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mariakm's review
5.0
Horribly realistic. Harrowing read but fabulous in the same way as her others ive read (kevin and stay or go)
timna_wyckoff's review
4.0
National Book Award finalist
Wow...I read a review that called this "brutal" and that's absolutely the word for it, in so many ways. This book deals with disease, medicine, health insurance, relationships (friendship, marriage, family)......and with one rather odd side story.
Wow...I read a review that called this "brutal" and that's absolutely the word for it, in so many ways. This book deals with disease, medicine, health insurance, relationships (friendship, marriage, family)......and with one rather odd side story.
vegprincess's review against another edition
3.0
I rate this 3.5 stars, this book I won from the Goodreads First Reads program. I had heard about it and wanted to read it before it became available as a give-away so I was excited to have won it.
After woking hard to build his own sucessful handyman business, Shepherd Knacker decided to sell it to one of his employees for a million dollars. He's always wanted to retire to a Third World country, where he can live off his fortune quite comfortably, as residents live for mere dollars per day. His wife , Glynis, didn't want to go so she kept making excuses. While waiting for the right time to move to Pemba, Shep continued to work at his company, under the employee who bought it, a man named Randy Pogatchnik, who's a terrible person intent on making Shep and his friend and coworker, Jackson, miserable.
Right after Shep bought plane tickets for himself and his family (he and Glynis have two kids) he finds out that Glynis has cancer caused by the asbestos found in the metal working materials his wife used while younger. Shep has always done the right things in life, taking care of his kids, his wife, his sister and later, his father, so once again he does the right thing and drops his plans and stays at his job in order to keep his second-rate HMO plan.
Shep's funds diminsh greatly as his wife continues treatments, paying for treatments that aren't fully covered by their insurance. His friend Jackson, who has a daughter with health problems of her own, comiserates with Shep on the unfairness of it all and also goes off on long-winded rants about how the government rips off honest hardworking people with taxes, etc.. At first the rants are funny but after a while they get tiring.
There's lots of details about Gylnis's cancer and the treatments she must endure along with the details of Jackson's daughter's fatal illness (a genetic disorder). Some may find this book depressing, and some may be put off by all the talk about insurance policies and Jackson's rants about how life is filled with "mugs" and "mooches" but what stands out in the end is the love and devotion Shep has for Glynis. You witness their fight to keep Glynis alive and then their realization that she's not going to recover,and that it's far kinder to let her die in peace rather than to keep torturing her with treatments and an experimental drug that would have cost $100,000.00 since it wasn't covered by their insurance company and which Glynis's Dr finally admitted would basically be a miracle if it worked. "'See? It's not your fault,' he said. 'you have such a will. And then all this talk, at the hospital, about "fighting," and "beating," and "winning." Of course you'd rise to that. Try to shine in the contest. But it's not a contest. Cancer is not a "battle." Getting sicker is not a sign of weakness. And dying, he said the word softly but distinctly, is not defeat.'"
After woking hard to build his own sucessful handyman business, Shepherd Knacker decided to sell it to one of his employees for a million dollars. He's always wanted to retire to a Third World country, where he can live off his fortune quite comfortably, as residents live for mere dollars per day. His wife , Glynis, didn't want to go so she kept making excuses. While waiting for the right time to move to Pemba, Shep continued to work at his company, under the employee who bought it, a man named Randy Pogatchnik, who's a terrible person intent on making Shep and his friend and coworker, Jackson, miserable.
Right after Shep bought plane tickets for himself and his family (he and Glynis have two kids) he finds out that Glynis has cancer caused by the asbestos found in the metal working materials his wife used while younger. Shep has always done the right things in life, taking care of his kids, his wife, his sister and later, his father, so once again he does the right thing and drops his plans and stays at his job in order to keep his second-rate HMO plan.
Shep's funds diminsh greatly as his wife continues treatments, paying for treatments that aren't fully covered by their insurance. His friend Jackson, who has a daughter with health problems of her own, comiserates with Shep on the unfairness of it all and also goes off on long-winded rants about how the government rips off honest hardworking people with taxes, etc.. At first the rants are funny but after a while they get tiring.
