A review by andintothetrees
So Much For That by Lionel Shriver

4.0

This isn’t a book for the faint-hearted. It is gory, unflinching, cold-hearted until (almost) the end, and depressing as hell. It centres around two middle-aged American couples: Shep and Glynis; and Jackson and Carol. Shep has spent his life scrimping and saving for his retirement, during which he plans to experience an “Afterlife” by living in a country with good weather and cheap living costs – however this all goes belly up (to put it politely) when Glynis announces that she has cancer. Not just any cancer either, but a rare and virulent form. His best friend Jackson is an extremely angry guy, who makes the amount of ranting I do look pitiful and who is the novel’s strongest voice of discontent (which is saying a lot, as he is among a chorus of significantly irked people). So Much For That follows the two couples, and to a lesser extent their children, throughout a year or so of their lives.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/so-much-for-that-by-lionel-shriver/]