The Post-Birthday World

published	2007 by HarperCollins
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0061187844 (isbn13: 9780061187841)
pages	528
characters	Irina McGovern, Lawrence Trainer, Ramsey Acton
setting	United Kingdom
description	In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin,...more [close] In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life. Hinging on a single kiss, this enchanting work of fiction depicts Irina's alternating futures with two men temperamentally worlds apart yet equally honorable. With which true love Irina is better off is neither obvious nor easy to determine, but Shriver's exploration of the two destinies is memorable and gripping. Poignant and deeply honest, written with the subtlety and wit that are the hallmarks of Shriver's work, The Post-Birthday World appeals to the what-if in us all. [close]
date added	03-20-07 edit book

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Kelly rated it:

05/07/08

bookshelves: brit-lit, favorites, fiction, worth-rereading

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: all women, ever, particularly ones who have been around the block a time or two

Absolutely soul crushing. But in that killingly skillful way that it personally gets at your soul, your heart, and eats your illusions for dinner. Since I try not to give five stars for anything but the ultimate classics, life changers, and my favorite books of all time, I won't give this one the fifth star. But unofficially, off the record, where the other classic books can't see: it deserves the fifth star, especially for the subject matter that it deals with. I haven't seen it done so well be...more Absolutely soul crushing. But in that killingly skillful way that it personally gets at your soul, your heart, and eats your illusions for dinner. Since I try not to give five stars for anything but the ultimate classics, life changers, and my favorite books of all time, I won't give this one the fifth star. But unofficially, off the record, where the other classic books can't see: it deserves the fifth star, especially for the subject matter that it deals with. I haven't seen it done so well before. I will admit that part of this is that I connected extremely powerfully with the story. Though I'm not of the author's age range, she writes about a conflict we've all been through on one scale or another. I was deeply affected by the book, and it inspired some extensive self-reflection. I don't know what other criteria for a good book there need be.

Obstensibly the classic chick-lit, romcom, virtuous Victorian type story of the young lady who must choose between prudence, security and morality vs. passion and a "consuming love," the story does much more than that, and delves much deeper than the typical story of the kind would do. It is tempting to compare this to Sliding Doors, since the concept is the same. I.e.: one decision later, what happens in two alternate universes. One she chooses to stay with her safe, stable companion Lawrence, the other she chooses to throw caution to the wind and have a stoned, drunk kiss with a famous British snooker player (BTW: I freely admit I had no idea what snooker was. I'm American.). But this is done in a much more literary way. It is a chick lit subject with Serious Novel writing. I'm more apt to compare it to an estrogen packed version of Ian McEwan's style of writing than Sliding Doors. A single event/moral dilemma that changes the life of the protagonist, leading them into consequences they never would have dreamed possible for so small a thing.

There were so many lines in there that just rang so true to me. I undertook my normally hated practice of underlining things in a book, because I couldn't bear that I didn't remember them later on. That is, until I got too caught up in the story to care. But I'm going to put down a few that I did underline here just to give you an idea of the writing:

In the version of the story where she chooses to cheat, the night after:
"She truly did not understand why, when she had such a powerful motivation not to rock the boat, she would keep being so provocative, or on an evening when she was desperate not to attract close examination, she would be have in an erratic, irritable fashion sure to bring maximum scrutiny. Did she want him to know? Maybe she was forcing him to play a parlor game, like Botticelli: I'm a famous person, and my name begins with a scarlet A. Or maybe Lawrence was supposed to play hangman on the back of a program, and since he would never in a million years guess that she'd chosen F-A-I-T-H-L-E-S-S H-U-S-S-Y, proceed to noose himself, letter by letter."

"This is what the coward in Lawrence had opted for: that they never kiss. That they never look at each other. That he see only the blurred profile of her head; that she always stare at the wall. That she never be permitted to meet those imploring brown eyes and watch them get what they begged for... He loved her so much that it was scary, and he would no more look into her eyes while they were fucking than stare into the face of the sun."

Just an example or two I came across randomly.

