Lionel Shriver - So Much For That

Financial Times“Shriver’s prose is studded with pin-sharp observations...” In the end, the reader feels a long-distance trekker’s exhilarated fatigue at completing this strutting, savage, well-crafted masterpiece...

Guardian“This hugely impressive novel deserves a long and healthy life...” Spine-tinglingly dramatises the reality of falling sick in the US. Without ever seeming contrived for polemical purposes, Shriver's narrative strands systematically illustrate the traps of provision by private health insurance companies...

The Times“A compelling read...” So Much For That is deceptive. Unlike We Need to Talk about Kevin, it is not overtly monumental in its aims or its themes. Instead it goes about the business of deconstructing the meaning of life very quietly, with humour and a degree of humility...

The Telegraph“The more intimate inquiries are more intriguing...” Shriver’s unflinching new novel seethes with injustices. Like her previous books, it hits unapproachable subjects head-on and revels in saying the unsayable. This time it’s the US healthcare system...

The New York Times“Shriver tackles her multifaceted plot with energy and grit...” Neither stingy with subplots nor shy about taking on timely, complex issues, she tosses plenty of both into the pot with real daring and brio...

The Scotsman“Affecting...” It might be achingly topical but the novel largely steers clear of didacticism, pulling together the personal and political in a way that leaves you at once shocked and deeply, heart-rendingly grateful for a health system that's free...

Publishers Weekly“A risk taker with a protean imagination...” Shriver has produced another dazzling, provocative novel, a witty and timely exploration of the failure of our health-care system. She twists the plot to raise suspense until the heart-lifting denouement....

The New Yorker“Not yet reviewed”

The Independent“Not yet reviewed”

Economist“Not yet reviewed”