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A review by vegprincess
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
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.'"