Shriver is sure to point out that both endings have their problems, and that there is no black and white. I think it depends on the personality of the reader which life they side with, though the end of the book makes it pretty clear which way she feels. Up until that point, both futures could be equally miserable or equally happy, depending on your point of view in life. I love that the ending is just that, a chosen ending. The story goes on in both ways, and you can choose which to believe, draw your own morals. It was particularly engrossing for someone like me who second guesses nearly all her decisions and always wonders 'what might have been'.

Problems with the book: Shriver tends to let her own personality through at various times in the book. You can tell its her because she has a character give an odd rant that seems out of character, and her words are just a little too fierce. She is especially santimonious on the issue of Americans in London or abroad in general. Really? You still wanna go on about fat, loud American tourists and feeling ashamed by association? Shriver also clearly has a huge socioeconomic, national, and also British guilt complex. There's a lot in here about what one "should," do, and big causes of the day (the book takes place between 1997-2003, largely) are mentioned all over the place. It is partially to make a point, so I'll forgive her that, but nonetheless, she seems to be trying to explore her own guilty feelings and impulses on the page, and its just a bit embarrassingly open to read, especially when she thinks she's so cleverly hidden it in her characters, likely. There's several rants about the romance of being poor, for instance, the possessive grief after 9/11 (which was actually rather insightful- who "owned" 9/11 after it), stuff about virtously watching the news every night and caring about the Third World. Yes, part of one of the characters... but a bit too much for it to have been just that.

Also, and I think this might have been an editing issue, because they jumped out so glaringly from the rest of the writing- at times she used REALLY heavy handed metaphors and explained things that didn't need to be explained. She'd have perfectly nuanced, thoughtful writing and all of a sudden have a paragraph or two of run of the mill chick-lit, shove it in your face crap. I'm wondering if the editors told her her target audience wouldn't understand her if she didn't make her writing a little more blatant. Of course, its possible she just got carried away with herself too, and got a bit maudlin, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Other than those flaws, that's it though. Really. Read it. Soon....less

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Gregory rated it:

(review of isbn 1554681693)

04/24/08

Read in March, 2007

Great Premise with Unlikable Results

Being a fan of Lionel Shriver's previous novel, "We Need to Talk about Kevin", I was thrilled to find that she had a new novel out. I was even more intrigued by the novel's beguiling plot: Irina McGovern, a forty-something ex-pat living in London, finds herself at a crossroads, and the novel proceeds in two separate directions. Irina has been in an almost ten year relationship with Lawrence Trainer that has settled into a comfortable if ...more Great Premise with Unlikable Results

Being a fan of Lionel Shriver's previous novel, "We Need to Talk about Kevin", I was thrilled to find that she had a new novel out. I was even more intrigued by the novel's beguiling plot: Irina McGovern, a forty-something ex-pat living in London, finds herself at a crossroads, and the novel proceeds in two separate directions. Irina has been in an almost ten year relationship with Lawrence Trainer that has settled into a comfortable if stultifying groove. He's sturdy, reliable, intelligent, and reasonably attractive, but he's also stubborn, judgmental, strict, and their relationship has become exceptionally passionless. He won't even marry Irina because he's against marriage. Enter Ramsey Acton, a beguiling pro Snooker player that is Lawrence's polar opposite: smoldering to Lawrence's blandness, passionate to Lawrence's stoicism, daring where Lawrence is cautious. And here lies the predicament that Irina finds herself in after being left alone with Ramsey for his annual birthday dinner: give in to fiery, passionate temptation ... or remain loyal to the tried-and-true life she has grown accustomed to.

Thus, in storyline 'A' Irina gives in to temptation and leaves Lawrence for Ramsey, while in storyline 'B' she takes smug satisfaction in her own strength of character and loyalty. For a while the back and forth is quite enchanting and clever, and the reader delights in Shriver's carefully concocted parallel structure. But by page 300 those very same parallels that were intriguing and smart become oppressive to the plot and render it hopelessly predictable. If something happens in storyline A you can rely on its counterpoint occurring in B: if Irina has to act as a mediator during a public spat in A, she will be the one causing the scene in B; if she receives a special something in A she will be denied it in B; and so on until the novel's ultimate counterpoint that I cannot reveal here. What was so exciting, at least to me, about the premise of the book was the concept of exploring two different scenarios, and Shriver squanders the opportunity to explore what might have been by slavishly adhering to form -- creating two stories that move in parallel lines instead of diverging ones. Suddenly an otherwise intelligent novel becomes dull and plodding, and the ultimate disappointment is that both A and B's endings are also entirely predictable since both are foreshadowed earlier on. One would have easily been touching and heartfelt if you hadn't been cued to see it coming, and the other might have been shocking if it hadn't been portended earlier on.

