I've got another book for you but don't let the subject matter scare you off. I promise you that it's the kind of book you call in sick to stay home to read.Or maybe not, once you see what sickness gets you.
Novelist Lionel Shriver, born Margaret Ann Shriver, has written an oddly life-affirming work about disease, dying and the obscene cost of medical care in contemporary America as seen through the eyes of searingly real and complicated characters.
The novel takes an unflinching look at love and loyalty in the face of almost-certain death...which includes our own, of course.
The protagonist, a likeable guy by the name of Shep Knacker, has spent his whole life saving and building a business with one goal in mind: the Afterlife. He's spent a large portion of his working life counting down the minutes until he can retire and move himself and his family to a cheap third world country where he can live like a king on a pittance.
Tickets bought, he's about to tell his wife it's now or never when she announces that she's just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
The very best thing I can say about this book is that it's not remotely sentimental. You'll cry, of course, but not because you're manipulated into doing so. This isn't Brian's Song.
Shriver confronts the grim truth of mortality with brilliance and humour. And I promise you at least one moment where you'll say "Oh my God!" out loud to an empty room.
Don't be afraid to pick this up. Guaranteed good read.
