So much for that by Lionel Shriver

[NadiaWadia]

Got it for the special price of £2.99 (if you bought a copy of The Times) last week. Was going to give it to my Mum for part of her birthday present, but on realising the subject matter (man discovers wife has cancer etc), decided it would be too depressing for mum, she really doesn't need this right now.

Read it myself and I was completely hooked. Some of the ending does seem a bit far-fetched, though. Anyone else read it?

BTW why does 'Lionel Shriver' have a man's name?

She was given a female name (can't remember what - something pretty run of the mill) and apparently just decided one day to call herself Lionel. That's why I like her.

she wrote that dribble talk about kevin,rotten book

Kevin was a GREAT book! Lots of dark humour.

kevin was predictable guff,dark humour?not what springs to mind about kevin book

I liked So Much For All That, but not nearly as much as Kevin. Shep is just too much of an old-fashioned American hero, you know? It was all a bit Ayn Randy, with the hard-working honest rich guy being fleeced by the spongers and wastrels who want something for nothing. Especially because of the eventual "opting out of the corrupt society" ending. I mean, it was a better written Atlas Shrugged without the dodgy rapey bits. And I could've done without the penis enlargement, too. Yick.

Not read So Much yet - but have read all her others.

The Kevin book has been sitting on my bookshelves for the last 2/3 years.

I can't bring myself to read it because I've read a couple of interviews with Lionel Shriver and have seen her interviewed on a couple of book shows; she seems to be so cold, strident and unlikeable. I know the book maybe fantastic, but.

I feel the same way about John Banville - so cold

Yes, Lionel is a funny old stick for sure. She comes across as curious and not overly emotional and her books definitely aren't chick lit.

But don't you think someone could be a dislikeable or even a bad person, but a brilliant writer?

'So much for that' is the first of hers I've read, but I will be trying more.

She seems to have a problem with names, though. She has named the hero 'Shepherd Knacker' and explains at one point how in 'Old England' a 'knacker' took old or deceased animals and made use of the body parts, which she then relates to the plot. I seem to have heard of a 'knacker's yard' but is anyone actually called this? Because it's a ridiculous surname and makes Brits think of being 'knackered' (exhausted) and 'knackers' is used for testicles.

Shepherd or 'Shep' just makes me think of a dog, and John Noakes and 'Get down, Shep' - showing my age!

Although she lives in London she doesn't seem to pick up on these types of British cultural references. Still she obviously has 'issues' with names anyway - Lionel FGS!

Apart from that, it's great!

I think she's a great writer. I have come across a couple of people who didn't like the Kevin book because of the subject matter, but I LOVED it for many reasons, including the dark humour, but also its analysis of a mother/son relationship.

NadiaWadia

I do agree that a writer can be unlikeable and still a brilliant writer - I love Kingsley Amis and he seemed pretty revolting.

Shriver lived in Belfast for 12 years - maybe she left her sense of humour there.

It's just from reading interviews, her own pieces in the Guardian or Observer have put me off and I will usually give anything a chance

I thought Kevin was a good book; got under my skin and thought about it for days.

Was So Much For That dramatised on BBC Radio 4 recently? I think I caught snippets of it or was that me imagining it?

Nadia - I thought So much for that was a great read...I got more and more drawn into it as it went on, with a few twists in the plot in the last third of the book (don't want to give them away.) She doesn't make her most vulnerable characters the most likeable, which is always more interesting.
I read Kevin too - which I thought was miles more predictable than So much for that..

Yes, So Much for That was on Radio 4 recently.

Of course certain events occur in the last little section which seem just too neat and convenient (and unlikely!) without giving the plot away to those who haven't read it. Anyone agree?

Londonartemis - yes I thought Glynis was a bit of a bitch!