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So Much for That

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So Much for That

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: Dan John Miller
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About this listen

Shep Knacker has long saved for “The Afterlife”: an idyllic retreat to 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 sells his business for a cool million dollars, his dream finally seems within reach. Yet his wife Glynis has concocted endless excuses why it’s never the right time to go. Weary of working as a peon for the jerk who bought his company, Shep announces he’s leaving for a Tanzanian island, 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. But their policy 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, and Shriver delivers a compelling novel that presses the question: How much is one life worth?

©2010 Lionel Shriver (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Medical Psychological Marriage

Critic Reviews

"A risk taker with a protean imagination, Shriver ( The Post-Birthday World) has produced another dazzling, provocative novel, a witty and timely exploration of the failure of our health-care system. . . . Shriver twists the plot to raise suspense until the heart-lifting denouement." ( Publishers Weekly )
"Exceptionally timely. . . . Exposing the many deficiencies in the American health-care system . . . Shriver perceptively dissects every facet of Glynis' illness . . . immersing the reader in how this family deals with terminal disease, and its rippling effects." (Deborah Donovan, Booklist )
All stars
Most relevant  
Shriver is a brilliant, imaginative author, even her leaser works are better than most writers.
The absurdity of the American health system is well known, it's not interesting as the backdrop for a novel, especially when all of the affected parties are financially well off families, and especially not for the rest of us who aren't American . This heavy handed theme got in the way of what might have been a better, more engaging story. I didn't love it.
I recommend Should We Stay or Should We Go, a far more interesting Shriver novel.

Not Shriver's best

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