A review by pearloz
So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

3.0

Seemingly autobiographical novel about a woman who, upon her impending divorce, is diagnosed with MS. The book goes to great lengths to show us our protagonist is not some wilting flower--she is a powerful woman, at the head of a non-profit that advocates for those with AIDS. But especially when, after her diagnosis and a vulgar and inappropriate email--the result of which was her dismissal--she goes a a a calculated twitter rant, and starts a movement and advocacy work for sufferers of MS. She's quick, she's smart, she's ruthless, and she has non-profit complete with funding up and running in no time. But really, the book is about her struggle to come to terms with her limitations (knowingly coming to terms with the limits of her body; unknowingly coming to terms with the way her mind was dealing with the diagnosis), going so far as to unconsciously personify the disease as a monster that is on the move that is coming for her--which was an odd choice for the book as it turns out there was an actual "killer" coming for her, at least theoretically. She conflates the disease with her coming to terms with the disease and basically grits it out. The real killers are caught, and she confronts her own inner-tormentor...

"My monster grinned at me. And flexed.
It's not me, It's MS.
'I see you,' I said. 'I know what you are.'
And I did. This was not MS. This was helplessness and self-loathing and second-class citizenship."

She is a character with a lot of anger--at having to exist in a patriarchal society at all, and now, post-diagnosis, having to bear slights both real and imagined due to that illness.

Mara is a fun character, but this book was all over the place, and I feel like it couldn't get settled.