Shriver also has a periodic way of getting sidetracked by politics in her novel, which spans roughly fifteen years starting in the 1990s and taking us to the post-9/11 era. They are distracting, and woefully out of place. She takes swipes at Bill Clinton for failing to catch Osama Bin Laden and potshots at Hillary for being ambitious. She decries Britain's National Healthcare system as a hackneyed operation doomed to failure. She even contrives to have all of her characters in Manhattan on the eve of 9/11 for no real reason, since ultimately the atrocity will have very little to do with the plot except to serve Shriver's purpose in analogies for the remainder of the novel -- which is ironic because one character opines that to reduce the scope of that tragedy to such (comparatively) trivial matters is "surely a vain misappropriation of national tragedy". But that didn't stop Shriver from doing it anyway. The aforementioned political asides feel disjointed and don't belong in the plotline, and ultimately neither did 9/11. Had it ultimately had more to do with the plot it would be fine, but it just pops in and then out again as suddenly as it happened. It's a shame that it is becoming commonplace for such a tragic event to be used as a go-to plot device in novels, and while Shriver's depiction of the day is about a million times better -- and more accurate -- than the shockingly offensive turn Claire Messud gave it in last year's "The Emperor's Children", it still feels like a cheap trick.

But what I really disliked about 'The Post-Birthday World" in the end was Shriver's sadistic treatment of Irina. In both storylines she is doomed to apologize for other people's messes in addition to hers, to accept a grotesquely unfair portion of the blame for every misdeed committed, and to be misused and taken advantage of. It comes down to the men in her life. Ramsey is a brash lush whose raging temper has him emotionally abusing Irina from the beginning of their relationship. Lawrence is such an unrelentingly arrogant, narcissistic jerk that he smothers Irina at every turn. What you would really like is for her to toss them both on the street and tell them to sod off, but Shriver seems more interested in antagonizing Irina than in letting her off the hook even a little bit.

Book clubs would have a field day with this novel because it certainly leaves itself open for debate, but I can't imagine really imagine recommending it to anyone looking for a pleasurable read. For that, I would point them to Shriver's previous effort: "We Need to Talk about Kevin". In that book, her protagonist had some cause to be put through the wringer, but it just feels degrading to watch Irina sink lower and lower....less

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Hazel rated it:

05/01/08

bookshelves: fiction---drama

Read in May, 2008

You know when you express an interest in, say, boats, and then for the next five years all anyone ever gets you has to do with boats? I'm experiencing something similar at the moment. [/irrelevant observation]

I loved Shriver's other book, We Need To Talk About Kevin, so I was actually a bit nervous about reading this one - I was convinced there was no way it could be as good as the former. And to be honest, I don't think it was, but I still loved it. It teetered on the edge of being t...more You know when you express an interest in, say, boats, and then for the next five years all anyone ever gets you has to do with boats? I'm experiencing something similar at the moment. [/irrelevant observation]

I loved Shriver's other book, We Need To Talk About Kevin, so I was actually a bit nervous about reading this one - I was convinced there was no way it could be as good as the former. And to be honest, I don't think it was, but I still loved it. It teetered on the edge of being too gimmicky for my tastes - ::coughDaveEggerscough:: - but overall I think it worked. And I think it will strike a personal chord for anyone who's been through more than one relationship. It certainly did for me.

The premise of the novel is the question, "what if...?" - the protagonist is happily married to one man yet feels strangely attracted to another, and one night she finds herself alone with him, on his birthday, and feels the overwhelming urge to kiss him. [Killers] It was only a kiss! [/Killers] And from that point the story splits into two possibilities - does she, or doesn't she? It's an interesting idea: one small decision can change the course of your life. And how. The chapters alternate between the two storylines - in one, Irina did kiss the other man; in the other, she didn't. Oddly reminiscient of the "choose your own adventure" books of the 80s.

