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The Post-Birthday World

By Lionel Shriver

(21)

| Others | 9780061187841

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Book Description

In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe Continue

In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.

Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life.

Hinging on a single kiss, this enchanting work of fiction depicts Irina's alternating futures with two men temperamentally worlds apart yet equally honorable. With which true love Irina is better off is neither obvious nor easy to determine, but Shriver's exploration of the two destinies is memorable and gripping. Poignant and deeply honest, written with the subtlety and wit that are the hallmarks of Shriver's work, The Post-Birthday World appeals to the what-if in us all.

Critics

  • 'The Post-Birthday World' by Lionel Shriver

    In her long-awaited follow-up, The Post-Birthday World, Shriver treads less controversial ground but doesn't shy away from exploring a theme that is likely to generate a similar amount of discussion: is life pre-ordained or do we need to take respons ... (read full critics)

    readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

  • Oh dear, she's snookered now

    The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver HarperCollins £15, pp600 Like most people, I only became aware of Lionel Shriver when her novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, was shortlisted for - and then won - the 2005 Orange Prize. Even then, I tried to ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    I loved this book! How do the choices you make affect your life? The possibilities are endless... Lionel Shriver offers us two possible story lines in this well constructed and heartwarming novel. Intelligent, compassionate - all I can say is :
    Read it!

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    Linda Wilke said on Jan 7, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • COuldn't finish it, the device didn't work and it was over-written and needed a good edit. Didn't care how it ended or what happened to any of the characters. And it gave me an earworm of 'Snooker Loopy', to boot.

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    cina said on Mar 17, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • admire the authur lionel shriver's writing skill and ability. a woman and two men's worlds together and apart in diff scenario. and the indepth of love/desire/indecision/decision.

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    helyip said on Jul 9, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    Interesting concept

    I quite enjoyed the concept of two worlds existing simultaneously, but found the main character, Irina, to be so immature and bad at communicating that it was hard to enjoy the plot! It felt like watching a tv show where you just want to yell, "tell him!" or "be honest!" If, in fact, this book is i ... (continue)

    I quite enjoyed the concept of two worlds existing simultaneously, but found the main character, Irina, to be so immature and bad at communicating that it was hard to enjoy the plot! It felt like watching a tv show where you just want to yell, "tell him!" or "be honest!" If, in fact, this book is intended to be didactic, that was lost on me. Her choice, to kiss or not to kiss another man, did not actually decide her happiness in the end. She chose that by not communicating her needs in either "world" and by being incessantly dissatisfied. I was glad when it ended and I didn't have to spend any more time in her self-absorbed universe.

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    Tisha808 said on Mar 12, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • Very interesting concept (telling two different fates side by side) and very interesting characters. Still, I didn't enjoy reading this very much. Depressed me too much, and every now and then it was difficult to follow the plot. But good. Maybe very good.

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    berserkasfuck said on Dec 9, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

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