The wonderful gift of life

Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That is a book about life, death and a whole range of things that fit in between of those two. It tells the story of two families, both victims of a deadly disease, and their lives even in the most desperate times. There’s Shep Knacker, a middle-aged man who used to run a successful business but sold it in order to move to a remote island, where he could live the rest of his life away from stress and the western world’s demands. The story begins when Shep arrives at home with plane tickets to Pemba, South Africa, only to be informed by his wife that she has cancer and needs his health insurance.

The situation of Shep’s best friend Jackson is no better. He has two daughters, one of whom suffers from a disease called FD and will be dead by the time of her thirtieth birthday, and another who’s jealous of all the attention her sister gets and compensates for it by eating ice cream. Jackson’s never-ending criticism of the modern society is an interesting theme, which continues to be contemplated throughout the book. It’s true that the few people in charge of society just keep getting what they want, while the rest of us are left to survive in a jungle of rules, payments and punishments. We do what we are told just because that’s expected of us. The lesson is that when you’re arrogant and remorseless enough, you can get away with murder. 

One of the main thematic questions in So Much for That is the value of human life. At the beginning of the book Shep is wealthy, if not even rich, by all standards, but one year of chemo and medication for his wife and he’s one step away from going bankrupt. He’s expected to do everything he can for his wife, no matter how bad his own situation will be when she dies. Basically he’s expected to throw his life away, too, just to give three extra months of pain and misery to the woman he loves. All his life Shep has played by the rules, but in the end he does what we all should do: he decides to live his life and use his money the way he has always wanted, but never had the courage to.

So Much for That is also an insightful depiction of a sick person’s life without all the clichés of seeing everything clearer and gaining a spiritual dimension when you’re close to death. In all its ugliness and despair, it gives you an idea of what it must feel like when people are saying their goodbyes while you’re still fighting, and visiting only because you’re going to die soon. Shep’s wife Glynis is a strong and independent person, and she refuses to give up her personality just because she happens to be fatally ill. In the course of her last year she deals with most complicated emotions, satisfies her most simple and basic needs, and finally, in the end, takes her fate as it is. Even though So Much for That is a book about death and misery, its ultimate message to its readers is that maybe life is worth living after all. We just have to have the courage to make it that way.