Word: longings
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...husband Shep nurses his own resentments. He's long planned to ditch the rat race for what he terms the Afterlife, early retirement in a dirt-cheap yet pleasant developing country. Now, as Glynis' medical bills come in, the prospect of the Afterlife is dwindling along with his savings. Shep's best friend, toxic pontificator Jackson, spends his waking hours taking mental notes for an anticapitalist manifesto he'll never write, but his real problem is heartbreak over his 16-year-old daughter Flicka, who was born with a fatal genetic disease called familial dysautonomia. Flicka is angry because...
...stop subsidizing her will to survive? Health care in the 21st century is cruel territory, and sometimes, as Shep points out to Glynis' doctor, a positive attitude is the cruelest: "Nobody in this biz is ever sup posed to throw up their hands and call it quits, so long as there's any last teensy weensy, teeny-tiny smidgeon of a chance that some new therapy will eke out a few extra days...
...Much for That becomes a page turner. Having let her characters amply articulate all the reasons life stinks, Shriver starts making a case for why even a lousy life is worth fighting for, and she does it with a biting honesty that rebukes all sentiment ality. For too long, this book had me thinking its title is dispiriting, a cynical flick at our throwaway dreams. In fact, says this viciously smart writer, the that in So Much for That is something we can choose...
...latest clash in a decades-long sectarian rift resulted in the March 7 massacre of several hundred Nigerians, including unarmed women and children. The killings took place mainly in villages around Jos, a city that sits on a cultural fault line that runs between the Muslim north and Christian south. Conflicts between the two groups have killed thousands over the past decade. This time, the dead were mainly Christians, targeted in retaliation for some 300 Muslim deaths near Jos in January...
...harassment and even assault are not reported is that women who report them are routinely accused of being lesbians. Women (and men) in the military can be subject to intrusive, abusive and distracting investigations into their private lives based on a single unfounded allegation about their sexuality. As long as our nation's military has a policy that makes fear of gays and lesbians more important than punishing assault, this problem will continue to exist...