So Much For That: A Novel

This author possesses a gift for making her characters so real you can't easily get them out of your mind. It's a terrific book which I am reading again just to relish the way she puts words together. I won't spoil the story by telling it, but I will heartily recommend you buy this book and read it yourself.

As always Lionel Shrivers use of language is superb. I found it a real page turner and it was a very emotional book. It also is an insightful reflection on our health care system. Shivers characters always seem so real and she is not afraid to tackle difficult subject matter. I myself have experinced chronic pain for many years and I could relate to many of the passages in the book. If you have suffered from any kind of debilitating illness this book will really speak to you.

For anyone who has been through it, this is an affirming account of what it is like to live and die in the clutches of Cancer. Best book I have read in a while. In particular I enjoyed the husband's point of view as the sole provider who watches his hard earned and saved money evaporate at the hands of the Health-care and Insurance industry. The end was great I'm still thinking about it a couple of weeks later. READ IT.

I just finished "So Much For That" and I feel uplifted and completely entranced with this author, whom I've never tried before. I recently finished "A Friend of the Family", another book peopled by many unpleasant characters, but by the end of that book I was relieved it was finally done and sorry that I'd wasted the time; in this one I was losing sleep and late for appointments to see how it would all turn out. I have more understanding than anyone would ever want of death, disability, and how little medical care has to do with anything but money without ever discussing it rationally; this book is accurate to my experiences. I had some problems with the authenticity of the interactions between the parents and the juveniles in the book, though the relationships between the adult children and their parents rang true. Other than that, it was an extremely satisfying read.

As an avid reder this book has probably spoiled me for most of the other books I will read this year. Much more than a diatribe on our health care system the honest and intimate feelings and relationships between the characters is seldom matched. Even though all endure their own crisis the book remains uplifting and, at times, very, very funny.