Shriver, for the most part, is a master at nailing human emotion into hard words. Her writing always evokes for me the lines from "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" -

And I have known the eyes already, known them all
Eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase

It's the kind of phrasing that makes you furrow your brow and think, yes, I've felt that way before, except I've never been able to put it into words like that. Sometimes her scenes are painful to read as a result. It's been almost refreshing, though, since for the past few months I've been indulging in frilly, sweet fantasy novels, which hold a pleasure of their own but like most things work best in small doses.

I was also afraid that the ending would be a typical "oh look, she made the right/wrong decision!" but it ends on a rather ambiguous note, and I was left pondering whether there ever was a better choice to begin with. Perhaps the message we can take from this book is not that little decisions made big changes, but that no matter how big the changes seem, life still muddles on with its ups and downs, and perhaps, in some fundamental way, nothing ever does change.

The Post-Birthday World reminded me, in the end, of Eternal Sunshine - not because of the content, exactly, but more because of how I think readers will react to it. I think Eternal Sunshine is an absolutely brilliant movie and it makes me cry buckets, but I have friends who don't really see what the fuss is all about. I think it boils down to your own experience. This book will definitely speak to those who've had some kind of painful relationship experience; who've ever had a moment of wondering what their lives would have been like if they had turned right instead of left. ...less

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Jessica rated it:

07/25/08

Read in July, 2008

“What began as coincidence had crystallized into tradition: on the sixth of July, they would have dinner with Ramsey Acton on his birthday.”

Irina McGovern lives comfortably with her “husband” of ten years, Lawrence. She’s a children’s book illustrator; he works at a think tank. They live calm, regulated lives that rarely stray from established routine. Until Irina is sent to carry on the birthday dinner tradition with Ramsey Action - alone. Irina is overcome with the desire to ki...more “What began as coincidence had crystallized into tradition: on the sixth of July, they would have dinner with Ramsey Acton on his birthday.”

Irina McGovern lives comfortably with her “husband” of ten years, Lawrence. She’s a children’s book illustrator; he works at a think tank. They live calm, regulated lives that rarely stray from established routine. Until Irina is sent to carry on the birthday dinner tradition with Ramsey Action - alone. Irina is overcome with the desire to kiss him. Faced with the most important decision of her life, Irina hestitates, and then . . . the chapters alternately follow the Irina who did kiss Ramsey and the Irina who did not kiss Ramsey.

I loved the structure of this book. That idea, the premise, was enough to get me to pick up this book. Lionel Shriver is a gifted writer. Both the plot and the individual sentences propelled me through this 500-page plus chunkster at a clipping rate. A couple tidbits:

Yet Irina had once tucked away, she wasn’t sure when or why, that happiness is almost definitely a condition of which you are not aware of at the time. To inhabit your own contentment is to be wholly present, with no orbiting satellite to take clinical readings of the state of the planet. Conventionally, you grow conscious of happiness at the very point that it begins to elude you. . . . It is a bracketing assessment, a label only decisively pasted onto an era once it is over.

Boredom with routine is a luxury, and one unfailingly brief. You are awarded a discrete number of mornings, and are well advised to savor every single awakening that isn’t marred by arthritis or Alzheimer’s. You will drink only so many cups of coffee. You will read only so many newspapers, and not one edition more.

Fascinating book. Unfortunately, it tended to be repetitive, particularly towards the end. Some brow beating occurred. It did. The book was stronger at the beginning when it didn’t wax so preachy. Also, some of the relationship ideas embraced by Irina seemed to be dated from around 1954. Still, this book intrigued me, made me think about life and relationships, and has stuck with me.

The premise of this book is so fascinating, I think, because part of human nature is to spend at least some down time pondering “what if.” What if I had chosen that college over this college? That man over this man? That plane ticket over this plane ticket? A corollary to the “what if” idea is the “grass is greener” idea. We tend to want what we can’t have. Somehow, the grass over there always seems greener than the grass over here.

