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Jul 10, 2011

Jennifer (aka EM) rated it:

Left it at p. 46 and turned my attention to something else, thinking it was maybe my mood influencing the strong negative reaction I was having. Alas, no. Abandoned at p. 66. Those last twenty pages contained more hyperbole, overblown language, pontificating and exposition than I could stomach.

This is the speech Glynis makes to her husband, Shep, after a medical appointment during which she's learned that asbestos is likely the cause of her cancer -- asbestos her husband most li More...

9 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Will rated it:

Lionel Shriver has written a very grown-up story that deals with serious subjects in a serious way. Shepherd Knacker has been saving all his life for what he calls the “Afterlife,” retirement to some sort of desert isle, away from the world in which he must work in order to finance his dream. But his plans hit a snag when his wife, Glynis, is diagnosed with a particularly virulent strain of cancer. His best friend, Jackson, has a teenage child with a rare genetic disease and the clear prospect o More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2010

Alecia rated it:

There are parts of this book that I would actually rate no more than 2 stars. Sometimes the writing gets overwrought, awkward, and has the characters thinking or talking about the healthcare system or other issues in a preachy, pedantic way. But, in the end, the powerful writing and subject matter of the book impelled me to give it 4 stars (which, as one can see by my list, I do not give easily).

If you want to read a gifted writer describe how it is to be a terminally ill patient, a More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Aaron rated it:

"You know, these movies..." He was groping. "Remember how sometimes, in the middle, the movie seems to drag? I get restless, and take a leak, or go for popcorn. But sometimes, the last part, it heats up, and then right before the credits one of us starts to cry - well, then you forget about the crummy middle, don't you? You don't care about the fact that it started slow, or had some plot twist along the way that didn't scan. Because it moved you, because it finally pulled tog More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 23, 2011

Denise rated it:

Fictionalized account of lived experience of life threatening and chronic illness within America's health system. At the risk of leaving nothing to inference the author has made some of the dialogues/monologue on health care somewhat overbearing and put-on. At times this can be irritating. But I have to say that the issues are real, the character's situations seem real and the fault in health care are wide. The upbeat ending makes for a fairytale which few are fortunate to experience. Thoroughly More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Sandy rated it:

I've described Lionel Shriver as a genius at making the reader care deeply about people who aren't very nice or likeable. This one didn't work as well for me because the condemnation of the American health care system and misanthropic views of most of the characters got in the way. The health care system is the real main character of the book. The premise is interesting: Shep Knacker is about to escape to a Tanzanian island when his wife, Glynis, is diagnosed with a deadly cancer. He drops his p More...

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Jan 23, 2012

John rated it:

This was difficult to wade through in many places. Much of the writing felt awkward, which was a disappointment after reading We have to talk about Kevin. Most of the characters seemed one-dimensional.

Nevertheless, though I did not really enjoy it, it was worth persevering with. It is at one level an indictment of American, and more generally, Western medicine. It is a critique of an attitude that demands that people be kept alive, regardless of the cost, and regardless of their qualit More...

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Jan 04, 2012

Allie rated it:

So Much For That lacks all the force of So Much for Kevin.

My copy has an article at the very end (by Shriver) that is a condensed version of the book, which I wish I had either read instead, or not read at all. An old friend of Shriver, Terri had mesothelioma, and clearly Shriver regrets having been the kind of distant, but really absent, well wisher that she was to Terri. Having read that, the warm fuzziness I felt toward some characters and anger toward others dissipated and the More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Amy rated it:

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver is a perfect book selection for all book clubs, especially book clubs that love controversy and welcome discussion of gritty, real life issues. Dealing with cancer, health care in the US, death, and money this book challenges readers in almost every possible way. Shepherd Knacker has spent most of his adult life working, with the sole purpose of stashing away enough money to finance “an Afterlife,” otherwise known as a post retirement sojourn to a country whe More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Kyle.s rated it:

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Nov 04, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION

Book Description

Shep Knacker has spent most of his adult life preparing for "The Afterlife"—his shorthand for early retirement in a Third World country where his nest egg will last longer. Numerous research trips with his wife Glynis have narrowed down the options to an island off the coast of Africa. Yet Glynis always finsa one reason or another to delay The Afterlife. Impatient to pull the trigger (after all, he sold his ha More...

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Nov 01, 2011

P J rated it:

Perhaps three unusual medical conditions are several too many for one novel - peritoneal mesothelioma and familial dysautonomia are rare enough conditions, although perhaps not rarer than complications arising from a botched penis enlargement, although the last is probably more, ah, accessible for most of us. What they illustrate in ‘So Much for That’ is the crippling cost of medical care in the USA. Us Europeans can only be horrified by what quickly happens to the million dollars that the hero, More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Val rated it:

Writer's style-2 stars. Issues addressed in the book-5 stars (all very timely). Recommended reading if you want to read about such issues as the (in)adequacy of our healthcare system, the impact of environmental risks, e.g., asbestos, on our health, the challenges of family and marital life, the case for accepting a pre-mature death versus paying exorbitant sums to cure a non-curable disease, living with chronic illness, and determining the right balance between one extreme (saving for retiremen More...

