THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD by Lionel Shriver
The new novel from the Orange Prize winning author of 'We
Need to Talk About Kevin'. It all hinges on one kiss. Whether
Irina McGovern does or does not lean in to a specific pair
of lips in London will determine whether she stays with
her disciplined, intellectual partner Lawrence or runs off
with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player. Using a parallel
universe structure, we follow Irena's life as it unfolds
under the influence of two drastically different men. Lawrence
is Irina's partner of nearly ten years. Ramsey is the ex-husband
of a sometime friend, a once-a-year acquaintance to whom
Irina has never paid a great deal of attention. Where Lawrence
is supportive and devoted; Ramsey is flighty and spontaneous.
Lawrence is emotionally withdrawn to the point of repression;
Ramsey is fiery and passionate, but volatile. The contrasts
between the two men have ramifications for Irina's relationships
with friends and family, for her career as an illustrator,
and more importantly, for the texture of her daily life.
This love is about trade-offs. Both men in Irina's dual
future are worthy of her affection but deeply flawed.
From Publishers Weekly
The smallest details of staid coupledom duel it out with
a lusty alternate
reality that begins when a woman passes up an opportunity
to cheat on her
longtime boyfriend in Shriver's latest (after the Orange
Prize-winning We
Need to Talk About Kevin). Irina McGovern, a children's
book illustrator in
London, lives in comfortable familiarity with
husband-in-everything-but-marriage-certificate Lawrence
Trainer, and every
summer the two have dinner with their friend, the professional
snooker
player Ramsey Acton, to celebrate Ramsey's birthday. One
year, following
Ramsey's divorce and while terrorism specialist "think
tank wonk" Lawrence
is in Sarajevo on business, Irina and Ramsey have dinner,
and after
cocktails and a spot of hash, Irina is tempted to kiss Ramsey.
From this
near-smooch, Shriver leads readers on a two-pronged narrative:
one
consisting of what Irina imagines would have happened if
she had given in
to temptation, the other showing Irina staying with Lawrence
while
fantasizing about Ramsey. With Jamesian patience, Shriver
explores snooker
tournaments and terrorism conferences, passionate lovemaking
and
passionless sex, and teases out her themes of ambition,
self-recrimination
and longing. The result is an impressive if exhausting novel.
(Mar.)
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