Word: shep
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2010-2019
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
These irascible characters get away from Shriver - or rather, they veer too close to one another; their anger may be justifiable, but their voices start to blend. All except Shep, who stands in for what all of us have faced or will face. He views Glynis' artistic life as an indulgence he has underwritten and doesn't think she stands a chance against her illness, but what is he going to do - 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...
...engagement with Shep's private war between doing the right thing heartwise and doing the right thing headwise saves the novel. In its second half, So 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...