There's lots of details about Gylnis's cancer and the treatments she must endure along with the details of Jackson's daughter's fatal illness (a genetic disorder). Some may find this book depressing, and some may be put off by all the talk about insurance policies and Jackson's rants about how life is filled with "mugs" and "mooches" but what stands out in the end is the love and devotion Shep has for Glynis. You witness their fight to keep Glynis alive and then their realization that she's not going to recover,and that it's far kinder to let her die in peace rather than to keep torturing her with treatments and an experimental drug that would have cost $100,000.00 since it wasn't covered by their insurance company and which Glynis's Dr finally admitted would basically be a miracle if it worked. "'See? It's not your fault,' he said. 'you have such a will. And then all this talk, at the hospital, about "fighting," and "beating," and "winning." Of course you'd rise to that. Try to shine in the contest. But it's not a contest. Cancer is not a "battle." Getting sicker is not a sign of weakness. And dying, he said the word softly but distinctly, is not defeat.'"
dina_honour's review
3.0
3.5 really. (Really, Goodreads, would it kill you to start doing half stars??). I loved the following things about this book: the premise, the social liberalism that was the very foundation, the gorgeous description and portrayal of marriages and relationships that are full of love but also a thousand other emotions which often take precedence, the scathing social commentary. I did not like: the characters. I thought they on the whole they were more caricature than character. They were so polarized that they became almost line drawings of themselves pitted against one another. Also, the dialogue, which read more like a campaign speech than a conversation between friends. Is is worth reading? Definitely. Is it my new favorite? Unfortunately not.
megangraff's review against another edition
3.0
If possible, I've give this book 3 and a half stars. I picked it off a friend's bookshelf because of the author and because was intrigued by the mention of Tanzania in the blurb.
I've heard interviews with Lionel Shriver and read that her books are all different so I didn't expect it to be anything like "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and I was ok with that.
It's tricky to say much more without having to hide my review due to spoilers.
I've heard interviews with Lionel Shriver and read that her books are all different so I didn't expect it to be anything like "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and I was ok with that.
It's tricky to say much more without having to hide my review due to spoilers.
beccakatie's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Telling the story of families caught in the American healthcare system was always going to be political and polarising, and there were some real moments of tenderness and humanity from these characters that allowed the reader to continue on with the book.
Shep was definitely the right choice to have as the lead character for this book, as he was the most complex and sympathetic. While that might be a self-fulfilling prophecy as he was the one readers were allowed most insight to, the other characters just felt one-dimensional in a way that felt almost irredeemable. So much of the plot and characterisation seemed focused around people spending most of their time hating each other. Jackson in particular, and his wife, felt like caricatures at times, and Jackson’s ending felt like it had been added for convenient shock value.
Jackson was often used as a political mouthpiece, and it often felt clumsy. As a British reader, the concept of facing bankruptcy because of a medical diagnosis is horrifying and foreign, but I feel that much of the political commentary and diatribes felt shoe-horned in for the sake of making a political point.
By the end of the book, I had come to warm somewhat to many of the characters, in particular Shep and Flicka, who seemed like the most realistic representations of people, with their complex emotions and varied relationships playing out so much more naturally than some of the other characters.
Shep was definitely the right choice to have as the lead character for this book, as he was the most complex and sympathetic. While that might be a self-fulfilling prophecy as he was the one readers were allowed most insight to, the other characters just felt one-dimensional in a way that felt almost irredeemable. So much of the plot and characterisation seemed focused around people spending most of their time hating each other. Jackson in particular, and his wife, felt like caricatures at times, and Jackson’s ending felt like it had been added for convenient shock value.
Jackson was often used as a political mouthpiece, and it often felt clumsy. As a British reader, the concept of facing bankruptcy because of a medical diagnosis is horrifying and foreign, but I feel that much of the political commentary and diatribes felt shoe-horned in for the sake of making a political point.
By the end of the book, I had come to warm somewhat to many of the characters, in particular Shep and Flicka, who seemed like the most realistic representations of people, with their complex emotions and varied relationships playing out so much more naturally than some of the other characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death
Moderate: Self harm and Suicide
kittbenn's review
4.0
This is the second Lionel Shriver book I've read (Big Brother was the first), and I thought it was fantastic. It will not be the last. This is truly a minor quibble, because she's such an excellent writer and the plot and dialogue are pretty perfect, but there were some odd Britishisms in the book that I wish an editor had caught, like "mains" for wall outlets. Also, her habit of coming up with bizarre names, like Shepherd Knacker and a kid named Flicka, is just odd and distracting. Maybe this has meaning I haven't picked up on yet, but it kind of drives me a little crazy.