Ultimately, I believe, and I think this book reflects, that life is a meeting of choices and circumstance. We have control over our lives, but then again we don’t. Somethings are simply beyond our control. Still, we can direct our lives, make good decisions, ward against the unknown. Happiness comes, for Irina, when she stops wondering what if and decides to live in the moment. This ability to “let go” gets easier, I think, as we get older. The trivial things like dirty dishes seem less important as time goes on. After all, each of us is awarded a finite time in which to live, and not one day more....less

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jillian rated it:

08/07/07

bookshelves: chicklit, contemporaryfiction

Read in July, 2007

This book has a plotline that could have been so cheesy - but comes out so well. In the first chapter, mild-mannered childrens book author Irina McGovern goes on a birthday dinner with Ramsey Acton, a snooker star in London. Irina's long-term partner, Lawrence, is absent, at a conference in Sarajevo, and Ramsey's recent divorce from his wife, mean that Irina and Ramsey are alone for the first time in their history. They end up at his house, against the snooker table, and Irina either does - o...more This book has a plotline that could have been so cheesy - but comes out so well. In the first chapter, mild-mannered childrens book author Irina McGovern goes on a birthday dinner with Ramsey Acton, a snooker star in London. Irina's long-term partner, Lawrence, is absent, at a conference in Sarajevo, and Ramsey's recent divorce from his wife, mean that Irina and Ramsey are alone for the first time in their history. They end up at his house, against the snooker table, and Irina either does - or does not - decide to kiss him and commit adultery.

The book unfolds from there, with each chapter written in two timelines: what would have been if Irina kissed Ramsey, and what would have been if she did not. What I found so amazing was that the characters in the book were so well defined that they still acted consistently, even in radically different timelines. That action might involve hypocrisy, as it does for the women in Irina's life that advise her against a relationship with Ramsey in one storyline, and then admire him as a handsome man when there is no consequence to it - but it is all still in character. Some of the dialogue is even the same in both worlds, albeit used in different contexts, to different people, but that just shows how well-developed the characters really are.

Of course, the same external events happen no matter what, and the crux of the book is how Irina is affected by 9/11. As an American - albeit one living in London - it affects her differently in each reality. The same snooker tournaments still take place, but depending on his relationship with Irina - or his ex-wife, Jude - Ramsey wins or loses in a spectacular success or a miserable failure. Irina writes an award nominated children's book in both storylines, which takes from her relationship with the man in her life, but in one it's a commercial success, and in the other world, it isn't.

The book also addresses one of the most important issues for every woman on the planet: security or sexual chemistry? Does Irina go for the excitement, drama, thrills and despair of Ramsey, to whom she has an insatiable sexual attraction? Or does she stay with the steady, secure, caring Lawrence? The decision she makes, and how it reflects on her self-image, the way her decision affects her self-imposed characteristics, is so far-reaching and so well-explored that it opens up both the not only the immediate good and bad aspects of each path, but the far-reaching consequences that ultimately change how Irina sees herself, and the woman that she becomes.

I thought this was a brilliantly written book, which was not only clever and engaging, but very thoughtful as well. This book showed how one decision could unleash so much inside one person as to re-shape their life - and yet bring it full circle. For, just as the first chapter applies in both storylines, the last chapter could as well. ...less

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ShellBell rated it:

06/28/08

This is for you, Sarah. I reviewed this on my old profile, but saved it cause I loved the book so much. Here it is again:

I have a difficult time making decisions. I always stand at the crossroads and look down each road as far as I can see, hoping to catch a glimpse of what that particular future holds. I am paralyzed by the possibility of regret, of missed chances, of a mistake. It makes sense why this book so appealed to me.

Lionel Shriver has created a book in which the character Irin...more This is for you, Sarah. I reviewed this on my old profile, but saved it cause I loved the book so much. Here it is again:

I have a difficult time making decisions. I always stand at the crossroads and look down each road as far as I can see, hoping to catch a glimpse of what that particular future holds. I am paralyzed by the possibility of regret, of missed chances, of a mistake. It makes sense why this book so appealed to me.

Lionel Shriver has created a book in which the character Irina is faced with a life-changing decision--will she, or will she not kiss her boyfriend's friend, Ramsey, while her boyfriend is away on a business trip. In one reality, she kisses Ramsey and that storyline is explored. In another reality, she chooses not to kiss Ramsey and then that storyline is played out alongside the first one. The two plot lines alternate every other chapter, so we can always see the stories unfolding side by side. How every decision Irina makes creates another ripple, another chance, another consequence.

