5/5
Harper Collins
Reading Lionel Shriver’s latest novel feels like being caught in the middle of a guerrilla war. Just when you think things have calmed down, you turn the page and – bang, bang, bang – Shriver’s scattergun rage blasts you down again. The target of that anger? The US healthcare system, a timely but unsexy subject which the author approaches unwaveringly. Shep Knacker is a handyman dreaming of escape. He has scraped and saved, working in a job he hates, all to achieve his life’s ambition: retirement on a tropical island. His plans are stalled when he discovers his wife, Glynis, has cancer – and she’s going to need his medical insurance. He soon realises he’ll have to foot large chunks of the bills himself. The unravelling of the Knackers’ world is mirrored by the relationship of their best friends, Jackson and Carol, who themselves are struggling to cope with their daughter’s debilitating genetic disorder.
This is warts-and-all family life in Middle America, with all its banality, unpleasantness, shattered dreams and emotional cruelty, and it makes for powerful and provocative reading. However, there is an iciness about Shriver’s dissection of her lead characters. Ultimately, this award-winning novelist’s latest book is saved by the author’s trademark acerbic wit, as well as by rare moments of tenderness and the surprisingly moving ending.