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Sep 23, 2011

Karen rated it:

I am shocked by the accolades this book has received. There were parts of the book that were enjoyable and surprising, particularly the ending, but reading this novel was immensely painful, primarily because almost all of the characters were unlikeable, self-pitying, cynical, self-absorbed, and simply unbearable. I realize that to some degree this was the point -- the characters are supposed to be "human" and flawed -- but their extreme lack of empathy for others actually made them se More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Aleeda rated it:

I am so glad I finished 2010 with this book rather than starting 2011 finishing it. For me it was one long, rant. An eloquent rant, but tiresome after the first 100 pages. The main focus of the rant is healthcare in the country, and I would be the first, from firsthand experience, to agree with many of the arguments. Still, I have personally found that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Shep has finally reached an enviable position: he has enough money, and foresight More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Michelle rated it:

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Jul 29, 2011

Sharon added it

This is the third Book by Lionel Shriver, that I have begun to read, but of those 3 books, the only one I have ever managed to finish. is "we need to talk about Kevin"

Why I find it hard to finish her books, when she can write a good story, with topics that make you think? When the story is a important one with a point? The simple fact is, I can't finish them, because I can't stand the way she writes her female characters.

I recognise that women such as the ones in the book exist. But I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 04, 2011

Tim rated it:

Lionel Shriver's novel "So Much for That" successfully negotiates the tightrope walk of graphically, realistically presenting the horror of fatal disease but not allowing the book to be a complete downer. It's nice work.

Shriver tends not to bother avoiding overkill in her stories, and she doesn't here. Her characters get on their soap boxes, trading barbs and banter and scathing diatribes about whatever bee the author has in her bonnet at the moment. I have no problem with More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2011

Jeruen rated it:

After reading the second book of the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, I reverted back to fiction that was more realistic. So I picked up this book, entitled So Much For That by Lionel Shriver. I wanted to read a book that didn't require excessive generations of imaginative fantasy, and something that talked about issues about real people, since I wanted something that was realistic for a change. But apparently, this wasn't realism either.

So let me tell you first what this book is abou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2011

Ellen rated it:

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May 02, 2011

Jane rated it:

Shep Knacker believes his life will begin in earnest only when he quits the rat race and moves to Pemba, an island off the coast of Tanzania whose principal attraction is the low cost of living. He built his own company and then sold it for a million dollars. He wants his liberty and plans to leave his wife for Pemba.
Glynis is diagnosed with mesothelioma. She needs his health insurance which is tied to his employment at the company he once owned. Co-pays, deductibles, out-of-network provid More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Judith rated it:

What a compelling story this is! I picked it up late last night and couldn't put it down till I fell asleep at 3 a.m. Then got up and couldn't do anything till I finished the book. The hero of this book is a hardworking long-suffering everyman whose lifelong dream to get away from it all is about to be realized. After scrimping and saving his whole life he finally has the funds and the guts to leave New York with his wife and son and move to a tropical island where he hopes to live the simpl More...

9 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 07, 2011

Jessie rated it:

OK, this one was really problematic for me - while it was pretty compulsively readable, there were many, MANY things that made me angry about this book. I didn't like most of the characters. I thought many of them were at least somewhat cliched. I felt like we see the same old same old arguments trotted out about health care, about taxes, about... all sorts of things. I felt like the book was REALLY sexist - women like men who are a little forceful with them. Girls get fat and stupid when t More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 02, 2011

Jane rated it:

I'm reminded of a time long ago when I watched a televised version of "A Bridge to Terabithia" with my son. When it was over he asked me why I wanted us to watch it since I knew it would make him sad. I didn't know how to answer that question and I don't really know why I'm recommending this book. Just maybe it's good to face some grim truths in fiction.

Shep Knacker has dreamed and saved for years for an escape he calls "The Afterlife". He wants to move to an More...

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Feb 28, 2011

Kate rated it:

I have truly loved Lionel Shriver's past novels, but now wonder if she isn't a lot like the hand-walking queer (that character in Beaches who does all kinds of freak circus tricks to wow the crowds on the boardwalk) or that friend you make on the first day of school who you have to shrug off in mid-October because they have become so annoying and demanding. So shrill! So showy! So longwinded! I would tell my Mom NOT to invite her for another play date.

So Much For That details two f More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

Agatha rated it:

Gosh, I just really enjoy this lady’s books. (In this one, Shriver examines the human costs of US healthcare thru the lenses of 3 characters: Shep, who is forced to stay in his horrible job just as he is about to retire b/c his wife Glynis has been recently diagnosed with cancer and needs his health insurance; Shep’s friend Jackson, whose “plastic surgery” is not covered by health insurance; and Jackson’s daughter Flicka, whose rare and degenerative disease has, for better or worse, shaped her More...

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Jan 30, 2011

Nancy rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2011

Beverly rated it:

Shep Knacker sold the handyman business he started. He sold his house. He has been planning to take his money and move to a third world country where his savings will last a lifetime. No more stress. This plan called the "Afterlife" has been a lifelong dream. He and his family have taken research trips to find just the right place. Well it is now time. He bought the tickets and is ready to go -- with or without his wife and son. However, after he has announced his decision to h More...

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Jan 18, 2011

Joyce rated it:

I read this book because it was listed on NPR's best books for 2010, and I really liked it despite it's depressing content. The story centers on a man who owned a "handyman" company in New York, and sold it to one of his employees for a good sum of money. The man now intends to take this money and move with his wife and kids to an island off the coast of Africa and enjoy a more peaceful lifestyle. However, "life" intervenes and changes all his plans and hopes and dreams. More...

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Jan 10, 2011

Joy marked it as to-read

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 home repair business for a cool million dollars, his dream finally seems within reach. Yet Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years, has concocted endless excuses why it's never the right time to go. Weary of working More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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