Shriver transitions between the stories smoothly and deftly. It felt like she was holding my hand, guiding me through another intricate dance step. She never faltered. I felt that she was trying to tell me that nothing is black and white. That no matter the path we choose, none of them will ever save us or give us complete happiness. Kissing Ramsey ultimately didn't change Irina's life for the better or worse. Not kissing him was just as ambiguous. Many of the same things happened to Irina in each storyline. It reminds me of the saying that no matter where we go, we take ourselves with us. The same flaws, the same problems, just in different guises. Shriver walked that fine line skillfully.

Though Shriver seemed neutral throughout the story--that she was not choosing one scenario as the right choice--I did feel that she had a message to impart. By choosing to kiss Ramsey, Irina acted. She may have acted foolishly, and she reaped the consequences, but she also set herself up for a life of brave choices, of risks, of living a life filled with the most beauty, and the most pain. The Irina that didn't kiss Ramsey seemed lesser somehow. She was meeker, less apt to take a risk, less self-aware.

In the end, both Irinas ended up in the same exact place and circumstance, yet on the inside they were completely different. I couldn't help admiring the Irina that acted bravely and foolishly, more than the Irina that walked away from temptation. My admiration might say more about me than about Shriver's intentions while writing the book, but I LOVE that she gave me the space to make my own decision.
...less

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sahiga rated it:

06/09/08

Read in June, 2008

Lesson #1: Don't let your husband make more money than you.
Lesson #2: If you can't decide between two (or more) men, they're probably both wrong for you. Especially if they're, oh, self-centered assholes.

I hated this book from page one. Halfway through I declared it to be one of the worst books I had ever read. I hated the characters, the characters' names, the character's jobs (sorry, I still can't distinguish between pool and snooker), the plot, and the prose, which is annoying and litte...more Lesson #1: Don't let your husband make more money than you.
Lesson #2: If you can't decide between two (or more) men, they're probably both wrong for you. Especially if they're, oh, self-centered assholes.

I hated this book from page one. Halfway through I declared it to be one of the worst books I had ever read. I hated the characters, the characters' names, the character's jobs (sorry, I still can't distinguish between pool and snooker), the plot, and the prose, which is annoying and littered with a multitude of metaphors so bad they made me cringe. (Do you want snooker to seem classy? Then don't compare the position of the red balls to a whore's open legs!) Bad dialogue too. 90% of this book consists of petty arguments between petty people. Nothing remotely tragic or exciting happens, unless you count the contrived incorporation of 9/11.

The review on the back lauds Shriver's characters. OK, I suppose they could have passed for well-developed if the machinations weren't so obvious. I get it, Lawrence and Ramsey are EXACT OPPOSITES. (Although I was a bit attached to Lawrence for a while because he reminds me a bit of myself. But while Shriver pushes the equality of the two men, the story seems tipped in Ramsey's favor.) No matter what decision Irina would have made, she would still be the same insecure, boring, racist, self-hating American tool. Which reminds me..."the Asian"? "The small brown man"? "American cultural backwash"? And yes I normally try to ignore these sort of markers, but here, they appeared to be just as much the property of the characters as of the narrator.

But: there is one saving grace. I could have put down this book at any time. I wanted to, especially when it started making me feel homicidal (as in The Corrections), but frankly, I was hoping for some insight. And eventually there was, toward the ending. Most of this book is chick lit trying to pass itself off as literary fiction (and failing), but the ending is good. It isn't the cop-out I was expecting. And I suppose it did strike a chord within me-- or perhaps force me to think about parts of my own past which I have tried to tuck away. But I prefer other artistic manifestations of the same basic idea: Third Eye Blind's "The Background", or maybe even Frame and Match, the astronomer vs. snooker-player book Irina writes....less

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Gwen rated it:

