio version.) [Shep's] lifelong goal of retiring to a remote, primitive country …is no whimsical daydream, but a desperate need that is at the very core of Shep's identity.… A "must listen."
Publishers Weekly
Shriver's strong, clear writing is marred by several complex subplots and lengthy rants…. [B]ut Shriver's fans and others willing to follow the author's turns will find themselves thinking about the novel long after they've finished it. —Christine Perkins, Bellingham P.L., WA
Library Journal
[W]hile this sometimes feels like an op-ed writ large, Shriver's skill at characterization is so solid that Jackson never becomes a plot device.… An overly schematic but powerful study of both marriage and medical care.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
The questions below were generously submitted to LitLovers by CHRISTINA CHICHESTER, Adult Services Libarian, Cinnaminson Branch Library, Burlington (New Jersey) County Library System. Many thanks, Christina:
1. Shep thinks, "people who acted above money …were the same folks who never earned any to speak of.” (p. 20). Is this true? How are beliefs about the importance of money shaped?'
2. Jackson wonders about his and Carol’s decision to pretend to medicate Heather. Was this a good idea? Is medicating children necessary or just trendy?
3. The book addresses many issues about the world of illness and insurance. Which insights stick out the most to you?
4. Consider Jackson’s paradigm of Mooch to Mug (p. 76-80). How accurate is it? What do you think are the percentages of each?
5. Shep is often frustrated by Beryl’s refusal to live within her own means. How do we avoid living in an economy based on sympathy? Is Beryl capable of being a more responsible adult?
6. What similarities and differences do you see between Flicka and Glynnis as patients? What conclusions do you draw from their attitudes?
7. Why do so many people respond to Glynis with fear? Why do we feel so helpless when a loved one suffers from a serious illness? How can we learn to better handle the social awkwardness of it?
8. Does Shep’s transformation from a self centered jerk to doting husband strike you as believable?
9. Glynis wants to sue the company responsible for the asbestos. What role do lawsuits play in these circumstances? Does winning a lawsuit provide satisfaction?
10. Glynis can be a difficult personality. Does this help or hinder her in her cancer battle? Does having a positive attitude help? Does having faith?
11. What are some ways we can be genuinely helpful to a person who is seriously ill?
12. Pogatchnik, Shep’s boss, is portrayed as a greedy, insensitive business man. What do you think of his argument that employers should not be burdened with the cost of health care? Why did the author choose to make Pogatchnik such an unsympathetic character?
13. Both Glynis and Jackson eventually blow up at Shep for being a pushover. Is Shep partially to blame for his problems? Why is Jackson so angry about it? Why does Shep so quickly overlook this outburst?
14. In what ways have you seen good come from terrible circumstances?
(Questions submitted to LitLovers by Christina Chichester. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)