02/28/08

Read in February, 2008

This book was widely hailed as the best book of 2007, and in general I can see why. The main character has to make a decision--to kiss or not kiss a man other than her boyfriend of 10 years, Lawrence. From that point on, the book has two versions of each chapter, each following one of the paths her life could take at that point. It's fascinating to follow the different stories at the same time. And the idea is that there isn't one "best" choice--that throughout our lives we constantly ...more This book was widely hailed as the best book of 2007, and in general I can see why. The main character has to make a decision--to kiss or not kiss a man other than her boyfriend of 10 years, Lawrence. From that point on, the book has two versions of each chapter, each following one of the paths her life could take at that point. It's fascinating to follow the different stories at the same time. And the idea is that there isn't one "best" choice--that throughout our lives we constantly face choices, and neither is perfectly good or bad; no matter which we choose, it's likely that we'll end up ok, though suffering various pains and traumas along the way. Throughout the book scenes are repeated, but come out slightly differently, depending on which path you're reading.

The problem I had with the book was the portrayal of the female character. This isn't some big rant about how no woman should be portrayed as wanting a man, or that no woman is really like that. I am sure there are women who stand at the window thinking wistfully about the pure comfort of passivity, how much better life is when you feel protected by a man, and so on. It's just that I'm not one of them, and I can't imagine saying or thinking those things, so it's always jarring whenever I encounter representations like that--they don't ring true to ME.

I feel like I've come across several characters like this lately--the smart, educated woman who revels in being passive, who admits to wanting a man more than anything else, who isn't whole without one. In this one, in one of her two paths the woman ends up, and stays, with an emotionally abusive, controlling, extremely jealous man who she can't leave because she LOVES HIS DICK (many paragraphs throughout the book are devoted to the character ruminating about how much she loves it and knows she will love it forever and as a result can never leave him). I mean, ok, fine, I guess. But really? I dunno.

In a scene fairly early in the book she starts to masturbate but then thinks about how pathetic and unfulfilling female orgasms are compared to men's--not even worth having, really.

I don't really know what's going on with all this, and I read it for fun and don't feel like analyzing it any more. I love the story overall, I just couldn't quite get over this vague jarring sensation at various points....less

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Stephanie rated it:

08/26/07

Read in July, 2007

This was a girly book for sure, but I found it incredibly depressing.
This book goes in two parallel stories and begins and ends with the same chapter that suffices for both stories. Basically, there are two chapter 2s, 3s, 4s etc. The chapters that have a black number are the ones where she is rebellious and defiant and the white ones are the ones where she is behaving herself.
To boil this book down to just a few sentences, the main character has a boyfriend she's been with for years. This ...more

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Khaya rated it:

06/16/08

recommended to Khaya by: margueya
recommends it for: fans of the premise of the movie "Sliding Doors" fans of literary, contemplative books

3.5 stars, really, rounded up to four for great writing and a provocative premise.

The review I liked below articulated points about the book that resonated with me, although I didn't feel quite as negatively as the reviewer did. Basically, this is a "What-if" book reminiscent of the 80's "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" books in a way. Irina McGovern, a 40ish children's book illustrator in a steady, predictable long-term relationship, is faced with the choice of kissing a fl...more 3.5 stars, really, rounded up to four for great writing and a provocative premise.

The review I liked below articulated points about the book that resonated with me, although I didn't feel quite as negatively as the reviewer did. Basically, this is a "What-if" book reminiscent of the 80's "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" books in a way. Irina McGovern, a 40ish children's book illustrator in a steady, predictable long-term relationship, is faced with the choice of kissing a flashy celebrity friend to whom she's attracted. The book then explores two story lines in alternating chapters: Scenario A, where she kisses him, and Scenario B, where she successfully resists the temptation.

The book was an interesting exploration of the different courses our life can take (could have taken) based on pivotal decisions that may not necessarily appear pivotal at the time. It was also an interesting exploration of that old question of choosing passion vs. choosing constancy, and I liked the fact that it didn't tout one decision over the other. In both scenarios, Irina pays a serious price for her choice as well as reaping some rewards. It's not as if in Scenario A, where she kisses and ultimately runs off with the celebrity, her relationship with the celebrity dissolves as a moralistic reader would predict, although her relationship with the celebrity is certainly a troubled and volatile one. And it's not as if, in Scenario B, her long-term relationship proves hunky-dory for the fact that she stayed, and she doesn't regret her decision to stay.

The premise of this book was not quite as dramatic as that of "We Need to Talk About Kevin," and maybe as a result, the pacing felt slower. Sometimes the careful crafting of parallels in both scenarios felt clever and subtle; other times it felt a little forced and contrived, and as the reviewer below pointed out, didn't allow the two story lines to diverge as much as they might have. Overall, though, I found this a readable and enjoyable book despite its flaws....less

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Abby rated it:

06/16/08

Read in June, 2008

I raced through this book because I was so engrossed by the story line(s). I suppose it's chick-lit in the sense that women probably have an easier time relating to the story than men would, but it's so much better than most chick-lit garbage out there (I followed this book with a true chick-lit piece of crap and wanted to pull my hair out). What amazed me about this book is how much is stuck with me after I was done reading it. I kept thinking about the characters and the choices and the out...more

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Jayci rated it:

06/11/08

Read in June, 2008

the post-birthday world, an inspired title for this smart read. Irina McGovern is an American living in London with her VERY stable, reliable boyfriend of 10 years, Lawrence. Through some random circumstances, the couple finds themselves in a tradition of celebrating the birthday of London's very famouse Snooker player, Ramsey Acton. Though they live throughout the year without a "hello", the trio feels compeled to gather every July sixth. So begins Lionel Shrivers saga....When Irin...more

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Katie rated it:

04/24/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Katie by: Jenny

Great conceptualization (I always liked those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books), but lousy execution (not to mention intimation, narration, accentuation and punctuation).

This author knows not the concept of "too much information." Maybe I am on the prudish side, but do we have to be so intimate with a character as to know all their bodily habits and functions? Cervix ≠ sexy.

But when I wasn't curling my lip in disgust, I was banging my head against the wall in fru...more

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Ken rated it:

05/21/08

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: people interested in choas theory or fans of the Gwyneth Paltrow movie "Sliding Doors."

This one was really good. In the first chapter of The Post Birthday World, the protagonist Irina McGovern is faced with the decision to kiss Ramsey Acton, a world-famous snooker player who is emotional, exciting, and self-centered. If she kisses him, it will be a betrayal to Lawrence, her significant other of 10 years, who is steady, practical, and a bit self-centered himself.

Following the first chapter, Shriver presents pairs of chapters that follow Irina's parallel lives--one wher...more

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Megan rated it:

05/04/07

Like a "Sliding Doors" with class, this book plays out what would happen if a woman stayed with her stable, responsible lover of ten years, and what would happen if she left him for his irresistibly sexy, volatile friend. Since I constantly "Sliding Doors" my own life--how would life be different if I moved to another city? loved a different man? chose a different career?--I was fascinated to see how the author would resolve the dilemma of, love vs. responsibility; attraction...more

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Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 1554681693)

05/05/08

Read in May, 2008

This could be described as a literary version of the film 'Sliding Doors' except the heroine is much more charming with all her flaws than the humourless Gwyneth Paltrow. At the end of the first chapter, Irina is tempted to kiss a male friend whose birthday she's been out celebrating, and the story then splits into two scenarios - what happened if she did kiss him, and what happened if she didn't and just trotted back to her long-term partner. So it's a book about choices and where they take you...more

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Kristen rated it:

01/08/08

bookshelves: alltimefavorites, goodfiction

Read in December, 2007

recommended to Kristen by: Time magazine

I picked up Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World in the final days of 2007. Until then, my favorite 2007 books were The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. While those two books were fantastic, Shriver's book was by far the best 2007 book I read this year. It made the best of 2007 lists for a few people but, really, I haven't heard much hype about this book. One magazine that had it at #1 was Entertainment Weekly so I was a tad skeptical that it w...more

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Angeld01 rated it:

(review of isbn 1554681693)

04/23/08

Read in April, 2008

As someone who owns "Sliding Doors" and has made a habit of watching it nearly once a year...I love the concept of small changes making a big difference in your life.

But I do not like this book. Some books start slow. Stephen King, my favorite writer of all time, has been known to start slow (at least by me). But this book - stays slow.

Irina is living a content (boring) life with Lawrence. A man whom refuses to marry her, withholds emotion and affection - but whom she is ne...more